Kevin Hart’s Gran Coramino Tequila and LISC Disburse $1M to Seed Growth for Under-resourced Small Businesses
With our partners Gran Coramino® Tequila and Kevin Hart, LISC has awarded $1 million in grants to more than 100 Black and Latinx entrepreneurs, helping close wealth and opportunity gaps that limit their ability to grow. Meet our latest group of grantees.
Photo above: Women enjoy a pool workout led by Mind Body Game, a 2024 grantee of The Coramino Fund.
NEW YORK, NY, April 24, 2024 – The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and The Coramino Fund have deployed more than $1 million in grants to 100 small businesses over the past two years, focusing grants on underserved Black and Latinx entrepreneurs with the potential to create jobs and fuel growth in their communities.
The Coramino Fund is the give back program of Gran Coramino® Tequila, an ultra-premium tequila founded in 2022 by entrepreneur Kevin Hart and 11th-generation tequila maker, Juan Domingo Beckmann. It addresses a significant unmet need for small business funding, having received more than 35,000 grant applications from businesses working in retail, transportation, food services, educational services, and more.
In the latest funding round, The Coramino Fund awarded $10,000 grants to 50 businesses—52 percent of which are Black-owned, 36 percent of which are Latinx-owned, and 12 percent of which are Black and Latinx-owned. Two-thirds of the grantee businesses are owned by women. The Coramino Fund is designed to deliver resources to businesses that face long-standing barriers to capital access.
Kevin Hart, co-founder of Gran Coramino Tequila, noted, "As an entrepreneur myself, I've seen how early financial support can impact the long-term success of the business. The Coramino Fund was created to provide support to some of the hardest working people out there — entrepreneurs and small business owners."
“Small businesses are the economic backbone of communities,” said Michael T. Pugh, LISC president and CEO, “but many owners lack fair access to the capital and services they need to grow. We are grateful to Gran Coramino Tequila for recognizing the systemic barriers that impact the success of underrepresented entrepreneurs and developing a give-back strategy to help address them. When we invest in these businesses,” he added, “we are also investing in the well-being of the communities where they operate.”
“As a business owner, you face ups and downs and The Coramino Fund grant came at a time when we needed it most,” said Chef Frances Roman, owner of Cocotazo in New York City, who is a 2023 grantee. “We were able to buy more equipment to cater to larger clients and invest in advertising. Since then, we’ve hired three more women and are outgrowing the space!”
The collaboration with The Coramino Fund is part of LISC’s far-reaching strategy to address capital gaps for underserved small business owners and expand access to the services they need to thrive.
Please visit www.lisc.org/grancoramino for more information on The Coramino Fund and to learn more about the grantees. In addition to its give-back work in the United States with LISC, Gran Coramino Tequila also supports entrepreneurs in Mexico with local impact partners.
About LISC
LISC is one of the country's largest community development organizations, helping forge vibrant, resilient communities across America. LISC works with residents and partners to close systemic gaps in health, wealth, and opportunity and advance racial equity so that people and places can thrive. Since its founding in 1979, LISC has invested $31.9 billion to create more than 506,000 affordable homes and apartments, developed 82.5 million square feet of retail, community, and educational space, and helped tens of thousands of people find employment and improve their finances.
About GRAN CORAMINO™ TEQUILA
Gran Coramino is a tequila brand founded by two world-class masters of their crafts, Juan Domingo Beckmann and Kevin Hart. Launching first with Gran Coramino Reposado Cristalino, the tequila is matured in Eastern European oak barrels, finished in California Cabernet wine casks, and slow-filtered for smooth flavor and crystal-clear color. The brand includes an Añejo expression, offering a silky smooth tequila taste with a long and sweet cognac-laced finish. Trademarks owned by Gran Coramino LLC. ©2023 Gran Coramino, Jersey City, NJ.