A program with one job:
make the advantage fair.
Enterprise-grade AI capability should not be gated behind enterprise budgets. fAIr Advantage Ohio exists to put current, practical AI knowledge, and the money to act on it, in the hands of Ohio’s woman- and minority-owned small businesses.
Education plus funding. Neither works alone.
Knowing what AI can do without money to run it is a tease. Money without knowing where to aim it is a gamble. The program pairs the two on purpose.
Monthly AI education
A free one-hour session every month: thirty minutes of what changed in AI and how to use it, thirty minutes of open Q&A, and an informal never-recorded conversation after the close. Recordings build into a member library.
Sessions in detail → Pillar 02The fAIr Advantage Fund
A need-based grant pool seeded at $5,000 a year by New Era Systems, open to additional sponsors. It covers AI subscriptions, API fees, cloud spend, and tooling: sized to the actual need, awarded until the pool is spent.
The fund in detail →Every line hangs plumb.
A program like this only works if the integrity is visible from every angle. These are the rules it runs on: not aspirations, operating constraints.
- S-01No self-promotion. Ever. Sessions teach. The fund enables. Nothing is pitched, by New Era Systems or any guest presenter. Presence is the only marketing.
- S-02Consent-first recording. Presentations are recorded; Q&A exchanges are published only with the asker’s affirmative opt-in, and the after-hours conversation is never recorded at all. Full policy.
- S-03Quality over quota. No award goes out just to move money, and no decline comes without a specific reason. How the fund holds that line.
- S-04Clean conflict lines. Family members and New Era Systems employees are excluded, absolutely; existing customers are neither helped nor hurt. The exact lines.
- S-05One administrator, clean roles. New Era Systems funds and runs everything under a published framework. Partners decide whether to endorse and share, and carry nothing else: the details are just below.
- S-06Open to the whole field. Any microbusiness, and any woman- or minority-owned business of any size, is eligible. Who can apply, precisely.
Who does what.
Funds & administers
Seeds the fund, runs the sessions, coordinates selection, and carries every administrative and financial obligation end-to-end.
Guides awards
Applications are scored on whether the ask makes sense and on the program’s published priorities. Applicants always know who is accountable for the decision.
Open the door
Decide whether to endorse the program and share it through member channels. No funding obligation, no liability, no administrative burden.