BALTIMORE – August is Black Business Month, a time to promote and celebrate black businesses.

The Greater Baltimore Urban League (GBUL) supports Black entrepreneurs through its Black Restaurant Accelerator Program (BRAP), which has helped dozens of Black entrepreneurs launch their businesses and equip them with the tools they need for long-term success.

The Greater Baltimore Urban League’s Black Restaurant Accelerator Program has provided $240,000 to 24 restaurant businesses since its inception.

Business with passion

Dante Harrison and Donvenia Jackson have very different businesses.

Harrison is the owner of Hamilton Sports Bar and Grill on Harford Road in Baltimore and Jackson is the owner of French Toast Connection.

“Everyone calls me Chef French,” Jackson said.

Both companies started out of passion.

“Me and a few of my friends would hang out at local sports bars,” Harrison said. “We called them local bars.”

Harrison wanted to create his own local bar.

“A place where we can hang out, like a sports bar in the community center,” Harrison said.

But starting a business, especially a sports bar, is difficult.

“The biggest problem was getting my liquor license,” Harrison said. “That took about eight months of investing money and trying to get started with no money coming in.”

With French Toast Connection, Jackson puts her own twist on brunch classics to sweeten any event.

“Birthdays, baby showers, anniversaries,” Jackson said. “We’ve been doing a lot of corporate catering lately.”

How the program helped

Harrison received a scholarship through the Greater Baltimore Urban League’s Black Restaurant Accelerator Program.

“I was financially strapped, so the money came at just the right time when it came in,” Harrison said.

The program also provided him with training and a support network in case he ever needed help.

“They really gave me a lot of things that will help me succeed,” Harrison said.

“We learned so many things that we wouldn’t normally have access to,” Jackson added.

Jackson said the Black Restaurant Accelerator Program helped her turn her passion for cooking into a full-fledged catering business.

“The scholarship we received at the end of the program helped us with training our staff, the various certifications required, branding, marketing and expanding our website,” Jackson said.

Jackson and Harrison look forward to continuing to grow their businesses under the ongoing guidance of the BRAP program.

“We’re doing something different and making sure we deliver fantastic food and fantastic service every time,” Jackson said.