Indiana Women-Owned Small Businesses Encourage to Apply for Comcast RISE Program

​Comcast Corporation has expanded its Comcast RISE program to all women-owned businesses nationwide, furthering its efforts to advance digital equity and help provide underrepresented small business owners with access to the digital tools and funding they need to thrive. 
 
Comcast RISE, which just celebrated its one-year anniversary last November, remains open to racially and ethnically diverse small business owners.  Information and the applications to apply for marketing and technology services are available at www.ComcastRISE.com. Applications will close for this current round on June 17, 2022.
 
“As we continue to rebuild and emerge from the pandemic’s impact, small businesses across Indiana remain critical to our local economy,” said Jeff Marston, vice president of Comcast Business in Indiana. “Expanding Comcast RISE to women-owned small businesses reinforces our company’s commitment to empower and strengthen even more Indiana companies that are the heart of our local communities across the state.”

In its first year alone, Comcast RISE has provided more than $60 million in grants, marketing, and technology services to more than 6,700 small businesses owned by people of color - including Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, and Asian Americans. Of the 6,700 Comcast RISE recipients to date, nearly 70% have been businesses owned by women of color, spurring Comcast to take a deeper look into the unique challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. 
 
According to a study by the National Association of Women Business Owners, 42% of businesses in the U.S. are owned by women, with more than 1,800 new businesses being started every day. That’s nearly five times the national average. However, according to the same study, women-owned businesses are growing at only half the rate of those run by men, namely because women struggle to access capital and other resources to help them succeed. 
 
Comcast RISE, which stands for Representation, Investment, Strength, and Empowerment, is part of Project UP, Comcast’s comprehensive initiative to advance digital equity and help provide underrepresented small business owners with access to the digital tools and funding they need to thrive. Over the next 10 years, Comcast has committed $1 billion to programs, like Comcast RISE, and partnerships that will reach an estimated 50 million people with the skills, opportunities, and resources they need to succeed in an increasingly digital world.