Formula One invests $500,000 to help financially support small businesses in Miami Gardens
Formula One is partnering with two local organizations to invest a grant of $500,000 toward Miami Gardens’ small businesses to make due on a promise to pour money back into the community.
The announcement Thursday came months after the Miami Grand Prix took place at Hard Rock Stadium located in Miami Gardens. The event was met with controversy after residents tried to cancel it with a lawsuit citing the loud noises that can be expected from the roaring race cars. To meet in the middle, race organizers promised to give $5 million meant to help the community during their 10-year stay at the Hard Rock Stadium.
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Formula One is collaborating with the Community Fund of North Miami Dade and the Opa-locka Community Development Corporation to help those organizations provide technical assistance, subsidize interest rates on loans and offer a 10% forgiveness on some loans, said Willie Logan, president of the Opa-Locka Community Development Corporation.
In addition to the $500,000 from Formula One, the Truist Foundation is giving $100,000 to the Formula 1 Miami Gardens Small Business Loan Program.
Miami Gardens Mayor Rodney Harris attended the event along with other council members to show their support for the initiative.
“With the pandemic and everything that took place the past couple of years, businesses have suffered, and this gives them an opportunity to have another avenue in which they can find funding,” Harris said. “They’ll be able to hire more people from this community and into their businesses, as well as to provide more services to our community.”
Miami Gardens Council Members Shannon Campbell, Katrina Wilson and Robert Stephens III underscored the importance of supporting local businesses because it will help the city keep its multicultural identity.
Formula One has been in the process of forming the partnership for about a year, said Courtnee Chun, chief portfolio officer at Liberty Media, Formula One’s parent company.
“We said at the time of securing this race that we wanted to ensure that we left a positive lasting impact on this community and this is an important step,” she said. “We look forward to racing here through 2031 so this is definitely a long-term relationship.”
Three loans have already been approved with the funding, according to Chun.
Sherronda Daye, who runs Sweet Jalane’s & Co, is one business owner who’s already been helped by the Community Fund of North Miami Dade in the past with funds to help her hire more people.
Now, Daye said her baked goods service is able to employ more people who might not be hired at other places like single mothers or people with a criminal background.
She said the fund has also helped her with technical support in addition to putting her in contact with resources, which she said a small business usually can’t provide on its own. Daye added that she believes they’re the right people to receive the Formula One subsidies.
“It’s not just a fund, they’re family,” she said.
This story was originally published July 14, 2022 at 10:19 PM.
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