The Boston Celtics have a storied history when it comes to social change, from drafting the NBA's first African American player in Chuck Cooper in 1950 to debuting the first all-Black starting five in 1964, and more recently to backing guard Jaylen Brown's protest against police killings of unarmed Black Americans in Atlanta. Now, the organization says it is working with an e-commerce marketing firm to give local Black-owned small businesses a boost.
The Celtics and Vistaprint have partnered on the #PowerForward campaign that sets out to provide these businesses in the Boston area with $25,000 grants. For Rich Gotham, Boston Celtics team president, the initiative is about leveling the playing field.
"Our research has shown us that really one of four Black-owned small businesses actually have a lending or borrowing relationship with a bank, that getting financing is less available, and it's more expensive for them, so we think those are problems we can help with," he told Cheddar.
For Vistaprint North America President Emily Whitaker, the aim here is not only to provide monetary support for these businesses but to also establish a working relationship giving them more visibility. She said the company is willing to help in areas that entrepreneurs might not have easy access to and can customize programs based on the needs of the businesses.
"Not only are we extending a meaningful grant of $25,000 but we go beyond that to give personalized assistance to the recipients," Whitaker noted. "That could be in the form of marketing expertise, which we'll bring to the table, or it could be access to our shared platforms that the Celtics have, whether that be through media or through design services or branding expertise that Vistaprint has."
The Boston branch of the NAACP will also work with the team to allocate funds, and Celtics United, a joint venture between Celtics investors and the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation, will continue "research into some of the systemic issues" Black-owned businesses face to better equip them with tools to succeed.
"We are looking for programs that are sustained, and I think with small businesses, in particular, they need injection of fuel to get to growth in scale," Gotham added. "I think if we can help get them to scale. We can make a long-term difference."
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
