JumpStart Celebrates Black History Month

Each February, the U.S. celebrates Black History Month, highlighting the rich heritage, extraordinary achievements and unique culture of African Americans throughout our nation’s history. The precursor to Black History Month began in 1926, when noted historian and journalist Dr. Carter G. Woodson launched “Negro History Week” in an effort to bring African American history front and

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Consult 2 Code Takes Home The $10,000 Prize At Core City: Cleveland Fall Entrepreneur Showcase

On Wednesday, December 5, Core City: Cleveland Impact Program participant Angel Washington delivered the winning pitch for her business, Consult 2 Code, during the program’s culminating entrepreneur showcase—taking home the top prize of $10,000 to grow her business. Inspired to start her own company after working for years in the medical coding and billing field, Angel

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Five Questions With Jose Melendez, Executive Chef Of Melendez Catering Services, LLC

Melendez Catering Services was founded by the Melendez brothers, Omar and Jose, in 2010. Over the past eight years, Chef Jose has expanded his menu to feature more elaborate Caribbean-style modern cuisine by taking American classic dishes and reinventing them with a Latin touch. Jose is also a part of JumpStart’s Core City: Cleveland Impact Program, an

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Five Questions with Immaculate Cleaning Co. Founder, James Barnes

Founded in 2011, Immaculate Cleaning offers premier janitorial cleaning services designed for commercial buildings, government facilities, healthcare facilities, places of worship, schools and universities, retail locations and sports and entertainment venues. The company specializes in day porter services, general daily cleaning, floor and upholstery care, post-construction clean-up and event setup and takedown and takes pride

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Five Questions with Consult 2 Code, LLC Founder, Angel Washington

Consult 2 Code (C2C) provides fast and accurate medical billing, coding and practice management services to healthcare providers of all sizes, including hospitals, clinics, home health agencies and health departments. Angel Washington, who has more than two decades of experience in medical billing, coding and credentialing, founded C2C in 2008 to help her clients increase

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Five Questions with Mustard Seed Development Owner, Daryl Anderson

Founded in 2011, Mustard Seed Development is a community-based business that specializes in real estate development/construction on the near West Side of Cleveland. The company renovates quality, affordable housing for low income, refugee and immigrant families and also hires and trains refugees and immigrants in construction skills, empowering them to start their own businesses and/or

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Five Questions With Faithful Homes, LLC Founders, Karla & Carl Miller

Nearly two decades ago, Faithful Homes began by providing care for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities in need of respite care. Since then, the company has grown and now provides residential and homemaker personal care for these individuals, in addition to non-medical transportation and travel services, helping them become more involved in activities they

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Meet Our Core City: Cleveland Impact Program’s Fall 2018 Cohort

We are excited to welcome the sixth cohort to our Core City: Cleveland Impact Program! This 12-week business assistance program is designed to drive economic impact in the city of Cleveland by helping individuals overcome obstacles to entrepreneurship through hands-on advising and industry-specific mentoring. Over the next three months, these five individuals will be learning

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Four Ways To Bridge The Employer-Employee Divide And Create Jobs

There are so many people in our communities who want better employment and economic opportunities, yet continue to fall farther behind, either through lack of awareness of the career pathways and skills required, or a lack of connectivity to employers seeking candidates with those skills. This odd dichotomy between business owners who have good jobs,

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#PressforProgress: Five Ways To Win With Women On The Team

Back in March, I was invited by Cintrifuse, a Cincinnati-based fund of funds, to speak at their International Women’s Day event on a panel alongside some of our region’s most vocal advocates for change. The conversation centered on the theme of this year’s celebration — #PressforProgress. Despite an abundance of statistics that validate the business

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Meet Our Core City: Cleveland Impact Program’s Spring 2018 Cohort

We are excited to welcome the fifth cohort to our Core City: Cleveland Impact Program! This 12-week business assistance program is designed to drive economic impact in the city of Cleveland by helping individuals overcome obstacles to entrepreneurship through hands-on advising and industry-specific mentoring. Over the next three months, these five individuals will be learning and

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4 Inspiring Stories Of Female Entrepreneurs And Leaders

Did you know that women are the fastest growing segment of entrepreneurs? The number of women-owned ventures has increased by 45 percent over the last decade, compared to 9 percent among all businesses. In addition, women-owned businesses now comprise approximately 38 percent of the business population, employ 8 percent of the country’s private sector workforce

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