Entrepreneurs hit the jackpot when SCORE and MORTAR joined forces to coach and mentor

"I was nervous about it, because the volunteers with SCORE are older, seasoned guys -- mostly white guys -- and I wondered how they would interact with our clientele, who are mostly African-American and mostly women," said Braziel, an African-American who is the managing director of MORTAR. Braziel is also one of the three co-founders of the organization, which was created in May 2014, some 50 years after SCORE first established itself in Greater Cincinnati and elsewhere in the country. Although 2016 will never prove to be a year that's remembered for major inroads toward racial harmony in the United States, Braziel said things worked extremely well for MORTAR and SCORE, which was led for most of this year by Jim Stahly, who stepped down a couple of months ago as the chair of the organization in Greater Cincinnati.