LinkedIn has announced a new $500,000 grants program for Black entrepreneurs as part of its broader Black History Month initiatives, which are designed to both recognize and encourage career opportunities for Black communities.

As per LinkedIn:

“LinkedIn is proudly and intentionally investing in multi-hyphenate Black professionals and entrepreneurs by elevating and amplifying Black business stories on our platform and working with strategic partners to provide grants that help more Black-owned businesses get off the ground and accelerate growth.”

According to LinkedIn’s data, there’s been a rise in Black entrepreneurs taking the leap into new projects of late, which, in part, can be attributed to the pandemic, and the rise in remote and flexible work, which has given many potential entrepreneurs more capacity to explore their passions.

Now, LinkedIn’s looking to provide more incentive and motivation for those efforts, with its dedicated funding going to both digitalundivided and Blavity.org to help accelerate their annual Black entrepreneurship fellowship programs.

In addition to this, LinkedIn’s also holding a BlackEntrepreneurs Summit on February 22nd, with LinkedIn staff and LinkedIn Learning instructors presenting sessions on various topics.

• 8 am PT: The Rise of Black Entrepreneurship in the U.S. with Marissa Cazem, Seyi Kukoyi, and Melinda Emerson
• 9 am PT: Unlocking Community and Resources to Thrive with Chris Arceneaux, Guy Kawasaki, and Jay Clouse
• 12pm PT: Allyship in Action - Unconscious Bias with Trish Lindo and Stacey Gordon

Finally, LinkedIn’s also unlocking several LinkedIn Learning courses to help provide more educational insights for business owners – and with 26% of Black business owners saying that they turn to online communities like LinkedIn for advice, that could also have a significant impact.

The various projects will help support Black business owners in taking the next steps, and could play a key role in assisting them to establish their project.

You can learn more about LinkedIn’s Black History Month events here.