Latina-Led Hello Alice Named In Lawsuit For Awarding Grants To Black-Owned Businesses

Online resource business Hello Alice is the latest company to be named in a lawsuit for allegedly discriminating against business owners based on race.

A class action lawsuit alleges the company’s partnership with Progressive Insurance Company, which offered $25,000 grants to 10 Black-owned small businesses, violates civil rights.

Hello Alice and Progressive Partnership

Hello Alice, founded by Carolyn Rodz and Elizabeth Gore in 2017, is a digital platform helping small businesses launch and grow through access to capital. 

They partner with corporations looking to reach and support new entrepreneurs through education, mentorship, and funding.

In May 2023, Progressive Insurance, the leading commercial auto insurer in the US, announced they were working with Hello Alice for their Driving Business Forward grant program in support of Black entrepreneurs.

Each of the ten small business owners selected for the grant was to be awarded a $25,000 grant to purchase a commercial vehicle for their business. 

According to a press release, while 20% of Black Americans start businesses, only 4% survive the startup stage due to Black business owners’ difficulty accessing financing. 

With the Driving Business Forward grant program, the collaboration extended support to help close these gaps for Black entreprenuers and elevate their businesses.

Hello Alice, to date, has distributed over $38 million in grants, provided connections for millions of dollars in credit and loans, and mentored 1.3 million small and mid-size businesses (SMBs).

The Lawsuit

In August, Hello Alice became the subject of a lawsuit by American First Legal (AFL), led by Stephen Miller and Jonathan Mitchell.

The lawsuit claims that their work with Progressive Insurance violates civil rights, accusing the fund of unlawful discrimination because non-Black-owned small businesses were not allowed to apply.  

Hello Alice announced on Twitter that they are being sued for their commitment to small business owners.

“We were founded on the principle of equality, with the aim of ensuring that everyone – women, men, people of color, US Veterans, and more – have an equal opportunity to launch their businesses and pursue the American Dream,” they wrote.

The lawsuit lists a white Ohio resident, Nathan Roberts, who owns an Ohio-based trucking dispatch company, Freedom Truck Dispatch, as the plaintiff.

He began filling out the application until he reached the part that emphasized the grants were for Black-owned businesses.

AFL vice president and general counsel Gene Hamilton said, “All Americans deserve to be free from racial discrimination, yet major corproations across the US inject racial considerations into every aspect of their business operations, employment practices, and so much more.”

Over the past months, the all-white male AFL has sued the North Face company for an alleged racist comment, Salesforce Inc over racial equity-focused hiring practices, and Target Corporation for a “radical LGBT political agenda.”

They also filed a lawsuit against Meta, alleging discrimination against James Harker, a white man who worked behind the camera on commercials.

“We will fight to win this case and are going to keep doing what we do best – building strong, healthy businesses that contribute to the richness of our communities around the country,” Hello Alice wrote.

“Our values are not ‘gentle-sounding euphemisms.’ These are the pillars upon which we built Hello Alice and guide our mission to drive capital, connections, and opportunities into the hands of small businesses.”