Certifications, grants, investors, and California/OC-specific pathways — every program verified against its primary source as of May 2026. Capital target: $1.5M–$2M seed.
Founder: Brittany Solomon — African heritage (Nigerian and Cameroonian roots), woman, founder of Abeó Health LLC, Orange County, CA. Healthcare / care coordination / NEMT / home-care referral.
Capital target: $1.5M–$2M seed. Laguna Hills launch with Saddleback partnership thesis. Reading note: Every program below was verified against its primary source as of May 2026. Where the regulatory floor has moved (notably 8(a)), that's flagged inline.
| Certification | Cost | Time | What it unlocks | Verdict for Brittany |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WOSB (federal, SBA) | Free | 90 days | Federal set-asides in 83+ NAICS codes; eligibility for Wells Fargo / Goldman / Cartier women's tracks | Pursue first. Self-cert via certify.sba.gov. Qualifies on ownership/control alone. |
| EDWOSB (federal, SBA) | Free | 90 days | All federal NAICS + same set-asides as WOSB | Pursue if PNW < $850K, AGI < $400K (3-yr avg), assets < $6.5M. Excludes primary residence, business equity, retirement. Likely qualifies pre-funding. |
| NMSDC MBE (via SCMSDC) | $300–$1,500/yr | 60–90 days | Kaiser, MemorialCare, Sutter, Providence, Disney, Edison vendor lanes | Pursue. SCMSDC is the SoCal regional council. Annual renewal. |
| WBENC WBE (via WBEC-West) | $350–$1,250/yr | 90–120 days | Same hospital systems + corporate WBE tracks | Pursue. WBEC-West covers Southern California. Dual MBE+WBE is the standard play. |
| CA DGS Small Business (SB) | Free | ~30 days | 25% state-contracting goal; SB option direct contracting | Pursue. Threshold: ≤100 employees AND ≤$19M avg receipts. Easy yes. |
| CPUC Supplier Clearinghouse (GO 156) | Free | 45 days | Investor-owned utility procurement (SCE, SoCalGas) + community-choice aggregators | Pursue if she sees utility/CCA opportunities — secondary tier for healthcare. Valid 3 years. |
| SBA 8(a) Business Development | Free | 90+ days | Sole-source contracts up to $4.5M ($7M manufacturing); 9-year program | READ THE WARNING BELOW BEFORE TOUCHING THIS. |
After Ultima Services Corp. v. USDA (E.D. Tenn., July 2023), the SBA suspended the rebuttable presumption that Black Americans were automatically socially disadvantaged. On January 22, 2026, SBA issued formal guidance stating it will not approve 8(a) admissions based on the prior "social disadvantage narratives." The program is in active legal/political flux. Do not bet the seed on 8(a) sole-source contracts in 2026; treat it as an option to revisit in 2027 when the rules settle.
Kaiser Permanente, MemorialCare, Sutter, and Providence all recognize NMSDC and WBENC certifications and route diverse suppliers through their procurement portals. MemorialCare sources via Diversity Information Resources and the Vizient GPO. Kaiser's 2024 diverse spend was 8.0% (Grade C — room and incentive to grow it). For Abeó's Saddleback thesis, MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center is the bullseye: getting onto their preferred-vendor list via NMSDC/WBENC is more material than any federal certification.
Recommended cert stack (in order): (1) DGS SB — fastest, free, 25% state goal. (2) WOSB self-certification through MySBA. (3) NMSDC MBE through SCMSDC + WBENC WBE through WBEC-West (apply in parallel — overlapping documentation). (4) Hold 8(a) for 2027 review.
$5,000 grant + summit + 1-year fellowship. Woman-majority-owned, $75K+ revenue, US-based, 21+. Free to apply. ~120 fellows/yr. Window Sept–Nov; 2027 cycle opens fall 2026. Strategic value > cash: network access.
$50K–$250K, two years general operating; healthcare is one of seven pillars. Impact Grants restricted to 501(c)(3) nonprofits — Abeó LLC ineligible directly. The Black in Business track is the LLC-eligible path; confirm current cohort status.
Up to $100,000 first place, $60K second, $30K third. 1–6 yrs operations, woman-led, UN SDG ties (Abeó hits SDG 3 and 10). 2027 cycle applications open through June 16, 2026. Pre-funding stage = exactly the right window. Highest-ROI shot on the list.
Comcast RISE — $5,000 + tech/marketing package. Historically Black-owned, then BIPOC, then women. 2026 window unconfirmed; monitor comcastrise.com. Low-ceiling but easy.
$20M program in 2025, expanded across markets in 2026. Funds nonprofits that serve small businesses; access through a partner CDFI or nonprofit accelerator, not directly. Survey which OC/SoCal nonprofits are 2026 grantees, then plug into their cohorts.
JPMorgan — Advancing Black Pathways / Entrepreneurs of Color Fund: capital + advisory, regionally concentrated (Detroit, DC); watch for SoCal expansion. IFundWomen of Color: universal-application portal matching founders to brand-sponsored grants ($5K–$25K typical). Free; fill the universal app and let it run.
Helene Foundation, Eileen Fisher Women's Grant — shifted scope/paused since 2023; verify status first. Backstage Capital — deprioritize; paused new investments (TechCrunch, May 2022), now more brand than active fund (Arlan Hamilton's Arlan.Capital / Lightship is more active). Hellman Foundation — restricted to SF + Alameda; not applicable to Orange County.
| Investor | Check size | Sector fit | Path | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harlem Capital Partners | $500K–$2M (typ. $500K–$1M) | Strong — healthcare services, MedTech, HealthTech | Direct via harlem.capital + warm intros | Mission: 1,000 diverse founders in 20 years. Genuine fit. |
| Cleo Capital (Sarah Kunst) | $100K–$1M, sweet spot $750K | Generalist; women-first; pre-seed/seed | Warm intro preferred; cleocap.com | First institutional check is their lane. |
| Camelback Ventures | $50K + 16-wk fellowship | Social impact; expanding from education | Annual fellowship; 2026 closed Mar 2; next early 2027 | 95% POC, 55% women in 200+ cohort. |
| Jumpstart Foundry / Jumpstart Nova | $150K standard | Bullseye — early-stage healthcare only. Nova backs Black healthcare founders | Apply directly to Nova fund | Best fit on this list. |
| Salesforce Ventures Impact Fund | Variable, typically Series A+ | DEI named pillar; healthcare not headline | Salesforce ecosystem fit needed | Probably too early-stage pre-pilot. |
| Backstage Capital | $25K–$50K historically | Paused new investments in 2022 | n/a | Skip for 2026 round. |
| HBCUvc | Network/scout, not direct fund | Founder-network access | Startup school + scout network | Use as warm-intro infrastructure. |
| Black Women Talk Tech / BFF | Community + pitch competitions | Network, ecosystem | Membership + Roadmap-to-Billions conf. | Indirect but high-quality network. |
| Bay Bridge Ventures | Series A | Climate/sustainability, not healthcare | n/a | Not a fit despite diverse-owned creds. |
| Optum Ventures / Echo Health Ventures | Series A+, $5M+ checks | Healthcare native; DEI as criterion | Too late-stage for $1.5–2M seed | Track for future rounds. |
Jumpstart Nova (perfect thematic match), Harlem Capital (check-size match + healthcare named sector), Cleo Capital (right stage, women-first, willing to lead first institutional). Pursue all three in parallel; expect 2–3 months from first contact to first close.
Administers $19M+ across 40+ contracts under Older Americans Act and Older Californians Act funds. They explicitly want deeper partnerships with CBOs serving older adults. For Abeó, this is the most material local relationship in the brief — operational AND fundable. Direct partnership conversation, not a one-shot grant.
Senior Non-Emergency Medical Transportation — Measure M2-funded, administered through OC Office on Aging. Subcontractor opportunities for NEMT providers. Directly aligned with Abeó's transportation services thesis.
The SCAN Foundation (Long Beach) — the highest-fit foundation in this brief. $4.1B-asset peer of CHCF, funds community-based aging in OC by name. Priorities: older adults of color, lower/middle income, geographically underserved. Abeó's thesis is literally the SCAN brief.
CHCF Innovation Fund — PRIs + grants for care-coordination tech in safety-net settings; $5K–$2.9M, mostly RFP-driven.
The California Endowment — $4.1B assets, $160M/yr through 2027, OC grantee history. 2026 is a strategic-refinement year (listening mode) — relationship-building now positions for 2027.
John A. Hartford Foundation — Age-Friendly Health Systems, family caregivers, serious illness. Funds systems, not start-up LLCs directly — partner with a Saddleback-aligned system/nonprofit.
| Program | Size | Fit / path |
|---|---|---|
| HRSA Health Center Program (§330) SAC | $171M across ~51 awards | Eligibility limited to nonprofits/governments/tribal. Abeó LLC ineligible directly; partner as vendor/subcontractor to an FQHC. |
| AHRQ + NIH Digital Healthcare Solutions (R21/R33) | R21 up to $275K/2yr · R33 up to $1M/3yr | SBIR/STTR-eligible small businesses qualify. Care-coordination in scope. Research-heavy — needs a research collaborator. |
| NIA SBIR/STTR (NIH) | $140M+/yr | Healthy aging + caregiver-burden tech in scope. No active NOFOs; reauthorized Apr 13, 2026; new opportunities forecast at Grants.gov. |
| CMS Innovation Center ELEVATE Model | ~$100M across ~30 awards | High potential fit. New whole-person care model; CBOs and senior-living operators named eligible. Cooperative agreements Q3–Q4 2026, first cohort Sept 2026. Needs a CBO-shaped applicant. |
| CMS LEAD Model | — | Small/rural/independent practices + dually-eligible/homebound. Indirect alignment; partner-level. |
| AARP Community Challenge 2026 | $8M total | Applications closed March 4, 2026. Note for next cycle. |
| RWJF Health Equity Research | Up to $500K, 36-month | Research-org-shaped, not LLC. Skip for direct application; potential subaward partner. |
OCTA SNEMT subcontracting — the single highest-leverage local NEMT path. Direct contracting via OC Office on Aging.
FTA ICAM program — funded through FY2026, supports NEMT coordination for older adults, disabled, low-income. Goes to state DOTs and transit agencies, not LLCs directly; path is partnering with OCTA on an application.
Federal, only for socially AND economically disadvantaged. Update: Following the Ultima ruling, DOT eliminated the DBE rebuttable presumption of social disadvantage — same individualized-narrative requirement now applies. Expect the same legal flux as 8(a). Pursue only if chasing federally-assisted transportation contracts; otherwise the DGS-SB + NMSDC-MBE + WBENC-WBE stack is enough.
California reaches $200K–$300K annual revenue per vehicle at the high end — the underlying business model has real revenue. Medi-Cal NEMT is provider-credentialed through Health Net and the Medi-Cal managed care plans. This is an operational pathway, not a grant.
| # | Pathway | Profile |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | SCAN Foundation Community Giving — file first | Probability high · speed medium · alignment 10/10. The brief literally describes Abeó. Open the relationship now, attend convenings, build the program-officer relationship before submitting. |
| 2 | NMSDC MBE + WBENC WBE → MemorialCare Saddleback vendor onboarding | Probability high (cert) / medium (contracts) · 90-day cert, 6+ mo pipeline · 10/10. $1K–$3K total. The operational floor for a healthcare vendor; Saddleback thesis depends on it. |
| 3 | Cartier Women's Initiative (2027 cycle, deadline June 16, 2026) | Probability low–medium · speed ~9 months · alignment 9/10. Up to $100K non-dilutive + media + fellowship. Single highest-EV grant. Block calendar to write a serious application. |
| 4 | Jumpstart Nova → Harlem Capital → Cleo Capital (parallel investor track) | Probability medium · 3–6 months · 9/10. For the dilutive $1.5–$2M seed. Nova is the thematic bullseye (could lead at $150K); Harlem writes $500K–$1M; Cleo fits women-first first-institutional. Run all three in parallel. |
| 5 | OC Office on Aging + OCTA SNEMT operational partnership | Probability high · speed medium · 10/10. Not a grant — a revenue contract. Engage Office on Aging as a CBO partner; pursue OCTA SNEMT subcontracting under Measure M2. For an NEMT business, this is the business. |
SBA 8(a): active legal flux post-Ultima + Jan 22 2026 guidance; revisit late 2027. DOT DBE: same flux; only with a specific federally-assisted contract in view. Backstage Capital: paused since 2022. Hellman Foundation: SF/Alameda only. HRSA §330: excludes LLCs (partner-only). AHRQ R21/R33: research-org shaped. AARP Community Challenge 2026: already closed — note for 2027.
| Window | Actions |
|---|---|
| Day 1–7 | File DGS-SB (free, fast). File WOSB self-certification. Schedule OC Inland Empire SBDC intake. |
| Day 7–21 | Submit NMSDC MBE (SCMSDC) + WBENC WBE (WBEC-West) — parallel, mostly overlapping documentation. |
| Day 14–30 | Open SCAN Foundation Community Giving relationship. Write to OC Office on Aging Master Plan for Aging community-partnerships team. Identify OCTA SNEMT subcontracting RFP cycle. |
| Day 21–45 | Begin Cartier Women's Initiative application (deadline June 16, 2026). Fill IFundWomen of Color universal grant app (passive scanning). |
| Day 30–60 | First pitches to Jumpstart Nova, Harlem Capital, Cleo Capital — sequence intros via HBCUvc / Black Women Talk Tech network. |
| Day 30+ | MemorialCare Saddleback vendor pre-qualification once dual-cert is filed. |
The pattern: prove you're real to local healthcare and aging operators (Saddleback, Office on Aging, OCTA) while filing the grant and investor track on a 60–90 day clock. Operational traction closes Cartier and Jumpstart Nova; certifications are the access keys; SCAN is the foundation that writes checks once the pilot is real.
Sources: every program hyperlinks to its primary source in the source markdown. Eligibility specifics (PNW caps, revenue thresholds, deadlines) accurate as of May 8, 2026. The 8(a) and DBE programs are in active regulatory flux — reverify before any application investment.