Wells Fargo, US Hispanic Chamber offer relief grants to two NJ organizations

The Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey and the New Jersey State Veterans Chamber of Commerce are two of 70 chambers of commerce nationally to receive emergency relief grants from Wells Fargo & Co. and the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

The 70 grants, totaling $100,000, went to chambers of commerce providing technical assistance to small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Wells Fargo is proud to sponsor the annual Local Chamber Grants Initiative with the USHCC,” said Regina Heyward, senior vice president and head of supplier diversity at Wells Fargo.

“As we all continue to adjust to the present needs and new business realities, Wells Fargo and USHCC are working diligently to give Hispanic-owned businesses access to the resources to retool, restore and recover,” said Heyward in a statement. “With more than 3.3 million Hispanic-owned businesses across the U.S., we were quick to reshape this program to allot more funding to as many chambers of commerce as possible and provide technical assistance in English and Spanish to those businesses who need the most support.”

Since the start of COVID-19 health crisis, Wells Fargo has accelerated local funding to more than 150 nonprofits, like the USHCC, according to Heyward.

“It is great to see the powerful work that the USHCC is doing to help Hispanic chambers of commerce throughout the country who are our ‘boots on the ground’ delivering technical assistance to their small business members during this difficult time,” said USHCC Chair of the Board of Directors Carmen Castillo in a statement.

Chambers of commerce like the SHCCNJ and the NJSVCC have provided valuable support to businesses during the pandemic, such as becoming go-to hubs for bilingual technical assistance for filling out applications for loan programs including the Economic Injury Disaster Loans the Paycheck Protection Program.