ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — The City of Asheville awarded $855,000 in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds to Optimist Ventures, an accelerator for Asheville entrepreneurs affected by Hurricane Helene.
“This award from the city allows us to extend our fund and accelerator program through 2028. Initially, we were funded to wrap up at the end of this year, so we’ll be able to do two more cohorts totaling 40 companies that we can invest in,” said Optimist Ventures CEO Jeffrey Kaplan.
Dune Pierre Michel, the owner of French Broad Pastry, was in the latest group to go through the 12-week accelerator program, and he says that after Helene, they lost their busiest months and tourism hasn’t fully come back, but he says that thanks to the program, they’ve been able to get by…