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Community Foundation director issues apology for businesses of color being left out of first round of Strongmont funding

"While I'm proud that we awarded 23 small businesses with financial awards, I'm not proud of the fact that I (we) didn't do enough to help provide grants to businesses of color in Longmont."
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NEWS RELEASE
LETTER FROM LONGMONT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ERIC HOZEMPA
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I'm reaching out today to apologize to our community.  

As the Executive Director of the Longmont Community Foundation, I believe we have a duty to ensure that everything we do is built on integrity, equity, trust, and fairness.

Back in May, we took on the role of convener, facilitator and creator of the Strongmont grant application process. At the end of May, we announced 23 winners of awards from the Strongmont Fund. While I'm proud that we awarded 23 small businesses with financial awards, I'm not proud of the fact that I (we) didn't do enough to help provide grants to businesses of color in Longmont.

Put simply, I'm guilty of hubris, and I apologize. I assumed we would have a simple, straightforward process that would just work ... but that was not the case. I did not recognize the inherent biases with the Strongmont grant process, and how that would affect who was selected. 

Although I believe the committee did a good job of selecting the 23 recipients, I feel that in the effort to award funds quickly to businesses in need that I made some critical missteps. During the days that followed, I reached out to community leaders to personally apologize and propose a solution aimed at repairing any harm this many have caused in our community.

We are fortunate to have some donated funds available in the Strongmont Fund to offer a second phase or Strongmont 2, which will be solely focused on providing financial support to businesses of color that are experiencing hardship directly related to the COVID-19 public health emergency.  

We're grateful to the Advance Longmont Partners and our community leaders for their support of this new phase of Strongmont. Strongmont 2 Phase Two will Include:  

  • A new application (in English and Spanish) created in partnership with a diverse group of community volunteers and organizations.   
  • An opportunity for applicants to share their business with our community through a short video. 
  • A tutorial Zoom call or video provided to applicants who have questions on completing the application.

The Board of Trustees at the Foundation, Advance Longmont Partners, and I believe through Strongmont 2 we can live our values and commitment to diversity, inclusiveness, and equity and use this as an opportunity to educate the community about the unique challenges that businesses of color experience and the enormous value they add to the fabric of Longmont.

Sincerely,
Eric M. Hozempa
Executive Director

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