The East Los Angeles College Foundation and start-up support company OmniWorks are launching a business incubator and accelerator at East L.A. College in Monterey Park, the two entities announced on March 23.

The new incubator, called Estec LA, is funded in part by a $150,000 investment by JP Morgan Chase, with additional support from Union Bank and the California Strong Workforce Program. Total funding for the first year is projected at $400,000.

The incubator, which is slated to launch with a free two-day workshop on April 13, will focus on women, veteran and LGBTQ-owned businesses in the Los Angeles area. It will provide twelve months of business curriculum and mentor programs focused on equitable access to markets, service providers, financial resources, and capital.

It is one of the first incubators to serve the East Los Angeles community, joining a two-year-old bioscience incubator at California State University Los Angeles.

“This program demonstrates our college’s commitment…to provide a pathway for students who are interested in launching or growing their entrepreneurial venture or who wish to harness their creative problem solving skills to boost their professional and career education development,” Marvin Martinez, ELAC’s president, said in a statement.

OmniWorks, which will operate the incubator, launched two years ago in Santa Monica with a mission to establish incubators to help underserved startup business owners gain access to loan capital and other business support services.

“By focusing on entrepreneurs that are often overlooked by other incubator and accelerator programs, we are democratizing access to capital, markets, and financial and business education, resulting in more sustainable community-based businesses, quality jobs, and wealth generation,” Brent Imai, founder of OmniWorks, said in a statement.

Economy, education, energy and transportation reporter Howard Fine can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @howardafine.