Small Business Owners
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This month marks National Preparedness Month, which reminds us all to prepare for disasters and emergencies of all kinds. It’s especially pertinent this year as we face uncharacteristic and unpredictable weather patterns, with impacts of wildfires, hurricane season, and severe storms impacting communities across the U.S. and the globe.
MMBay Mentee-Mentor in the Classroom
© MMBay
High-achieving low-income students in the U.S. often miss out on selective colleges and competitive careers, with only 3% making it to selective colleges compared to 72% of high-achieving high-income students. Minds Matter Bay Area's corporate volunteer mentor matching program is changing this disparity.
Workers walking in city
For the past nine years, the U.S. Chamber Foundation has sought to tackle the all-too-common challenge of successfully preparing talent for the work of today and tomorrow and ensure their skills align to employers’ needs. To achieve the type of behavior and systems change needed, we believed the approach had to be a significant departure from traditional workforce development efforts.
Phyllis Calderon, Shaykara Webster, Yvonne Eloisebo, Leo Brownfield IV, and Arlene Donovan
The work being done through the Coalition to Back Black Businesses (CBBB) is not only empowering Black entrepreneurs across the U.S., but also the communities they serve. With access to capital being a major issue, CBBB grants help to create opportunities and economic growth that benefits everyone. Now, we’re sharing the stories of the business owners directly impacted by CBBB and how they’re advocating for equal access to opportunity.
High school girls collaborating on a task
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At this very moment, women across the United States are sitting on million-dollar ideas, like a product that fills a niche or a service that solves a unique challenge. And increasingly, women are turning those ideas into entrepreneurship opportunities. Women accounted for 49% of business startups in 2021, a 28% jump from two years earlier. 
The U.S. Chamber Foundation's Coalition to Back Black Business (CBBB) today announced it has awarded $5,000 grants to 324 Black small business owners representing 40 states, District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, delivering on its mission to advance the long-term success and resilience of America’s Black-owned small businesses.
Bye Bye 2022
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Looking back on 2022 fills me with pride and a sense of awe at all the team has accomplished in 12 short months. The Center for Education and Workforce at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation continues to conceive of and lead long-term systems change in education and workforce—the underpinnings of American competitiveness and prosperity.
Student raising hand in class
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Research suggests that 1 in 4 children in the U.S. has a vision problem—an estimated 12.1 million children. As we look to end the social impact of poor vision, we must advocate for higher level changes at the government and private sector levels. It’s clear that with so many larger societal issues linked to poor vision – like education, poverty, good health, and even gender equity – vision is a cause we must address if we are to create resilient societies. 

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