By : Sam Spatter
Source : http://www.pittsburghlive.com
Category : Small Business Grant
A national grocery store chain will give $200,000 to a minority entrepreneur to open a Save-a-Lot store in a Mon Valley community, a small business advocacy group said on Wednesday.
The grant will be the first in the region under a program sponsored by Supervalu Inc., the parent of Save-a-Lot stores, said Dr. Howard B. Slaughter Jr., CEO of Christian Management Enterprises LLC. The purpose of the program is to increase minority ownership of grocery stores and place stores in minority neighborhoods, he said.
Slaughter would not disclose the exact location of the new Save-a-Lot store. It will be discussed at an event on Friday in Wilkinsburg. Details of the Supervalu's Licensed Store Incentive Program will be explained by Rachel Burse, a minority business development manager for Save-a-Lot.
The event is scheduled from 8 a.m. to noon at Hosanna House, 807 Wallace Ave.
"One of my clients, part minority-owned, was approved as a licensee of Save-a-Lot and is working to complete paperwork to open multiple stores ... with the company's assistance," Slaughter said.
"Economic disenfranchisement for minorities will increase unless more grocery chains do what Save-a-Lot is doing by providing ... greater access to food choices, which includes minority ownership," he said.
Scheduled to attend the event are Wilkinsburg Mayor John Thompson, Allegheny County Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald, Steeler Charlie Batch, who has developed projects in Homestead, and officials of the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Source : http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_788802.html
