trying to find grants for x felons to start own business and to get housing?

Question

i would like to start my own business and find a cheap house to live in and fix up thats not to expensive. I was realeased from prison in June and ive relocated to Columbus to start new.

Answer 1

Get a grip, I don't think we should help any felon do anything.....get off your lazy azz and work for what you want, you spent too long in the prison system where they hand you everything, WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD, where you have to work for what you want!!!!

Answer 2

I am glad that you want to lead the path of the straight and narrow. A great business to start would be helping X-Cons get a new start and it doesn't have to cost you anything. You can look into your local housing authority. I know a lot of them have restrictions on letting felons live in state housing but it doesn't hurt to check. Write down all of steps you are taking to get back on your feet as that will be the blueprint for your business. For now you could keep all of your records on paper. Once you have enough clients and you are bringing in the money you can get a computer and perhaps a small office. Write to all of the prisons not just in your state but around the country and see if you can get a list of all of the people that are about to be let out of prison. You could show these people how to get back on their feet. Think about it. Good luck. God speed.

Oops one more thing go to a bookstore and get the book on government grants as this type of business would qualify for a grant and also qualifies as a non-profit which means the state would be paying you. Look for the book with all of the question marks on it. I know the author's first name is Matthew. It is a green and yellow book. Bring a pencil and paper and look for the grants that would suit you and copy the names and numbers. Then of course contact them with letters and calls.

Answer 3

No, there are no federal grants for convicted felons.

You can go to the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) http://www.cfda.gov and Grants.gov http://www.grants.gov - these are two sites created by the federal government to provide transparency and information on grants. Browse through the listings and see if you can find any grant that would support a for-profit venture for ex-felons and there are none.

Even if you buy books on "how to get grants" or list that supposedly has information on grants -- all of them are mere rehash of what CFDA has, albeit packaged differently.

Most of the federal grants are given to specific target groups with specific requirements (e.g. minority business owners involved in transportation related contracts emanating from DOT - Grant#20.905 Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Short Term Lending Program

Grants are also often given to non profit groups or organizations involved in training or other similar activities (grant 59.043 Women's Business Ownership Assistance that are given to those who will create women's business center that will train women entrepreneurs

There is a non-profit organization called Prison Entrepreneurship Program which is described as "a Houston-based nonprofit organization that leverages the skills of senior business executives to constructively redirect these talents and equip inmates and former inmates with entrepreneurial training—enabling them to productively re-enter society."

http://prisonentrepreneurship.org/

As for small business loans, felons typically find it hard to get one, even SBA. SBA adopts a "cautious" approach to lending to felons and oftentimes bases its decision on how serious the crime committed was and whether there is strong likelihood that the offense will be repeated again.

Answer 4

You are not an ex felon.
You will always be a felon.
You are an ex con.
A criminal that has done his time and maybe, just maybe, paid his debt.
Good luck.