A Black entrepreneur tackling food insecurity in Chicago and a single-parent founder who started a door-to-door transportation service for kids in Texas are among the recipients of a $25,000 grant from Progressive Insurance.

Elizabeth Abunaw, founder of Forty Acres Fresh Market in Chicago, provides affordable, healthy food accessible to all people through citywide delivery service, pop-up produce markets at community spaces, and a pending brick-and-mortar store.

“I founded Forty Acres Fresh Market after witnessing the large disparity in resources and infrastructure in predominantly Black communities. My vision was to provide convenient and healthy shopping options and increase healthy food equity and access in areas that needed them.”

Meanwhile, Shenicia Barnes, owner of Kidz on Wheelz LLC in Mansfield, Texas, developed a door-to-door transportation service for children four to 18 years of age to help parents by providing safe and reliable transportation.

“Being raised by a single parent, I was familiar with the challenges of not having access to transportation to school or extracurricular activities,” Barnes said. “I started an in-home childcare and transportation service to help local moms with transporting their children to and from school and offer support to single parents.”

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Overall, 10 Black entrepreneurs received the stipend to support Black business owners at a time when only four per cent survived due to a lack of capital and relationships.

“For the last two years, the Driving Small Business Forward grant program is one of the ways we’ve been supporting (Black) entrepreneurs on their small business journey, and we look forward to seeing how this grant helps these deserving recipients continue their work serving the community,” Karen Bailo, commercial lines president at Progressive, said in a statement.

Progressive worked with business accelerator Hello Alice, the financial technology organization, to administer the grant program.

Other entrepreneurs that secured grants include:

• Derald Gray, owner of DG Visionaries in Indianapolis
• Theodore Smith, owner of Golfing for Excellence in Washington, D.C.
• Muna Mohamed, owner of Kalsoni in Minneapolis
• Sean Morrison, owner of Lets Ryde NC in Raleigh, North Carolina
• Carmel Mims, owner of Pet Porter Pals in Pasadena, California
• Robert Randolph, owner of Rob Ran Creative Services in Milwaukee
• Dr. Alecia Gabriel/Deirdre Roberson, co-owners of The Lab Drawer in Detroit
• Kamilah Moss, owner of Tidy Pets Pooper Scoopers in Fort Lauderdale, Florida