New Investments in Justice-Impacted People to Build the Next Wave of Black-Owned Businesses
Urban Rez Solutions launches the country’s first business incubator built exclusively for Black, justice-impacted founders.
Toronto, Ontario–(Newsfile Corp. – May 26, 2026) – The story of Black entrepreneurship in Canada is about to be rewritten by 50 people who face the greatest barriers to attaining economic prosperity. A new wave of Black-owned businesses is emerging from a pipeline the economy has long ignored. Today, Urban Rez Solutions Social Enterprise announced the launch of Street Entrepreneurs 3.0, a 16-week program, funded by the Future Skills Centre, that will recruit and train 50 Black, justice-impacted founders, with a target of 50 fully registered, operating businesses by year-end.
It is the third edition of Street Entrepreneurs, a program Urban Rez has run for two previous cohorts of Black entrepreneurs. What makes this edition different is who it serves: this is the first time the program has been built ground-up for Black Canadians who are justice-impacted, a population historically excluded from every other path into the small business economy. This includes individuals who have been in custody, or have had repeated interactions with the justice system, as well as their family and loved ones who have been economically impacted as a result.
The program rests on the premise that the entrepreneurial instincts that allowed people to survive on the street, in custody, and through reentry are the same instincts that build companies. Street Entrepreneurs takes those instincts and gives them a registered business number, a website, an e-commerce store, financial literacy, mentorship, and access to capital pathways through project partners.
By the end of the 36-session curriculum, participants walk out with their own legally registered, operational business. Urban Rez is turning undervalued talent into Canada’s next generation of business owners.
Why Now
Street Entrepreneurs 3.0 targets one of the most under-leveraged pools of entrepreneurial talent in the country, and the people leading the program have the receipts to prove it.
“You cannot keep telling Black people who have done time that the answer is to go find a job that won’t hire them,” said Roderick Brereton, Co-Executive Director of Urban Rez Solutions. “The answer is to give them the tools to build something they own. Street Entrepreneurs 3.0 is the first program in this country that says, plainly, this community will contribute to the next wave of Black business in Canada, and we are going to fund the launch.”
