U.S. San Francisco mayor announces awards for Black, African American small businesses, entrepreneurs

SAN FRANCISCO, May 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Wednesday announced the awarding of 3.75 million U.S. dollars to serve the city's Black and African American small business community.

This investment by the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) and the San Francisco Human Rights Commission (HRC) is part of the Dream Keeper Initiative, which is reinvesting 120 million dollars from law enforcement into San Francisco's African American community, according to the announcement.

"Across this country, and in our city, we've seen how the Black community's economic growth and prosperity has historically been disrupted and marginalized," said Breed. "This funding is part our efforts to undo the harm of generations of disinvestment and economic inequities."

COVID-19 has further shed light on these inequities and has had a disproportionate impact on communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities, the announcement said.

As part of the Dream Keeper Initiative, OEWD has awarded 17 Black-serving community organizations with funding to provide services for African American businesses, entrepreneurs, and the African American and Black communities in San Francisco.