Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center

Renaissance Peninsula: In 2023, Renaissance Peninsula, which covers San Mateo, Santa Clara and Unincorporated Alameda Counties, served 1,380 individuals, 71% of whom were lower-income, 78% were people of color, and 70% were women. Our services had a mixture of online and in-person training. Our online training continues to be highly effective for clients who are skilled in using technology and have appropriate access to technology. We trained in technology basics (how to use Zoom, email, Google Classroom) and provided Chromebooks to individuals who rely solely on their phones for internet access. 759 businesses were served, and businesses received $1,580,635 in business capital.

Renaissance Bayview: In 2023, Renaissance continued to provide virtual and in-person business support services to aspiring and emerging entrepreneurs in Bayview Hunters Point, one of the most marginalized and under-resourced communities in the San Francisco Bay Area that was significantly impacted by the pandemic. Through our Contractors Initiative, Renaissance Bayview worked intensively with minority and women-owned small construction businesses, delivering training and mentoring support, while helping small business owners secure contracts that created quality jobs for residents in the community. We also provided business support services to brick-and-mortar retail businesses throughout the city with a primary focus on the diverse communities of Fillmore, Visitacion Valley and Bayview Hunters Point.

Renaissance SoMa - South of Market, San Francisco: Home to Renaissance's Women's Business Center, a partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration, and our largest entrepreneurial community - 20 small businesses and community-serving organizations. In 2023, Renaissance SoMa & WBC continued to expand our resources and outreach to support local entrepreneurs and small businesses. We hosted numerous online classes, workshops, and events focused on various aspects of business development. Our offerings included sessions on business planning, marketing strategies, financial management, bookkeeping best practices, management and operations, accessing capital, leveraging e-commerce and digital tools, as well as many networking opportunities.

Renaissance East Bay provided small business training, one-on-one consulting, and access to capital, networks and other resources in English and Spanish to traditionally underserved individuals in Alameda and Contra Costa counties with an emphasis on the cities of Richmond, Antioch, Oakland and Pittsburg. We engaged motivated emerging and established entrepreneurs from communities that lack small business investment, educational resources, and entrepreneurial histories, and face discrimination by race, gender, sexual orientation, economic class, or past incarceration. Our clients are 93% very-low-to-moderate income, 84% people of color, 77% women and 45% immigrants.