A Rhode Island nonprofit has received a $50,000 Innovation Network Matching Grant to help entrepreneurs and small business owners strengthen their businesses through financial empowerment, technical assistance, business planning and access to resources.

Sin-cere Multiservice Inc. was created to help families, youth and small business owners gain access to financial literacy, entrepreneurship education, workforce readiness and community-based support to help them build stronger futures.

The Innovation Network Matching Grant, administered by the Rhode Island Commerce Corp., will help the Sin-cere Multiservice expand its youth, family and financial literacy programming.

Founder and Executive Director Sharlyn Martinez told the Banner about her business journey and how the grant will aid the families she and her team serve.

She recalled growing up in her Dominican family seeing her parents struggle with financial hardship and not having financial literacy — paying their bills just enough to keep things from being turned off. Her upbringing and community motivated her to start Sin-cere Multiservice three years ago.

“It just was helping my community, trying to purchase homes, trying to better their life, so it was always about the education part of it for me. I was like, ‘Hey, this is something that is really missing in our community,’” Martinez said.

Sin-cere Multiservice has also received a contract with the Rhode Island Department of Human Services’ Rhode Island Works, a separate program from the grant that supports their Smart Money Moves financial literacy education for RI Works participants and families.

This partnership mandates that participants enroll in their financial literacy courses.

According to the State of Rhode Island’s Department of Human Services website, RI Works “is a financial and employment assistance program for parents and families with little to no income who have children high school age or younger.”

For Martinez, receiving this grant and state partnership means her organization can give more families crucial information to not just survive, but thrive economically. The organization currently reaches over 1,500 referrals annually, with more than 750 applications and over 200 participants and families completing programming.

The work of Sin-cere Multiservice supports Rhode Island youth, adults, parents, families, and entrepreneurs by helping them build financial confidence, improve money management skills, access education, and create pathways toward long-term economic stability.

The nonprofit hosts its courses at its Providence locations, including 596 Charles St. and 222 Manton Ave., as well as virtually when needed. Sin-cere Multiservice also works with community partners to make financial education and entrepreneurship support more accessible to families and small businesses throughout Rhode Island.

The courses include structured financial literacy and entrepreneurship topics such as budgeting, saving, credit building, debt reduction, banking basics, financial goal setting, homeownership preparation, business planning, workforce readiness and small business development.

While many of these courses follow a structured curriculum, the nonprofit can also adjust its support case-by-case based on the needs of the participants, families, entrepreneurs and community partners.

The goal is not only to teach financial topics, but also to help people apply what they learn in real life so they can improve stability, grow businesses and create stronger economic opportunities for themselves and their families.

“This means that finally, they’ll be able to get firsthand and hands-on education on how to build their businesses, how to build entrepreneurship, because entrepreneurship now is so big.” she said, adding that the organization brings to the table what “it actually takes to build a business and sustain it.”

Martinez runs courses and operations with her son, Sin-cere, for whom the organization is named. He heads the financial literacy courses for youth.

“This work is personal to me because I care about helping people build better futures,” he said. “When small businesses succeed, communities become stronger, families gain stability and young people like me get to see what is possible.”

To measure the grant’s impact, the organization will requires a pre-survey, basic interview and a knowledge assessment for new families before offering monthly guidance.

Martinez believes this program can be scaled up and replicated in other communities.

“It takes teamwork. It takes a whole village to do the work. We are in partnership with a lot of different organizations, which we will be using in order for us to get this entire program and project up and going,” she said.

For example, a tax company will come in to assess and recommend best practices, such as helping entrepreneurs register their business annually with the Rhode Island Secretary of State.

“Many companies since the pandemic have gone out of business. This has changed the entire community in Rhode Island. We want to keep families in business,” Martinez said. “It gives an opportunity for families to work together, work alongside children… build growth and build that legacy that everybody’s talking about.”