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Last Chance for These Small Business Grants in January

If you want to start 2022 with some extra cash in your business bank account, these small business grants may help. But you must act quickly. All of the following grants have deadlines in January. Read on to learn about the different opportunities and how to apply.

Comcast RISE

Applications for the latest round of Comcast RISE grants are due in January. The program stands for Representation, Investment, Strength, and Empowerment. So its goal is to support women and minority entrepreneurs. Originally launched in 2020, the initiative has already provided more than $60 million in funding, marketing, and technology services to eligible businesses. The latest round is specifically for marketing and technology services. And applications are due January 15.

New York StartUP! 2022 Business Plan Competition

The New York Public Library hosts its New York StartUP! Business Plan Competition each year. This year’s contest offers $15,000 for the first place

Better Business Bureau Provides In-Depth Info on Scams

BBB Shares Data On Scams

Concerned consumers filed a class action lawsuit against Facebook in August that “…seeks to put an end to Facebook’s policy of actively soliciting, encouraging, and assisting scammers it knows, or should know, are using its platform to defraud Facebook users with deceptive ads, and compel Facebook to either compensate Facebook users for their losses or disgorge the billions of dollars in profits it has unjustly earned from such misconduct.”

Some fraudsters hinder the ability of people to get their money back by using payment methods with little or no safeguards. If consumers use credit cards or PayPal to buy items online, they may receive a refund if they challenge fraudulent purchases. Many people, however, are not aware of this protection.

Online shopping fraud has been growing for several years, but dramatically increased during the pandemic, according to BBB research. A BBB survey

Some in Hospital With COVID Really There for Other Causes: Fauci, Data

Some patients counted in COVID hospitalization stats are there for other reasons.
These “incidental” cases were found to be prominent in England and South Africa.
Experts including Dr. Anthony Fauci have also pointed to the phenomenon in the US.

A significant proportion of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in recent weeks were admitted for other reasons, according to health officials and government data.

The exact scale of the phenomenon in the US is not recorded in federal statistics, but has been noted anecdotally.

And Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to the White House, described the phenomenon, specifically in children, in a Wednesday night interview with MSNBC.

Since all hospital admissions are tested for COVID-19, Fauci said, many are “hospitalized with COVID, as opposed to because of COVID.” The real reason for hospitalization might be “a broken leg, or appendicitis, or something like that,” he continued.

Comcast Expands Digital Equity Efforts: Installs Free WiFi at 1,000th Lift Zone Community Center

PHILADELPHIA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Comcast announced today that it has installed free WiFi in its 1,000^th Lift Zone in St. Paul, Minnesota at The Sanneh Foundation’s Seton Center. The company plans to mark the occasion with a $50,000 grant to help support the organization as it rebuilds after being set back by an arsonist. The company also set a new goal to install 250 additional Lift Zones before the end of 2022. Lift Zones are part of Project UP, Comcast’s comprehensive, ten year, $1 billion commitment to help build a future of unlimited possibilities.

Originally intended as a multi-year effort, earlier this year the company accelerated its roll-out plans in response to overwhelming public support. Lift Zones came along at a critical time, providing free WiFi access within select recreation, community, and senior centers, as well as public housing computer labs. Students used them for remote learning, even when schools

Eviction ban rollback didn’t result in ‘vast wave’ of filings, says Larry Summers

Check out what’s clicking on FoxBusiness.com.

Doomsayers were wrong to predict a massive wave of evictions following the removal of a ban on filings during the coronavirus, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers argued on Friday.

“Four months after the COVID eviction ban was struck down, it is clear that no vast wave of evictions or evidence of broad suffering has emerged, despite the claims of many,” he tweeted. “Similar reasoning likely applies to student debt.”

EVICTIONS SLOWLY RISING AHEAD OF CHRISTMAS FOLLOWING END OF FEDERAL BAN

The Supreme Court struck down the administration’s ban on evictions, prompting an outcry from many Democrats in Congress. Goldman Sachs predicted that the U.S. would see around 750,000 evictions while the National Low Income Housing Coalition reportedly said the inevitable consequence would be “millions of people losing their homes this fall and winter.”

But a preliminary analysis by Princeton University’s Eviction Lab indicated a