Ascend LA Program Brings Training & Resilience Building to Diverse Businesses During COVID-19

6.09.2020 — LISC StoriesEconomic Development

Coronavirus has impacted almost every area of the Los Angeles economy in the past months. For small businesses owned by people of color and women, the impact of COVID-19 has highlighted and exacerbated the existing financial inequities these businesses face.

These diverse businesses need new forms of financial resilience to ensure recovery and foster capital acquisition in the future – and that’s just what the ASCEND LA program, led by LISC Los Angeles, is proud to be providing.

Sponsored by JP Morgan Chase and LISC LA, ASCEND LA is a coalition of partners with collective experience in increasing financial education, creating opportunities for underrepresented businesses, and providing capital and network connections to underserved business communities. The Certified Business Enterprise Supplier Training (CBEST), CDC Small Business Finance, The County of Los Angeles, and the South Los Angeles Transit Empowerment Zone have partnered with ASCEND LA to facilitate meaningful education and action for program participants.

"We plan to make sure that businesses who are part of this cohort are able to secure contracts and local supply chains across the LA region – supply chains that we know will continue to be needed, even after we come out of the pandemic and move into recovery."

— Tunua Thrash-Ntuk, Executive Director of LISC LA

ASCEND LA works to bring diverse businesses access to resources, networks, market access, and education through the 3-M model – markets, management, and money. This unique approach, developed by the University of Washington Foster School of Business, is crucial in promoting capital expansion for small businesses of color. Beginning in August, ASCEND LA will be hosting a 20 session management program utilizing the Certified Business Enterprise Training, facilitated by USC Marshall School of Business faculty and other experts in the field.

During COVID-19, small businesses need a strong foundational base more than ever to ensure continuity. Through ASCEND’s program, small businesses will learn to diversify their revenue streams, build business acumen, and effectively access government and corporate capital through foundation building tactics.

Tunua Thrash-Ntuk, the Executive Director of LISC LA, said at an ASCEND virtual townhall that diverse businesses already face systematic discrimination – nationally, white owned firms have five times the median revenue of black owned firms.

“We seek to address these gaps as part of the Ascend program by making sure that businesses have the resources and the market access to be able to get the contracts and the opportunity to help them grow,” said Thrash-Ntuk.

LISC LA is aware of the difficulties facing underrepresented small business owners, especially during this pandemic. ASCEND’s work to foster small business ecosystems and equip diverse businesses with the tools they need to obtain public procurement contracts is more necessary than ever.

CBEST will be bringing a variety of resources – including business owners, USC entrepreneurship professors, and procurement experts – to the ASCEND management program in order to create educational and networking opportunities for businesses in attendance.

Kelly Rolfe, the director of ASCEND’s management partner CBEST, said the program will provide small business owners with the education they need to access over $300 million in corporate and government contracts that are still available.

During COVID-19, tapping into available resources is a necessity for small businesses – and ASCEND LA will provide the education, practice, and networks to equip these businesses for the pandemic and beyond.