Chelsea:Thanks for having me, Spiffy! To answer your question—in the US, billions of dollars in government child care funding goes unclaimed every year. To get this funding, child care providers have to deal with dehumanizing, tedious paperwork, and they just can't manage all of it, on top of providing high-quality early education for children. Pie for Providers is addressing this problem by building human-centered technology that unlocks billions of dollars across fragmented government funding streams.
Michelle: As you know,I am the owner of a company called the Black-Owned Market but I also call it theBOM. The name means that we represent and empower businesses owned by Black people. I call it BOM for short because it was and still is a popular slang word from the ’90s which means cool, dope, amazing. The reason I focus on Black businesses is that I believe that entrepreneurship is the way out of economic struggle. I want to make sure that Black businesses have a platform where they come first and their products can be purchased easily.
Alex: Beam is focused on ending homelessness. We think it’s wrong that people don’t have a place to call home, and we believe that everyone should have the chance to fulfill their potential. Through our website, homeless people can raise money for job training, work tools, travel costs, and rental deposits. Members of the public can donate and send messages of encouragement to boost their confidence. A team of Beam caseworkers then supports each homeless person into a stable job or home.
