Dear Prospera family,
I am Ana Castaño, Founder of Luna y Sol Bay Area Nanny Collective. Many of you already know me – I am a Prospera entrepreneur, fellow, and board member.
Starting a business has never been easy, but if we add to it the crisis of COVID-19 it seems like an impossible dream. My business partner Flor and I were ready to launch our cooperative and invite other Latina women to join. 2019 was a year of preparation and fine-tuning. When everything was ready, COVID-19 appeared, and all of our plans faded away.
All of the investment forecasting, new clients and onboarding of new partners was stopped. One of the challenges that we have found is the limited access to resources for businesses that are in start-up phase. Businesses like Luna y Sol Bay Area Nanny Collective have different needs than those that have been on the market for a longer time. For this reason, when Prospera launched the Latina Entrepreneur Resiliency Fund it was a great relief to know that our needs are included and that we will be able to continue to evolve our businesses and follow our dream to impact more Latina immigrant women.
As part of the governing committee and one of the beneficiaries of the Fund, I am very happy to inform you that Prospera has completed the first round of emergency grants for Latina entrepreneurs.
This is made possible thanks to donors like you,
and to our following funding partners: Latino Community Foundation, Kataly Foundation, Y&H Soda, Chavez Family Foundation, Beneficial State Bank, Union Bank and The San Francisco Foundation. Many thanks for your support!
Latina entrepreneurs continue to need our support to get through this time. If you haven’t contributed yet, I invite you to donate to the Latina Entrepreneur Resiliency Fund. Your donation will go directly to Latina immigrant women impacted by COVID-19 to cover basic needs, while also creating opportunities for us to connect, collaborate and continue to build our leadership skills.