Minority entrepreneurs in Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties have access to a new funding program.  It’s called the Blue Fund, and it’s being launched by the OSU Cascades Innovation Co-Lab.  The funding was made possible through a ten thousand dollar gift from the Facebook Prineville Data Center secured by the OSU Foundation. Co-Lab Executive Director Adam Krynicki says the goal is to help minority entrepreneurs thrive and succeed. He says minority entrepreneurs are three times more likely than non-minority entrepreneurs to be rejected for a business loan, and says minority businesses have been especially hard-hit by the Covid pandemic.