{"id":245481,"date":"2023-07-18T15:00:24","date_gmt":"2023-07-18T20:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbanleaguela.org\/?p=245481"},"modified":"2023-07-18T15:00:24","modified_gmt":"2023-07-18T20:00:24","slug":"urban-league-of-louisiana-teams-up-with-national-urban-league-to-launch-new-black-women-in-retail-accelerator-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbanleaguela.org\/urban-league-of-louisiana-teams-up-with-national-urban-league-to-launch-new-black-women-in-retail-accelerator-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Urban League of Louisiana Teams Up With National Urban League to Launch New Black Women in Retail Accelerator Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ten Louisiana-based Black Women in Retail Work to Expand, Create New Jobs, Grow Wealth<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-245483\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanleaguela.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2-214x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p>NEW ORLEANS\u00a0\u2013 Today, Urban League of Louisiana (ULLA) announced the launch of its\u00a0Black Women in Retail Accelerator Program\u00a0in collaboration with National Urban League and sponsored\u00a0by\u00a0Walmart through the Walmart.org Center for Racial Equity. ULLA is one of five\u00a0National Urban League Entrepreneurship Centers participating in this national accelerator program.\u00a0This inaugural cohort supports 10 Black, women-owned retail businesses across Louisiana with general and industry-specific coaching, mentoring, and training. The program also provides direct assistance for obtaining small business certifications, assistance with bidding on public and private contracting opportunities, and leadership skills development training.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-245482 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanleaguela.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/1-1-1024x542.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"542\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are proud to offer this unique program in support of Black women in retail across Louisiana and applaud National Urban League and Walmart for being intentional in its efforts to support Black women founders,\u201d says\u00a0Judy Reese Morse, President &amp; CEO, Urban League of Louisiana. \u201cAs we celebrate the Urban League of Louisiana\u2019s 85th anniversary this year, it is imperative that we continue the organization\u2019s rich history of creating programs and providing resources that yield economic impact and create generational wealth within the Black community. This program is just one more shining example of Urban League of Louisiana\u2019s commitment to continue this legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Urban League of Louisiana&#8217;s\u00a0Black Women in Retail Accelerator Program\u00a0seeks to build the capacity of Black, women-owned retail businesses across Louisiana through education, counseling, mentorship, certification assistance, and connections to supplier inclusion programs. The goal is to increase the visibility and marketability of participating businesses, and to assist in the creation and retention of jobs -allowing for the expansion of sole proprietorships into multi-employee firms.<\/p>\n<p>Between March and October of 2023, the inaugural cohort of our\u00a0Black Women in Retail\u00a0program will include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Entrepreneurial training and support<\/li>\n<li>Women in retail leadership development program<\/li>\n<li>WBE and MBE certification assistance<\/li>\n<li>Bid prep training and assistance<\/li>\n<li>Mentor\/prot\u00e9g\u00e9 and peer-to-peer partner programs<\/li>\n<li>Financial empowerment and access to capital services<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cThis program will be a game-changer for Black women in retail,\u201d says\u00a0Klassi Duncan, Vice President of Urban League of Louisiana\u2019s Center for Entrepreneurship &amp; Innovation. \u201cParticipants will gain knowledge and insights from retail experts in capacity building, distribution, go-to-market strategies, supply chain management, and access to capital. One of the biggest challenges that small businesses face is getting access the right resources to scale in meeting the needs of large big box retailers. This program directly addresses this challenge and much more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We are proud to announce the following Black women business founders will participate in cohort 1 of Urban League of Louisiana\u2019s\u00a0Black Women in Retail Accelerator Program:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sherilyn Hayward, Leroy\u2019s LipSmack\u2019n Lemonade (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.leroyslipsmacknlemonade.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.leroyslipsmacknlemonade.com<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Tiffany Brown, Wicks Nola Candle Company (<a href=\"http:\/\/shopwicksnola.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shopwicksnola.com<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Natashia Paul, Chuupul Leather (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.chuupul.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.chuupul.com<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Paige Alexander, L\u2019Jai Amor (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ljaiamor.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.ljaiamor.com<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Keishia Deverney, Element Beverage (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.drinkelement.us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.drinkelement.us<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Jacqueline Arvie, Jax\u2019s Creole Kitchen (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jax.creolekitchen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.facebook.com\/jax.creolekitchen<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Laportia Cooper, Nola Botanical Tea (<a href=\"http:\/\/nolabotanicaltea.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nolabotanicaltea.com<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Julie Vaucresson, Creole Made Easy (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vaucressonsausage.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.vaucressonsausage.com<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Joyce Galmon, Joyce\u2019s Sweets Inc.<\/li>\n<li>Brittney Hawkins-Dobard, Nola Cookie Co. (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nolacookieco.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.nolacookieco.com<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ten Louisiana-based Black Women in Retail Work to Expand, Create New Jobs, Grow Wealth NEW ORLEANS\u00a0\u2013 Today, Urban League of Louisiana (ULLA) announced the launch of its\u00a0Black Women in Retail [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":245482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanleaguela.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanleaguela.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanleaguela.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanleaguela.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanleaguela.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245481"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/urbanleaguela.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245485,"href":"https:\/\/urbanleaguela.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245481\/revisions\/245485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanleaguela.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanleaguela.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanleaguela.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanleaguela.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}