What Federal Grants Available For Minority Women – The United States government’s dedication and commitment towards minorities extends to funding their businesses, education, new ventures, housing assistance and many other programs. The government set aside nearly $1.00 billion to fund projects for minorities.
Free federal government grants for minorities are available at the national, local and state levels. This guide will provide an overview of the federal and private minority grants, the eligibility criteria, the application procedure and other pertaining details.
Highlights of this Post
Who Qualifies As A Minority When It Comes To Receive Free Government Grants?
A minority is defined by race or ethnicity and generally includes the following:
- Hispanic Americans
- Native Americans
- Asian Americans
- African Americans.
A large number of federal grants are reserved particularly for Native Americans and Indigenous Native Americans who are living within reservations. The term minority also applies to women in the realm of small business loans, funding, scholarships and college grants.
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What Are The Eligibility Criteria To Qualify For Free Federal Grants For Minority Women?
Free minority federal grants are provided by many granters for different purposes therefore the eligibility criteria may vary depending on the program you are applying to and your state of residence.
Generally, minority business, housing and education grant eligibility depends on the following factors:
- Citizenship and residency state of the applicant. For instance, applicant must be a citizen of the United States or a lawful resident of America
- Applicants must be 18 years of age or above in age to qualify for federal government grants reserved for minority
- Must fulfill the intended purpose of the program, for example research and development, college, business etc.
- For minority business grants applicants must fulfill the criteria limited to the age of the business, number of employees, location of the business, annual business revenue and the type of industry of the grantee. You must prove that business taxes are in good standing.
- Applicants must give proof of their race, ethnicity, and/ or gender
- Applicants must have a minority status of the owner, founder and/ or employees and nearly 51% of the company must be owned or operated by minority woman
- Must not be delinquent on government loan
- Must fulfill the income criteria set by the program and demonstrate a robust financial need
- For education grants and scholarship programs must file FAFSA, showcase excellent academic results, maintain a certain GPA, demonstrate commitment to their field of studies, have a financial need and showcase community involvement.
- For rent and housing grants applicants must provide proof of eviction or foreclosure, utility cutoff, medical condition, homelessness, or financial hardship and must belong to the low-income category.
- Must use the grant award for the particular purpose mentioned by the program.
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What Are The Documents Required To Qualify For Free Federal Government Grants For Minority Women?
Minority federal grants may range widely in eligibility criteria and the purpose of documentation required can also depend on the nature of the grant in question. Following are the generally accepted documents for minority federal grants.
- Proof of citizenship or legal immigrant status
- Application form including a CV or resume
- Financial documents like pay stubs, wage statements, bank statements, business bank statements, tax return
- For business grants provide business information with identification details, detailed business plan, project proposal or abstracts o
- Proof of benefits that you’re receiving from other government-aided programs like TANF, Medicaid, SSI etc.
- Completed application or resume and a detailed budget of how you are planning to use the grant fund
- Tax ID or EIN IRS letter for reference, balance sheet, profit and loss statement and cash flow statement.
- Proof of financial hardship such as medical condition, low income, past due utility bill, eviction notice, homelessness, business Need
- Personal identification documents like photo ID, driver’s license, original birth certificates, passport, Social Security Number
- Documents stating your race, ethnicity and/ or gender
What Are The Available Federal Grants Available For Minority Women?
Housing Grants For Minority Women
Let’s take a look at the following rental and housing grants that minority women can apply to.
JP Morgan Chase pledges to spend $30 million to close the racial wealth gap. The grant program today is providing $5000 in the form of a homebuyer grant for qualified home buyers including minority women home buyers who belong to black neighborhoods and wish to have a home of their own.
The Bank of America provides affordable home ownership initiatives and is expanding its initiatives to help minority home buyers get a house of their own. The bank provides affordable mortgages and this assisted more than 27,000 families and individuals including minority home buyers.
The association provides advocacy for minority women and black homeownership and assists them so that people can access neighborhood and credit including community projects to foster homeownership among other initiatives. Low or moderate-income buyers can receive affordable mortgages from this resource.
Wells Fargo is a banking institution that helps individuals belonging to minority groups and communities of color attain their home ownership dreams.
The bank makes a $210 million investment through Wells Fargo NeighborhoodLIFT Program and a public-private partnership with the National Urban League and UnidosUS to help minority communities, especially black and Hispanic individuals, purchase homes.
You can learn more about housing grants and home ownership programs for minorities in our next guide. Federal Government Housing Grants For Low Income Families
Small Business Grants For Minority Women
First Nations Development Institute grants provide funding opportunities to native nonprofits and tribal people so that they can strengthen American Indian communities. Minority business entrepreneurs can receive assistance if their project is related to funding, education, food security, ecology, entrepreneurship, culture etc.
The SBIR and STTR programs provide funding opportunities to small businesses for research and innovation in the technological field. The grants are provided by the federal government like Defense, Health and Human Services, Environmental Protection agencies etc. Minority business ownership that supports women and other economically or socially disadvantaged individuals receive special preferences.
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Through the Small Business Digital Ready Program, Startup Nation has collaborated with Verizon to provide grants for minority women, professional development opportunities, networking opportunities, and technology tools. The grant award ranges up to $10,000. There are many minority women who have benefited from this specific program.
The NASE grants also known as the National Association of the Self-Employed is providing a $4000 worth business development fund to assist newbie entrepreneurs to take their businesses one step ahead.
In order to be eligible for the grant you must be a member of NASE and also be able to find out a specific small business need to use the fund that you will receive. Till now, $1,000,000 has been offered in grants for minority women.
Partnering with companies such as Winky Lux and Bluemercury, the SoGal foundation has launched the Black Founder Startup Grant. Black women and non-binary black entrepreneurs can apply for grants for black women through this program to start or expand their businesses.
This program provides minority grants for women worth $5000 and $10,000 to certain applicants. Besides this, winners also get lifetime access to the SoGal foundation and SoGal venture teams. Prizes are given out at the end of each month, and nominations are accepted on an ongoing basis.
Each year, a national competition called the FedEx Small Business Grant Competition is held to give grants to small business owners and entrepreneurs in the form of cash and prizes like credit for FedEx services. The winning prize is $7500 in FedEx office printing services and a business grant worth $50,000.
Even though USDA grants are not limited to minority women business owners this is a great funding resource available to large and small for-profit businesses, tribal entities and nonprofit organizations. The grants are used for a variety of projects like agriculture innovation, water quality, housing, rural job creation, healthcare etc.
This is not an exhaustive list as there are tons of small business grants available to minority business entrepreneurs and to learn more about the programs you can read our next guide: Get Business Grants for women from minority groups
Farm/ Agricultural Grants For Minority Women
The USDA Socially Disadvantaged Group Grants provide funding opportunities to socially disadvantaged groups particularly minority women and underserved populations so that they can purchase equipment, land, supplies, education, training and technical assistance to become successful in the agriculture industry.
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The Minorities And Women Farmers And Ranchers Loan is designed by USDA to give disadvantaged farmers, particularly minority producers, access to equal opportunities like other farm operators.
This program is available to minority women, African Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Hispanic, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
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The Farm Service Agency provides the Beginning Farmer And Rancher Development Program to both men and women interested in starting agricultural operations and offers mentoring, business planning, enterprise development, access to capital market research analysis etc.
Even though the program is not explicitly reserved for minority women, socially and economically underserved populations and those belonging to minority groups receive special preferences.
This is not an exhaustive list of farming or agricultural grants available to minority farmers as there are tons of opportunities available throughout the country. To learn more about farm grants for minority women farmers read our next guide. Minority Women Farmers Grant
Education Grants And Scholarships For Minority Women
Let’s take a look at the following education grants that are available to minority students.
Minority female students belonging to the low-income group with robust financial need can apply for the federally funded Pell Grant program that assists up to $6895 for the academic year 2022 to 2023. Filing FAFSA is important to be eligible for this program.
The amount of funds that you can receive through this program being a minority female student depends on a variety of factors like your enrollment as a student, the cost of attending school, the financial need of the student beyond expected family contribution, and your status as a part-time or full-time student.
Low-income undergraduate students including female minority students with exceptional financial need can qualify for the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant Program that range in between $100 to $4000 depending on your eligibility.
The exact amount of assistance that you can get through this program depends on your financial need, income and assistance from other sources. Filing FAFSA and becoming eligible for Pell Grant is important to qualify for this program.
The National Science and Mathematics Access to Retained Talent Grant Program also known as SMART assists low-income college students including minority groups who are in the 3rd and 4th year of their college and looking for funding opportunities to sponsor their higher education.
Low-income students and academically talented individuals in STEM fields or any foreign languages are eligible for this grant program. The maximum assistance received from this program is $4000.
Eligible minority students belonging to the Greater Kansas Area can apply for the Black Community Scholarship Fund to reduce their financial burden.
The program provides up to $5000 to eligible high school seniors and adults if they’re planning to get enrolled or attend college and must perform 16 hours of community service with a partner of Black Community Fellowship Fund.
The Academic Competitiveness Grant particularly targets math, science, engineering and other technology-based educational sectors and the high-demand fields.
Students need to take classes in high school so they have a better chance of succeeding in advanced math and science courses at the university level. Minority students in the first year and second year of their STEM field and enrolled in college for at least half time can be eligible for this grant program.
Iowa Minority Academy Grants For Economic Success is a need-based loan that is awarded to eligible Iowa resident minorities who are pursuing their first undergraduate college degrees.
The students must complete 24 credit hours to maintain a 2.0 GPA every year to be eligible for the funding. Eligible students can receive assistance for a maximum of eight semesters through this program.
The purpose of this grant program is to support education, research, teaching and extension projects to increase participation of underrepresented minorities from rural areas and minority women in the STEM field.
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture USDA intends to address the educational needs of minority women in food and agricultural science with the help of this program.
The projects funded by the program improve the viability of rural communities and improve economic health by developing research, education and extension initiatives that emphasize new and emerging employment opportunities in stem occupation.
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Black, minority and African American students can receive scholarship awards up to $5000 through the Brown and Caldwell Minority Scholarship. Students must be undergraduates in junior or senior college years or must be enrolled in a graduate program in the environmental science or engineering field.
The Centre For Cyber Safety And Education provides the KnowBe4 Scholarship for Black Americans in Cybersecurity for black as well as African American students in America and provides them awards up to $10,000 to cover college expenses and $3000 to cover on-campus housing expenses.
Graduate or undergraduate students should have a minimum GPA of 3.22 to apply for assistance. They also must pursue a degree that is focused on information assurance or cybersecurity.
There are a variety of minority grants for cybersecurity and you can learn more about cybersecurity scholarships in our next guide: 25 Cybersecurity Scholarships For Students
The Active Members of the National Black MBA Association who demonstrate involvement with the community can apply for the scholarship and get an award of $8000 or more. Applicants must be enrolled in an accredited graduate business degree program to get the award.
One of the largest private providers of minority scholarships available to women and other underserved populations throughout the United States of America is United Negro College Fund.
The fund awards nearly $10 million in scholarship opportunities for more than 10,000 needy minority students in the United States of America.
This is not an exhaustive list of education grants and scholarship programs for minority women in the United States of America as there are tons of programs available throughout the country.
A few more programs include the following
- Hispanic Scholarship Fund
- Jeanette Rankin Foundation
- American Indian College Fund
- CIA Undergraduate Scholar Program
- Gates Millennium Scholarship Program
- Ron Brown Scholar Program
- US Bureau of Indian Affairs
To learn more about college grants for minority students read our next guide: Government Grants and Scholarships
The federal government has designed many other assistance programs to help people with food, medical, childcare, utility, home repair bills. These government grants are also open to minority women who can fulfill the U.S citizenship and income criteria of the specific program. Learn more about these grants in our next guide: Government Programs for Low-Income Families
Conclusion
The United States federal departments distribute minority small business grants, college grants, scholarships and housing grants for women minorities so that they can attain financial stability and access opportunities like other citizens. For the federal government the definition of an eligible minority is extensive and can range from ethnicity and race to gender. Minority women must explore all the options while searching for applicable grants and must not leave any stone unturned or overlook any opportunity. With the aforementioned free government grants and programs, you can easily achieve self-sufficiency as a minority woman and make ends meet.
Learn more about government grants and assistance programs at our Get Government Grants’ section today. We will help you in your difficult times and help you make your ends meet.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there any grants available for minority women?
Yes, you can find a few grants that are specially designed for minority women. There are federal grants, small business grants and other grants for minority women. The minority women have struggled a lot can live a better life with the grants listed above.
What are the best federal grants for minority women?
There are some best federal grants for minority women that includes: Giving Circle Grant For Asian Women, Sephora Competition, National Black MBA Association Scaling Pitch Competition, Small Business Grant By FedEx and many more. But remember that the benefits and eligibility requirements vary from program to program.
Are there any small business grants for minority women?
Yes, you can also find a few small business grants for minority women that includes Verizon Small Business Digital Ready Program, Minority Women Development Agency Grants, Eileen Fisher Grant Program and many others. These grants help the minority women to start any small business or help in expanding the existing business.
Are there any other grants excluding small business and federal grants?
If you have not benefited from federal grants and small business grants you can also try other types of grants. The other types of grants include Business Certificates Under SBA 8(a), Venture Capital Funding Available for Minority-Owned Businesses and Score.