Community Project Grant
COMMUNITY NAVIGATOR PILOT PROGRAM (CNPP)
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Utilizing a “hub and spoke” model from public health care federal programming, the SBA’s Community Navigator Pilot Program will help level the playing field for Brockton area small businesses, especially our underserved women, people of color, veterans, and low-income communities. The Cape Verdean Association “hubs” will serve as centralized, lead organizations and will incorporate “spokes” to leverage partnerships with deeply trusted community-based organizations to help small businesses navigate government resources and tap into critical resources.
The program established a 3-tiered approach, as follows:
Tier 1
Represent organizations with a national footprint
Organizations support a minimum of five service areas (not within the same state), containing a population greater than 500,000.
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Tier 2
Organizations with statewide and/or regional reach
Organizations support an individual state, region, municipality, or city with total service population of greater than or equal to 500,000.
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Tier 3
Focus in cities or areas
Organizations support a region, municipality, city, tribal or rural community with total service population of less than 500,000.
The Greater Brockton Community Navigator program is a Tier 3 and one of only four organizations in New England to be a part of this pilot program. We are the only ethnic community-based organization as well. This is a two-year grant!
It was a competitive process with over 700 applicants across the US.  We are part of the 51 Community Navigators selected to provide coverage across the country with the support of our Spokes. Each hub organization will support a minimum of  5 spokes.
Our Spokes
Our Spoke organizations are trusted, culturally knowledgeable local groups who will connect to specific sectors of the entrepreneurial community to provide assistance in areas of:
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Financial assistance and access to capital
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Contracting and procurement
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Marketing, operations, business development, and exporting
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Industry-specific training
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The end goal of our partnership is to help establish a small minority business organization in the Greater Brockton area. To date, we have worked with over 80 small minority businesses in the greater Brockton community with more to come. We have been approached by businesses in Rhode Island and Connecticut as well.
What is the Community Navigators through SBA?
The Community Navigator Pilot Program is an American Rescue Plan initiative designed to reduce barriers that underrepresented and underserved entrepreneurs often face in accessing the programs they need to recover, grow, or start their businesses. The program will provide a total of $100 million in funding to 51 organizations, which the Cape Verdean Association was one, that will work with hundreds of local community groups to improve access to SBA and government resources for America’s entrepreneurs.
The selected projects will cover diverse communities across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Grantees will serve as “hubs” -- centralized, lead organizations, which will incorporate “spokes,” organizations that have built trust in their local communities and will be the ‘boots on the ground’ that will connect small businesses to critical resources and assistance.
