From plumbing to parkour, new grant rewards business resilience in underserved communities in the Southern California region.

San Diego CA— Founders First CDC (Founders First), a 501(c)3 non-profit that empowers expansion in diverse founder-led, revenue-generating businesses, announced the winners of its Job Creators Quest Grant to support underrepresented entrepreneurs in the Southern California region. Ten local businesses each received a portion of the $30,000 grant as well as a full scholarship to one of Founders First CDC’s stellar accelerator programs.
The top recipient was Westcliff Properties, a Real Estate and Property Management company located in the heart of Downtown Santa Ana. Yvonne Flores of Westcliff Properties received a $10,000 grant to support the company in its mission. Other winners include:

• Nic-Beck’s Plumbing (Anaheim)
• B Team Solutions, LLC (Desert Hot Spring)
• Boost Training Systems (Corona)
• Skin Theory (Corona)
• Lot, Stock and Barrel (Los Angeles)
• Freedom in Motion Inc. (Loma Linda)
• Carrillo Concrete Services Inc. (San Bernardino)
• Topflight LLC (Irvine)
• Roark Financial Solutions, Inc. (Ontario)

“It’s no secret that the pandemic has devastated thousands of small businesses throughout Southern California, especially those owned by people of color and in underserved communities,” said Latavia Pineda, Southern California Outreach Manager, Small Business Majority. “Despite the tremendous efforts these small businesses have made to power the local economy, their achievements have been overshadowed by anxieties around keeping their business open without financial relief. We are proud to partner with Founders First and their commitment to increasing the number of diverse founder-led businesses on the road to a successful recovery after the pandemic. We are excited to witness the other achievements the ten small businesses selected for the Southern California Job Creators Quest Grant program will accomplish. We know that through their unbridled innovation, they will continue to grow their workforce and create premium wage jobs in their communities.”
“The Inland Empire Regional Chamber of Commerce (IERCC) congratulates all the small business Winners and Finalists for participating in the SoCal Job Creators grant. IERCC thanks Founders First Capital Partners for their leadership and support of our communities.”
The Job Creators Quest Grant was created to help generate premium wage jobs and reward diverse-led businesses in the Southern California community that have been able to retain and grow their workforce despite the pandemic. Funding for this program was facilitated by a $1 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation in conjunction with Founders First Capital Partners’ recent $9 million Series A financing.
Shaylon Scott, Executive Director of Founders First, shares that this grant is only a first step in helping diverse founders, “At Founders First, we want to help underserved entrepreneurs grow and continue to impact the community as premium wage job creators. Investing in diverse founders is an impactful way to drive wealth creation in underserved communities.” Scott continues, “The Job Creators Quest Grant is more than a dollar amount, it’s a celebration of their success.”