Fiserv, Bucks award $10K to 20 small businesses

Grants back minority owners impacted by pandemic

Marc and Marcia Taylor have been wanting to expand their gourmet popcorn business.

The brother and sister who own Lush Popcorn are now thinking about buying a delivery van with a $10,000 small business grant from Fiserv Inc. and the Milwaukee Bucks.

Lush Popcorn was one of 20 small businesses to receive a grant Monday through Fiserv’s Back2Business program to support small, minorityowned businesses in the Milwaukee area.

Fiserv and the Bucks awarded $10,000 grants to 20 Milwaukeearea small businesses during a Small Business Forum Milwaukee. The recipients span industries from restaurants and food services to business services and child care centers.

The aim of the program is to support businesses that have been negatively affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Last year, Fiserv launched a $1 million Back2Business grant program to support small, minorityowned businesses in the Milwaukee area.

“People are working paycheck to paycheck and all I’m doing is playing catch-up.” Jose Martinez owns International Barbershop in Brookfield

Fiserv also sponsors Back2Business grants in cities such as New York, Miami, Atlanta, Chicago and Oakland, Calif.

Businesses that are part of the grant program will receive mentorship, business coaching and point-of-sale platforms. Fiserv, a provider of payments and financial services technology solutions, is based in Brookfield.

“It’s been a really hard year,” said Jose Martinez, who owns International Barbershop in Brookfield. “People are working paycheck to paycheck and all I’m doing is playing catch-up.”

Martinez said the grant will help provide a cushion as fewer customers visit the barbershop each week than before the pandemic.

“With what’s happening in our society, with the pandemic, with racial injustice, the economic downturn, we need to do everything we can to help you guys re-emerge and thrive in our communities,” Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said before awarding the grants.

The team wanted to help minority-owned small businesses with access to capital.

“Small business are really the lifeblood of our entire economy,” said Bucks President Peter Feigin. “We feel a responsibility to support that and if we’re able to do that with resources and capital and technology, it works out well.”

PHOTOS BY ANGELA PETERSON / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL Carisa Williams, left, clinic administrator, and Lakeia Jones, CEO, from AMRI Counseling, are among the area businesses recognized by the Small Business Forum Milwaukee, which partnered with the Milwaukee Bucks and Fiserv to give businesses grants for $10,000 to help assist minority-owned businesses during the pandemic.

Nimrod Allen III, left, business adviser, and Angela Moragne, owner of That Salsa Lady, are recognized at the Back2Business event at Fiserv Forum on Monday.