Chicanos Por La Causa offers assistance to small businesses here

Small businesses in Yuma County can apply to Chicanos Por La Causa for financial and technical assistance, thanks to a $5 million philanthropic donation to the Phoenix-based nonprofit organization.

Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott recently donated the money to Chicanos for its subsidiary loan program, CPLC Prestamos, which provides financing to small businesses in several states, including Arizona.

Accredited by the federal government’s Community Development Financial Institutions Program, Prestamos offers eight different types of financial and technical assistance to businesses in Hispanic and underserved communities.

Maria de Jesus Cervantes, spokeswoman for Chicanos, said small businesses in Yuma County are eligible for several of those assistance programs, some of which are joined funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

“We are committed to invest those funds in our communities to help to feed the economic recovery and create jobs that can support the families that are suffering the debilitating effects of the pandemic,” said David Adame, CPLC’s president and executive director.

Meanwhile, CPLC has announced that it has received a Small Business Administration to open a new Women’s Business Center in Phoenix, which will serve female entrepreneurs and business leaders in Yuma County, among other places in the state.

The centers provide counseling, training, workshops and other forms of technical assistance to female-owned and -operated businesses.

For more information about the Prestamos program or the Women’s Business Center, visit the CPLC web page.