The Austin nonprofit JUST focuses on providing loans to low-income, mostly female, minority entrepreneurs.
AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin nonprofit JUST is starting an emergency fund to help entrepreneurs that have been hit hard by coronavirus (COVID-19).
But not just anyone can apply.
The fund is for entrepreneurs like Jessica Benavides, a makeup artist who has her own beauty school, Jessica Benavides Agency and Academy, located off Cameron Road in northeast Austin.
“I have this place for them to start practicing on their makeup,” she said.
Benavides said her makeup studio isn’t usually empty.
“Today it would have been a full house,” she said.
Normally, she would be teaching students. But that changed last week.
“I had a few send me messages … ‘So, I’m going to have to cancel,'” she said.
Coronavirus concerns wiped out all her reservations. At $2,500 a student, she took a hit.
The small business she built from scratch is now in jeopardy.
“It’s going to be hard,” Benavides said.