Bon Secours awards $50,000 to local businesses for third year

In a ceremony today at the Family Resource Center on Jefferson Avenue, Bon Secours Richmond Health System announced the nine winners for the third round of the SEED (Supporting East End Entrepreneurship Development) program. With this year’s grants, Bon Secours has awarded $150,000 over the past 3 years, benefiting 14 East End business startups. There are six new and three returning grant recipients in this group.

Sister Anne Marie Mack, senior vice president of sponsorship Bon Secours Richmond Health System, shared that the SEED grant program will continuing for at least two more years, and that the yearly funding will be raised to $75,000. The goal of the grant program is to boost business development in the East End along the 25th Street/Nine Mile corridor.

“The next two years will really allow us to revitalize our corridor,” said 7th District representative Cynthia Newbille, lauding the presence of “businesses that create the employment opportunities that are so important. […] I am so elated about the first 14 businesses.”

SEED III Winners

• Urban Set Bride
  Christine and Jennifer Haines
  Fitting rooms, clothes rack, and signage

• Loving Lemons
  Rachel Kellman
  Advertising, fixtures, and POS system

• Cyclus Bike Shop
  Brett Eastmen
  Marketing and POS system

• Union Market
  Hunter Robertson, Gillian Field, and Shawn Tunstall
  To build a patio and purchase signage and a bike rack

• Sub Rosa
  Evrim Dogu
  Marketting and advertising

• WPA Bakery
  David Rohrer & Kendra Feather
  To install a new countertop with a better display case

• J. Burton Hauling and Disposal
  Jodi Burton
  To purchase equipment and pursue safety certifications for her workers

• Goatacado
  Ian Newell
  Acquire equipment for new eatery

• Restoration Builders of Virginia
  David Cooley & Jessica Jordan
  To purchase a pickup truck to add another crew to the company

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In the first two years of the program, 10 individual businesses were winners of the development grants. Last year’s SEED recipients include All Around Painting, Dutch & Co., Era Vintage, J. Burton Hauling and Disposal, Proper Pie Co., Sub Rosa, and WPA Bakery. Winners of the initial round of SEED grants in 2011 were J. Burton Hauling and Disposal, Sub Rosa, Tall Bike Coffee, Proper Pie Co., Karen Wilson Natural Beauty, and Taylor Environmental Janitorial Services.