MVYRADIO announced this week that it has awarded its latest round of quarterly ‘Business Diversity Initiative’ grants to local businesses.

This round, MVacay in Oak Bluffs and Belonging Books Cape Cod were selected to receive a grant of sixty underwriting messages each on MVYRADIO to be used to inform the public about their business.  The flight of 15-second messages is valued at $1200 for each grantee. So far, MVYRADIO has donated $30,000 worth of airtime to this initiative.

MVYRADIO’s Business Diversity Initiative was created to offer underwriting messages to traditionally under-served business owners, including businesses that are owned by women, those who identify as black, indigenous or people of color, immigrants, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, as well as members of the LGBTQIA+ community, the disability community, and veterans.

“MVYRADIO is gratified to not only help our local area businesses that are owned by women, minority communities, veterans, disabled people and the LGBTQIA+ community but also to reach new parts of our broadcast area that may not be familiar with us. We hope many more folks will take advantage of this opportunity and apply through a very simple process for one of our of quarterly ‘Business Diversity Initiative’ grants” said Tristan Israel, MVYRADIO Board member and Co-Chair of the Equity & Inclusion Action Group.  “This is our ninth round of grants and we are so pleased to help local minority-owned businesses be able to tell their unique story to our MVYRADIO listenership and join the list of our business underwriters.”

This quarter’s grantees are:

Belonging Books, https://www.belongingbookscapecod.com/, an Asian American/Pacific Islander, BIPOC, immigrant, women-owned businessa community program provider and pop-up bookstore that centers the voices of people of color and other underrepresented communities on Cape Cod; offering online shopping and special orders for schools, book clubs, or classrooms.

MVacay, https://www.mvacay.com/  A women-owned business in Oak Bluffs that is offers a guide to Martha’s Vineyard for island residents and visitors. Offering weekly events updates and local travel guides.

Applications for the next round of grants have already opened.  The deadline is December 31 2023, with grants awarded in early January.  The application and more information on the program can be found at www.mvyradio.org/diversity.

Ryan Belmore is the owner and publisher of What's Up Newp. He took over the publication in 2012 and has grown it into a three-time Rhode Island Monthly Best Local News Blog (2018, 2019, 2020). He was named LION Publishers Member of the Year in 2020 and received the Dominique Award from the Arts & Cultural Society of Newport County the same year. He has been awarded grants for investigative and community journalism, and continues to coach and mentor new local news publications nationwide. Ryan...