AHANA – Multi-Ethnic Business Assoc. has formed a partnership with Communities Rise, a capacity building organization based in King County providing services statewide.
Communities Rise helps to build communities of color by providing capacity building and legal services for community organizations and micro-enterprises. They have expanded their capacity to serve small businesses and nonprofits impacted by COVID-19 through their COVID-19 virtual Legal Clinics and specifically reaching out to black, indigenous, communities of color and other marginalized communities that are less likely to access legal support services.
Covid-19 Small Business and Nonprofit Legal Clinic:
Small businesses and nonprofits will meet with a lawyer for a free 60-minute legal consultation by phone or video conference. After the client applies for services, they are matched with a lawyer that will schedule their appointment. Communities Rise has created this new and expanded clinic system to handle a high volume of COVID-19 related requests. Interpretation is available in a variety of languages.
For more information about the Communities Rise COVID-19 Small Business and Nonprofit Legal Clinic visit this link: https://communities-rise.org/news/free-covid-19-legal-clinic-launch-announcement/
There are a number of tools for small businesses and nonprofits impacted by COVID-19 on their website that you will also find helpful:
- Short instructional videos that walk through the PPP and EIDL loan applications with accompanying updates and supplemental materials.
- Lease Amendment Toolkit and video. This toolkit for small businesses and nonprofits to navigate renegotiating their leases is currently being developed and will be on their website soon
- Legal Alerts to let the community know about the changing laws and federal and state resources.
Communities Rise also offers free clinic appointments on nonprofit grant writing, fundraising and other capacity building needs. The grant writing clinic is where you can learn about general grant writing resources, how to approach grant writing, and tips for searching for grants. This appointment often includes multiple organizations and operates as a grant writing 101 workshop! They also offer 30 minute one-on-one appointments that allow you to review and get feedback on a letter of intent, proposal, or other grant-related document.
Their fundraising clinic, helps you explore donor mapping, working on plans for a fundraising event, or other fundraising issues with an fundraising expert. They can help you find resources for other capacity building needs that your organization may have.
To request capacity building support: https://communities-rise.org/covid-19-resources/covid-support/
Please feel free to pass this information along to your contacts in the community.