Volunteer and Support Black- and Brown-Owned Small Business

Save to Favorites

Small businesses have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and small businesses owned by people of color, immigrants, and Native Americans are bearing the brunt of it. Since March, demand for volunteer business advisors from Pacific Community Ventures has surged more than 400% year-over-year, and we need your help to meet this need! If you have expertise in finance, HR, operations, marketing, and other areas that small business owners are suddenly facing challenges in, your skills are especially needed now.

Volunteering with PCVs is the best kind of volunteering: it is 100% remote, leverages the skills you already have, and has a big impact for small businesses and the communities they serve. (Small businesses working with a us grow their revenues by 20% on average and create jobs for working people at ten times the national rate.) It only takes 4-5 hours per month, and you can really make a difference. Don’t worry if you’ve never worked for or run your own small business. Our team will match you with the right small business based on what you can contribute.

How does it work?

• Create Your Profile: Take 10 minutes to tell us about your career experience, skills, and other areas of expertise.
• Get Paired: We’ll propose matches, but the final decision on who you mentor is up to you.
• Start Connecting: We’ll provide some structure and guidance to get you started.

Pacific Community Ventures is working to close what’s called "the advice gap" for women and entrepreneurs of color. Women of color account for 89% (1,625) of the new businesses opened every day over the past year before COVID. African-American women are 300% more likely to launch a new business than a white person, and Latinas are 180% more likely - but both groups are also more likely to fail. Part of the reason? Many female entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs of color, and Indigenous and immigrant business entrepreneurs say they lack access to advisors and networks that could help their businesses thrive. This puts these job-creating entrepreneurs at a disadvantage.

Given the disproportionate impact that COVID has had on Black and Brown small business owners, their need for capital and expert advice remains high, especially now as they start to re-open while prioritizing employee health and safety alongside business health. We at PCV don’t want to go back to "normal" -- we want and need to build back better.