SAN FRANCISCO -- The Golden State Warriors are getting attention for their work off the court.
One of those businesses is Mansfield & Mansfield Construction Cleanup Company. LaSonia Mansfield, a 58-year-old former nurse at San Quentin State Prison, launched the company in 2018. She knows that in the construction business, being Black and female is not the norm. Her company struggled for years, but it got a timely lift through the Franchise Fund, a joint initiative between The Golden State Warriors and United Airlines. So far it has helped train more than 57 businesses, and another round of applications is opening for the next group.
Only 3% of U.S. businesses were black or African-American-owned in 2020, according to the Pew Research Center.