Atlanta man's goal of supporting elementary school math teachers gets $10,000 boost
ATLANTA - A minority-owned business in the Atlanta area is getting a boost.
Comcast's Rise Program awarded $10,000 to Greg Coleman's business Mr. Elementary Math. Coleman's Instagram has thousands of followers that come to him for advice and tools to teach math concepts to elementary school students.
Coleman started his business in 2013 and made it his full-time job five years ago.
"So I started off in 2003 as an educator for a local district," he said. "I was a teacher for seven years. And then for the following seven years I was a K-5 math coach, where I worked with teachers in the area of mathematics specifically to help them grow and help their students become better with mathematics."
Coleman combined his education background and love for math to create tools that aid students and teachers.
"So what I bring to the table is really helping kids with different strategies, helping teachers with different strategies, through the lens of games and activities to support them there."
He has a nationwide following, but his business can only get so far on his own. The Comcast Rise Program provides grants for 100 small businesses in Atlanta owned by minorities and women.
"The pandemic taught us that the businesses that were being owned by people of color and women were being disproportionately affected during the pandemic and frankly they were struggling," Alex Horwitz, vice president of public relations for Comcast, said.
Coleman is excited about the financial boost and the network he's built from Rise.
"It's truly truly amazing because as a small business and as an educator, I was trained as an educator so I'm learning the business side and becoming more savvy as an entrepreneur and learning more. SO it's really great when you have a large company that can really help us as a small business to grow.
"My goal is really to make math easy and simply fun for kids to learn through the lens of their teachers and their homeschool parents."