December Black Unemployment Report

The unemployment rate for Black women increase to 6.2% as 151,000 were added to the jobless

The Black unemployment rate was 7.1%; the National unemployment rate stood at 3.9%; and non-Farm Payrolls rose by 199,000. Average wages rose 4.5% on an annual basis in December.

The Black Unemployment Rate

The Black unemployment rate jumped from 6.5% to 7.1% during December, the only group to report an increase unemployment. The increase is due to the concentration of Blacks in sectors that are vulnerable to the pandemic like leisure and hospitality, retail trade and transportation.

The above chart shows the Black unemployment rate and the LFP rate

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced a huge increase in Black female unemployment in December as the number of unemployed Black women increased by 151,000. However, the figure does move around frequently. Black women added +210,000 jobs in the previous month of November.

The unemployment rate for Black women was reported at 6.2% and 6.5% for Black men.

The number of employed Black workers went down from 19.1 million to 19.05 million a loss of approximately 86,000 jobs. Peak Black employment was 19.7 million in Feb 2020.

The unemployment rate for Black men, 20 and order, was 7.0% (down from 7.2%), but it dropped for all the wrong reasons. There was an 88,000 person drop in the Black male labor force, while the number employed sank by 66,000, so the unemployment rate went down.

The employment to population (EM) also dropped slightly to 56.5% meaning less people were working in general but the participation rate stayed at 60.8% for Black Americans. That compares to the participation rate for Whites, Hispanics and Asians which was 61.7%, 66.0% and 64.6% respectively.

As is our custom, we calculate the “real” Black unemployment rate. It was determined to be 10.5% in December. The Black unemployment rate increased but the US U-6 rate decreased during the period. U-6 is the broadest measure of unemployment. U-6 is basically anyone who wants to work and has looked for a job in the past 12 months plus part time people who want full time work.

We also calculate the Discrimination Ratio or the Structural Racism Ratio which is the ratio of Black unemployment to White unemployment. The ratio, along with employment incomes, is the best overall indicator of discrimination in society. In a perfect world without discrimination, the ratio would be “1”. The ratio was about 1.8 in December. In an ideal world, Blacks and Whites would be employed at roughly the same rates.

In a separate report, the BLS released median weekly earnings for the year by Race, Sex and Ethnicity. The median statistic which is half the people above the number and half below the number, gives a better description of the real world pay data. The average, which is distorted by Oprah, Lebron and Serena, is always higher than the median.

Blacks (25 and older) earn a weekly median wage of $839.00 dollars. Whites earn a median of $1,098 per week and Hispanics earn $847.00 per week. Asians are the highly educated leaders with a median weekly wage of $1,414 for workers 25 and over.

General Unemployment Report

In December, the BLS reported a national unemployment rate of 3.9% (a drop from 4.2%) and a similar decreased in the unemployed of 483,000 to 6.3 million. Both numbers are huge drops from the covid-19 high unemployment rate of 14.7% when more than 24 million people were reported as unemployed.

Non-Farm Payrolls increase by 199,000 in December, 2020

At the low point of the Covid pandemic the participation rate was 60.2%,

The United States has recovered from the covid pandemic quicker than many nations and is enjoying high growth rates during the recovery. Second quarter GDP was 6.7% and third quarter GDP was 2.3%.

A record 4.5 million people quit their jobs in the November according to the labor turnover report (JOLTS) including 1.0 million people in leisure and hospitality and about 700,000 in retail sales. An estimated 600,000 people quit jobs in healthcare. There are more than 10 million job openings.

Many worker groups recorded low unemployment levels. White unemployment declined by half a percentage point from 3.7% to 3.2%, as nearly 700,000 White people found employment. Almost 500K White workers left the unemployment rolls. A large part of the drop was the 463,000 White women (20 and older) who started working in December.

The Hispanic unemployment rate dropped slightly from 5.2% to 4.9% while the Asian rate was 3.8%.

The labor force participation rate was unchanged at 61.9% and the employment to population (EM) ratio was 59.5%.

The number of people working part-time was counted at 3.9 million while the number of people not in the labor force who want to work was 5.7 million. Discouraged workers (who have given up looking) stayed flat at 463,000.

The “real” unemployment rate (U-6) stood was only 7.3%, close to a historic low. . U-6 is everyone who want a job or more hours.

Wages rose by 4.7% on an annual basis. The average hourly earnings increased by 19% to $31.31 dollars per hour. Weekly hours worked was calculated at 34.7 hours. Weekly hours worked has not budged since Jan 2020.

The diffusion index which captures businesses expected future hiring trends drop 10 points, from and index value of 70 to index value of 60. Anything above 50 in an expected increase in hiring, however the hiring trend is slowing.

Business Survey Results

Non-farms payrolls grew only by 199,000 jobs in December. The monthly average has been closer to 500K for the past year. Non-Farm Payrolls have bounced back from April 2020 by adding 18.8 million jobs. The economy is still short 3.6 million jobs since February 2020.

Among major categories: Leisure and Hospitality added 53,000 positions, professional services up 43,000, manufacturing increased by 26,000 and construction was up 22,000. Almost all other sectors had small increases. Government lost -10K jobs.

About 19.6% of the jobs created were goods producing jobs. If you add the government, then only 16.2% of the jobs

Other Employment Data

The number of people working remotely was 11.1% of people employed.

October payrolls were revised upwards of +102,000 to +648,000 and the November totals were increased by +39,000 from +210,000 to + 249,000.

In contrast to the BLS report, ADP reported an increase of 807,000 jobs in December, 2020. Small business (1-49) added 204,000, medium sized businesses (50-499) added 214,000, and large business (500 plus) added 389,000 jobs.

Paychex Small business report jobs index was up 7.3% in the past 12 months and Paychex’s wage growth was 4.2% during the same period.

Black Economic and Business Stories for June 21st to July 18th 2021

 

June 21st to July 18th 2021

Top Stories

  • The pandemic saw a boom in new Black-owned businesses — the largest surge in the last quarter-century (Los Angeles Times)
  • Pandemic Sees Largest Surge In Black-Owned Business In the Last 25 Years (Atlanta Black Star)
  • Black Workers Stopped Making Progress on Pay. Is It Racism? (NY Times)
  • Black workers have made no progress in closing earnings gaps with white men since 2000 (Economic Policy Institute)
  • Closing racial wage gap could lift 2 million Black Americans into middle class, study Finds (Marketplace).
  • The economic state of Black America: What is and what could be (McKinsey) . There is a $220 Billion dollar pay gap between Blacks and Whites in the US. And 60% of the gap is in a small number of professions including doctors, lawyers, and teachers.
  • Economists grapple with how much racism is to blame for a wide pay gap. (New York Times). Really interesting graph depicting the loss of progress in closing the wage gap.
  • Economics in Brief: Black Americans Are 16x More Likely to Be in 3rd-Generation Poverty than Whites (Next City)
  • Meet the Women Bringing Weed to the Deep South (Rolling Stone)
  • High Incarceration Rate Is Drag on U.S. Growth, Fed Official Says (Bloomberg)
  • Debt forgiveness for Black farmers is clearly constitutional (Washington Post)

All Stories

Protest / Social Justice

  • News coverage of racial incidents lowers support for Black entrepreneurs, (Berkley Haas) study finds. Basically any discussion of anything related to race, hurts Black people when it comes to White reasoning. Pretty scary.
  • American companies pledged $50 billion to Black communities. Most of it hasn’t materialized (Fortune)

Coronavirus / Covid-19 / Paycheck Protection Program

  • The pandemic saw a boom in new Black-owned businesses — the largest surge in the last quarter-century (Los Angeles Times)
  • Instagram adds “Black-owned” label option to business profiles (NBC News)
  • How Sadie Alexander, the First Black Economics PhD, Became a Voice for Black Workers (Pro Market)
  • NYC Inequality Issues Are as Big as the City Next Mayor Will Run (Bloomberg)
  • Pandemic Sees Largest Surge In Black-Owned Business In the Last 25 Years (Atlanta Black Star)
  • How the pandemic forced this Black small-business owner to pivot (Columbus Business First)
  • From relief to recovery (Brookings Institute). There are a lot of helpful graphs to help visualize our road to recovery.
  • U.S. Residential Segregation Is Likely to Get Worse: New Study (Bloomberg).
  • Original study is “The Roots of Structural Racism Project” by University of California at Berkeley
  • Pandemic Sees Largest Surge In Black-Owned Business In the Last 25 Years (Atlanta Black Star)

Jobs / Workers / Unemployment / Gig Economy

  • Wages Are Rising Again – For Some More Than Others (Center for Public Integrity)
  • Wages Are Rising Unequally — With Black Men and Latinas Seeing the Fewest Gains (Truthout)
  • U.S. job gains surge, easing pressure on Biden over labor market (Politico)
  • The jobs recovery surged forward in June, but not for Black Americans (Insider)
  • Black workers in U.S. saw gains in June, but racial gap persists (Reuters)
  • Despite June’s positive jobs numbers, Black workers continue to face high unemployment (Brookings)
  • How the state can support women who work (New Frame)
  • Black Workers Stopped Making Progress on Pay. Is It Racism? (NY Times)
  • Black workers have made no progress in closing earnings gaps with white men since 2000 (Economic Policy Institute)
  • Closing racial wage gap could lift 2 million Black Americans into middle class, study Finds (Marketplace).
  • The economic state of Black America: What is and what could be (McKinsey) . There is a $220 Billion dollar pay gap between Blacks and Whites in the US. And 60% of the gap is in a small number of professions including doctors, lawyers, and teachers.
  • Keep or Cut Workers? How Companies Reacted to the COVID-19 Crisis (Harvard Business School)
  • Weekly Claims For Unemployment Benefits Hit a 16 Month Low (Black Enterprise)
  • Black Americans are battling ‘three pandemics,’ new report finds (CNN)
  • The median wages for minority workers is almost 50% less than the median wage for non-minorities (The Californian)
  • Closing the Job Mobility Gap Between Black and White Americans (Harvard Business Review)
  • Racial wage gap remains stubborn, but trends are promising (Houston Chronicle)
  • A racial reckoning at nonprofits: Black women demand better pay, opportunities (Washington Post)
  • Maida Springer Insisted Unions Were Essential for Improving Black People’s Lives (Jacobin)
  • Despite June’s positive jobs numbers, Black workers continue to face high unemployment (Brookings)
  • One in Five Young Adults Is Neither Working Nor Studying in U.S. (Bloomberg)
  • Why are unemployment rates higher for Black and Hispanic workers? (Marketplace)
  • McDonald’s Considers Concepts Like Emergency Childcare to Entice Workers (Eater)

Inequality / Systemic Racism / Economic Justice / UBI

  • Economics in Brief: Black Americans Are 16x More Likely to Be in 3rd-Generation Poverty than Whites (Next City)
  • Economic Inclusiveness Tool Reflects Large Racial Wealth Gap In D.C. Region (DCist)
  • Black business owners raise concerns about government loan fund (CBC)
  • Here’s how the racial wealth gap affects the entire nation (JP Morgan)
  • Why it’s time we changed the narrative around black success (Marie Claire)
  • Three key takeaways for California small business owners (Cal Matters)
  • Chicago respects black history, but it’s getting worse now (Illinois News Live)

Black Business

Black Business General / Interesting Black Businesses Stories

  • Endeavor Miami names winners of its first pitch competition for Black founders (South Florida Business Journal)
  • Black Women Are More Likely to Start a Business than White Men (Harvard Business Review) – Only 3% survive to become “mature” businesses. Article does not define mature–bad writing.
  • Dane County’s only Black-owned bookstore may be Itty Bitty, but it’s growing fast (The Cap Times)
  • How Black brands are finding success with major retailers (QCity Metro)
  • Minority firms with city contracts may earn too much for special programs (Crain Chicago Business)

Black Business Specific

Big Business / Corporate / Business Strategy

  • Promises made, promises kept: A year after George Floyd killing, Chicago corporations taking steps to fight racism (Chicago Sun-Times)
  • Black-owned media taking on Ford, Stellantis after battling with GM (Detroit Free-Press)
  • Facebook Makes Strides in Boosting Black, Latinx, Underrepresented Workforce (Adweek)

Black Economics

  • Closing the Gap: Building Black Dollars (Morning Star)
  • ‘A Struggle for the Millennials’ (New York Times)
  • America’s Economic Recovery Requires Centering Racial Equity (Next City)
  • Here’s how Black Americans can begin building wealth right now (CNBC)
  • Economists grapple with how much racism is to blame for a wide pay gap. (New York Times). Really interesting graph depicting the loss of progress in closing the wage gap.
  • This Advisor Wants to Close the Black Wealth Gap. Accepting Risk Is Key. (Barron’s)
  • Why the words of America’s first Black economist resonate today (Marketplace)
  • How Sadie Alexander, the First Black Economics PhD, Became a Voice for Tulsa Black Workers (Pro Market)

Straight up Econ / The economy

  • From relief to recovery (Brookings Institute). There are a lot of helpful graphs to help visualize our road to recovery.
  • Over 3.8 Million Young Adults Found Not Working or in School in Early 2021 (Center for Economic and Policy Research)
  • One in Five Young Adults Is Neither Working Nor Studying in U.S. (Bloomberg)
  • One in five young Americans are neither working nor studying because of COVID job losses and campus shutdowns (Daily Mail UK)

Co-Ops / Employee Owned / Cooperative Economics (UJamaa)

Big Business / Corporate / Business Strategy

  • Instagram adds “Black-owned” label option to business profiles (NBC News)
  • Target store closings in Black communities show limits of corporate pledges to racial equity (Chicago Tribune)
  • Walmart’s Black Senior Managers Don’t Recommend Working There (Bloomberg) and (Seattle Times)
  • In one year, the 15% Pledge got 385 Black-owned brands on the shelves of Macy’s, Gap, Sephora, and more (Fast Company)
  • Corporate America: It’s not too late to honor your racial justice pledges (Fortune)
  • Target Store Closings Show Limits of Pledge to Black Communities (NY Times)
  • How Companies Can Support Single Parents (Harvard Business Review)

Discrimination

Real Estate / Housing / Segregation

  • New local, national programs seek to increase Black homeownership (Denver Channel)
  • Black Americans Face Bigger Financial Barriers to Homeownership Than White Americans: Redfin Survey (Redfin)
  • The State of The Nation’s Housing (Harvard). This report highlights the housing inequalities that still exist and were heightened by the coronavirus.
  • Minority Owned Real Estate School Promotes Black Prosperity (Digital Journal)

Reparations / Affirmative Action / Diversity / Inclusion

  • BET billionaire Robert Johnson calls for $14T in reparations — and wants a check too (NY Post)
  • Los Angeles, Sacramento Announce Reparations Coalition On Juneteenth (Capitol Public Radio) – Sacremento, CA. Part of Mayors Organized for Reparations and Equity
  • A Black family says California took their land decades ago. Now, a state reparations task force is exploring the issue. (Capitol Public Radio)
  • This Program Supports The Ecosystem Supporting Founders Of Color (Forbes)
  • What do ‘reparations’ mean for you? (Cambridge Today)
  • Glenn Loury, economist, says reparations will be ‘disastrous’ for future of United States (Fox News)
  • Ursula Burns on the fight for racial justice in corporate America: ‘We have to fundamentally change institutions’ (USA Today)
  • This is a crucial first step in building a diverse, inclusive workforce (Fortune)
  • A discussion of reparations (Saporta Report)
  • How to think about business stories creatively and inclusively (Quartz)
  • Edward Jones Aims to Nearly Double Diversity in Advisor Ranks by 2025 (Barrons).
  • Corporate America has a supplier diversity problem (Marketplace). Interview with Kelly Burton discussing the issue.

Industry News and Categories

Beauty / Fashion / Retail

  • Black-owned cancer wig company enters top three in $100K business competition (Boston Business Journal)
  • A Black American Designer Disrupts the French Couture (NY Times)
  • Black designers gain impetus in year of reckoning (Financial Times)
  • Why do we buy what we buy? (Vox)
  • Clicks launches new portal to help local black-owned businesses get their products on its shelves (Business Insider)
  • College Classmates Set Their Sights On Growing Eyewear Industry (Atlanta Daily World)

Sports / Media / Entertainment / Music / Arts

  • Akeem Smith explores memory, Black diaspora, and Kingston’s dancehall scene in his Detroit exhibitions (Architect’s Newspaper)
  • The Continuing Evolution of Black Media History – The National Voice of ESPN and NFL Monday Night Football, Cayman Kelly, Renews Contract as Promo Voice for Groundbreaking African-American Network, Bounce TV (Yahoo Finance)
  • The invisible goalposts for Black female athletes (Fortune)
  • Harlem’s Forgotten Festival (Counter Punch)
  • Media and entertainment companies must get more diverse. They shape how we see our world. (USA Today)
  • Business Journal appeals after SBA declines to release detailed loan information (Portland Business Journal)

Alcohol / Marijuana / CBD / Gambling

  • Meet the Women Bringing Weed to the Deep South (Rolling Stone)
  • Can cannabis tax-funded programs solve the industry’s racial inequity issues? (Concentrate)
  • Seeing green? Economic impact of cannabis may be slow, modest (Santa Fe New Mexico)
  • Republicans And Democrats Are Divided Over Marijuana. Businesses Are Caught in The Middle (WBUR)
  • Revolutionary Clinics to distribute $4 million grant to cannabis and minority-owned businesses as part of Aspire program (Mass Live)
  • Lotteries will determine recipients of 185 marijuana dispensary licenses in Illinois (State Journal Register)
  • Senate marijuana bill would allow cannabis firms to hold bank accounts and list on stock exchanges (Fortune)
  • Richmond picks Urban One casino in South Side for November referendum (Richmond Times Dispatch)
  • ‘This could be a game-changer’: Minority businesses see opportunity in Maryland’s sports betting licenses (Baltimore Sun)
  • Black-owned wine businesses struggling the most to survive alcohol ban, says Vinpro (Mail & Guardian)
  • How the pandemic forced this Black small-business owner to pivot (Columbus Business First)
  • Minority businesses see opportunity in Maryland’s sports betting licenses (Baltimore Sun)

Food / Restaurants / Bars / Hospitality

  • Black-owned restaurants are finding a lifeline in food trucks and ghost kitchens (CNN)
  • A Black woman is running Domino Sugar’s refinery for first time in plant’s history (Washington Post)

Finance / Investing / Venture Capital / Banking

  • Why Black-led Banks Are Key to Driving Racial Equity (Atlanta Voice)
  • William Bailey, trailblazing businessman and banker, dies at 83 (Star Tribune)
  • Black Women Still Receive Just A Tiny Fraction Of VC Funding Despite 5-Year High (Crunchbase)
  • Insider spoke with 8 of the most powerful Black women in money management about microaggressions, mentors, and career triumphs (Insider)
  • How usable capital can unleash Black business growth and close racial gaps (Impact Alpha)
  • 40 Under 40: Courtney Hale, Super Money Kids Co. (Nashville Business Journal)
  • Limiting Access to Online Lending Will Hurt Black Entrepreneurs (ADW)
  • Public bank could help Philly overcome troubling racial wealth gap (Philadelphia Inquirer)
  • Going public (Harvard Law Today) — Harvard Law School students work to create a Massachusetts public bank to help minority-owned businesses, small farms, and gateway cities
  • Funding To Black Startup Founders Quadrupled In Past Year, But Remains Elusive (Crunchbase). Great charts to help visualize the data.
  • Black tech entrepreneurs get $1 million boost from Pharrell Williams (CNN)

Real Estate / Finance / Development / Segregation

  • Hispanic Homeowners More Likely To Receive Financial Help Buying A Home (Forbes)
  • A Black Vision for Development, in the Birthplace of Urban Renewal (Bloomberg). Highlights Pittsburgh’s Lower Hill District. 
  • U.S. Residential Segregation Is Likely to Get Worse: New Study (Bloomberg). Original study is the Roots of Structural Racism Project by University of California at Berkeley

Technology / Apps / Innovation

  • Instagram Just Made it Easier for Users to Locate U.S. Black-Owned Businesses (Yahoo Finance)
  • 7 Black-Owned Apps You Need To Download Now (Essence)
  • How Artificial Intelligence Can Deepen Racial and Economic Inequities (ACLU)
  • I am a Black female CEO, and this is how I redefined the white men’s club in tech (Fast Company)
  • 5 ways artificial intelligence may hurt the Black community (Rolling Out)
  • How A24’s ‘Zola’ Proved The Power Of Virality And Black Twitter (Forbes)
  • Building The Diverse Workforce Of The Future, One Tech Leader At A Time (Forbes)
  • Instagram Will Now Tell You Which Businesses Are Black Owned (Yahoo Life)
  • Fast Track To Buying Black: Instagram Announces New Feature To Boost Black-Owned Businesses (Bossip)

Science / Math / Statistics / STEM

Criminal Justice / Police / Corrections / Re-entry / Rehabilitation

  • High Incarceration Rate Is Drag on U.S. Growth, Fed Official Says (Bloomberg)

Cities / Urban Planning / Local Government

  • Newly Opened Businesses Hope To Prosper, Revive Black Culture On Jackson Street (Seattle Medium)
  • Illinois State Senator Napoleon Harris to create the Black Wall Street Program to aid Black business (Illinois Democrats)
  • A Black Wall Street on the West Side (Austin Weekly) — A weekly market inspired by historic Tulsa community an effort to jump-start local economy
  • Building Black Bed Stuy Crowd sources Community (Brooklyn Paper)
  • There’s no building back better without investing in underserved communities (Impact Alpha)
  • NYC Inequality Issues Are as Big as the City Next Mayor Will Run (Bloomberg)

Politics / Government / State and Local

  • The risks of pushing for procurement equity (FCW)
  • Who Is Eric Adams? (American Prospect)
  • Ayanna Pressley Seeks New Protections for U.S. Public Housing Tenants (Bloomberg)
  • How the Build Back Better Framework Will Support Women’s Employment and Strengthen Family Economic Security (White House). An official report from the White House.
  • How the Biden Administration Can Advance Racial Equity (Center for American Progress). The Biden Administration can help improve employment, education, and other disparities that Black Americans face.
  • Biden’s big jobs plan will actually hurt low-income and minority Americans’ chances of owning a home (Business Insider)

Taxes / Tax Policy

Law / Legal / Non-profits / Philanthropy

  • In the World of Big Law Deal Making, Black Lawyers Are Scarce (Bloomberg Law)

HR / Personnel / Human Capital

Education / Healthcare

  • The pandemic, health inequities, and an ‘opportunity for change’ (Penn Today)
  • Decolonizing Public Health (Project Syndicate)
  • These Schools Served Black Students During Segregation. There’s a Fight to Preserve Them (Edweek)
  • Dear Black community — our mental health matters too (Pitt News)
  • Skip college? Not if you want to make more money (Independent)
  • Prairie View A&M University getting new $70M engineering building (Houston Business Journal) – Pretty important. They are expanding access to a high paying career.
  • How COVID taught America about inequity in education (Harvard Gazette)
  • Teachers of color win financial support from Minnesota lawmakers (StarTribune)
  • The Predictable Backlash to Critical Race Theory: A Q&A With Kimberlé Crenshaw (The Nation)
  • Why are so few Black professors tenured? Texas has made little progress despite promises of change (Dallas News). More specific to Texas but does mention cases at other universities in other cities.
  • Critical race theory battles are driving frustrated, exhausted educators out of their jobs (NBC News)

Farming / Agriculture / Food Production

  • A Black family farm is fighting racism in agriculture and climate change (Philadelphia Tribune)
  • Black entrepreneurs hope pandemic gardening boom will grow healthier eating (News Medical)
  • Debt forgiveness for Black farmers is clearly constitutional (Washington Post)
  • How Gleaning Could Reshape the Farm Economy (Civil Eats)
  • How a business executive is bringing back his family’s historic Black Lexington farm (Lexington Herald Leader)
  • Black farmers say Biden’s efforts to address racial discrimination isn’t enough (The Grio)
  • Federal payments to Black Kansas farmers come too late for generations who faced discrimination (Kansas)
  • ‘Rampant issues’: Black farmers are still left out at USDA (Politico)
  • Woman Entrepreneur Debuts the First Ever Black-Owned Plant Fertilizer Brand (BlackBusiness.com) or visit the site at Leafme.com

Transportation / Warehousing, Logistics

People, Careers and All Other

Career / Professions / Entrepreneurship / Businesses You Can Start / Startups

  • Black professionals describe the profound psychological toll of code-switching while working from home (Business Insider)
  • The Black Italian Griglia Cucina – Italian restaurant in Louisville
  • Funding To Black Startup Founders Quadrupled In Past Year, But Remains Elusive (Crunchbase). The story has some great charts to help visualize the data.
  • Black tech entrepreneurs get $1 million boost from Pharrell Williams (CNN)

People / Motivation / Leadership / Success Stories / Ideas

  • How one Raleigh resident is creating opportunities for Black-owned businesses in North Carolina (Business Insider)
  • Brian Roberts builds community support for Black-owned businesses with his shop Black Pantry (Kansas City Mag)
  • She’s 14, Black and already a CEO. Her Columbia business just got a $200K Investment (The State)
  • Meet the Moms Working to Increase Black Women’s Net Worth (Yahoo Life)
  • Inside MacKenzie Scott’s ‘No Strings Attached’ Philanthropy: ‘I Was In Tears’ (Forbes)
  • How I Saved Xerox From a Near-Death Experience (Built in) – Ursula Burns became CEO of Xerox at the height of a global recession and knew they had to diversify
  • Eight of the most powerful Black women in money management on microaggressions, mentors, and finding their voice on Wall Street (Business Insider).
  • Meet The Entrepreneurs Ushering Black Women Into user experience Careers In Brazil (Forbes)

Business Strategy / Small Business Strategy

  • Mentors Are Needed to Help Black Businesses Survive Post-COVID (Uptown)
  • From relief to recovery (Brookings)

Good News

Caribbean / Africa / International

  • Highly educated Black and Asian Brits are disadvantaged at work (CNN). Summarizes a social mobility and ethnicity report completed by the Institute for fiscal studies.
  • Here’s how to fix South Africa’s youth unemployment and black economic empowerment in one go (Daily Maverick)
  • Meet The Entrepreneurs Ushering Black Women Into user experience Careers In Brazil (Forbes)

Travel / History

  • What is the Fourth of July to Black Americans? (Savannah Now)
  • Renovation of historic Black school set to begin (Loudoun Times)
  • The historian John Whittington Franklin on America’s relationship with Black History (Philadelphia Tribune)
  • Stephanie St. Clair, Harlem’s ‘Numbers Queen,’ Dominated the Gambling Underground and Made Millions (Smithsonian)
  • New retail development in Hough neighborhood will honor America’s first Black female millionaire (News 5 Cleveland)
  • Arkansas’s history of celebrating emancipation (Arkansas Times)
  • In Remembering the Tulsa Race Massacre, an ‘Incredible American Story’ of Black Resilience is Also Finally Being Recognized (The 74)
  • Travel has a lack of black people in senior positions (Travel Weekly)
  • Why The People’s Yellow Pages, A Relic Of ’70s Counterculture, Still Resonates Today (WBUR)
  • Reward poster for enslaved man among the oldest ever found in remains of Black man during search on Maryland’s Eastern Shore (The Baltimore Sun)
  • Tulsa race massacre victims had bullet wounds in the back (National Geographic)
  • Redlining, Race, and the Color of Money (Dissent)

Classic / Old stories but good stories

Conservative / Alternative

  • City Building and Black Power. Book review of Soul City (Reason)– Soul City: Race, Equality, and the Lost Dream of an American Utopia

Opinion

  • Biden needs to help end federal cannabis prohibition (The Hill)
  • In the UK, the evidence of racism is clear. Now it’s time to act (Thomson Reuters Foundation)
  • Banning Abortion Doesn’t Protect Women’s Health (New York Times)
  • Road to economic recovery has potholes (Pride Publishing Group)
  • How the Black tech community is leveraging business models that made hip-hop become a massive cultural and business phenomenon (Business Insider).

Other

Kaufmann state of black entrepreneurship

Stories for June 7th to 20th, 2021

Top Stories

  • Job creation is the key to reducing violence and providing critical social services (Philadelphia Tribune)
  • “The economic state of Black America: What is and what could be” (McKinsey). Lots of great points in this study. Black people work disproportionally in low-wage occupations. Also closing the pay gap in 20 specific professions would drastically reduce income inequality. Black people live in consumer deserts. And finally, 3.5 million Black Americans have a negative net worth.
  • Axios discusses the report here in an article (Axios) and has a podcast here of the discussion.
  • 3.5 million African-American households have negative net worth, new study finds (CNN)
  • Sadie Alexander, The first Black PhD Black Economics provides a solution to our problems today (Pennsylvania News Today) – Full employment
  • Poverty Across Generations Is Largely Gone for White Americans (Bloomberg)
  • Founder Of 1863 Ventures, Melissa Bradley, Is Helping Entrepreneurs Build Black-Owned Businesses (Forbes) — Written by Chris Gray, founder of scholly.com 
  • Fortune 500 appointed record number of Black board directors in 2020 (PR Newswire). Meanwhile racial diversity stagnated on corporate boards, study finds (CNBC)
  • Tech’s growth leaves Black professionals further behind (Computer World) — African Americans face large disadvantages in getting tech jobs and being paid well for their work — just as other Black-heavy industries see shrinking employment. Study from conference board below.
  • Mind the Gap: Factors driving growing wage gaps and solutions to close them (Conference Board)
  • Percentage of new African-American directors on Fortune 500 boards from 2009 to 2019 (Statistica)
  • The field of economics has a racial-disparity problem, Fed leaders say, and that worries them (Chicago Sun-Times) – Here is Bill Spriggs on the same topic — “There appears to be no evidence that will get economists to admit, yes, there is discrimination, and, yes, it matters,” said William Spriggs, chief economist for the AFL-CIO.
  • Get to Know These Amazing 27-Black Owned Businesses in Alexandria (The Zebra) – Features hen quarter which is managed by Thompson Hospitality, America’s largest minority-owned food and facilities management company. Also interesting to see what kinds of Black owned business exist in an upper income area.
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Stories

Coronavirus / Covid-19 / Paycheck Protection Program

  • How PPP loans benefited the Bay Area’s wealthy, white areas more than those with large Black and Latino communities (San Francisco Chronicle)
  • Black Business Registrations Increase During COVID Pandemic (Seattle Medium)

Jobs / Workers / Unemployment / Gig Economy

  • Job creation is the key to reducing violence and providing critical social services (Philadelphia Tribune)
  • Biden signs bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday (Associated Press)
  • For many Black employees, working from home can provide relief from inequitable workplaces (Marketplace)
  • Tech’s growth leaves Black professionals further behind (Computer World) — African Americans face large disadvantages in getting tech jobs and being paid well for their work — just as other Black-heavy industries see shrinking employment. Study from conference board below.
  • Mind the Gap: Factors driving growing wage gaps and solutions to close them (Conference Board)
  • Why are unemployment rates higher for Black and Hispanic workers? (Marketplace)
  • Why Black Women Are Leaving the Workforce (Barron’s)
  • For these companies, a year of hardship spurs new beginnings (Washington Post)
  • Hear Us: The Devastating Cost of Cutting Unemployment Benefits (Next City)
  • On LGBTQ+ Equal Pay Day, the U.S. still doesn’t know the size of the wage gap (PBS)

Black Business

  • More Americans Saving for Emergencies, But Big Racial Gap Remains (Dakota Free Press)
  • Workplace racism and its undeniable impact on mental health (Mental Health Today)
  • Black Americans Earn 30% Less Than White Americans, While Black Households Have Just One-Eighth Wealth Of White Households (Forbes)
  • How To Ensure Your Company’s Anti-Racism Work Is Effective, Not Performative (Forbes)

Black Business General / Interesting Businesses Stories

  • How to Accelerate Gains for Your Small Business in Uncertain Times (Entrepreneur)
  • Black-Owned Businesses To Support Right Now (Yahoo Finance)
  • ‘It’s like they’ve been trying to give Black people a chance to make it’: Black business owners feel supported by Quad-City community (Quad-City Times)
  • Brown alumna captures Pulitzer Prize for study of McDonald’s franchises in Black America (Brown University)

Black Business Specific

  • Ian Smith, Local entrepreneur seeks to grow full service architecture firm (Philadelphia Tribune)
  • Get to Know These Amazing 27-Black Owned Businesses in Alexandria (The Zebra) – Features hen quarter which is managed by Thompson Hospitality, America’s largest minority-owned food and facilities management company. Also interesting to see what kinds of Black owned business exist in an upper income area.

Black Economics

Black Economics

  • “The economic state of Black America: What is and what could be” (McKinsey). Lots of great points in this study. Black people work disproportionally in low-wage occupations. Also closing the pay gap in 20 specific professions would drastically reduce income inequality. Black people live in consumer deserts. And finally, 3.5 million Black Americans have a negative net worth.
  • 3.5 million African-American households have negative net worth, new study finds (CNN)
  • Axios discusses the report here in an article (Axios) and has a podcast here of the discussion.
  • Sadie Alexander, The first Black PhD Black Economics provides a solution to our problems today (Pennsylvania News Today) – Full employment
  • The field of economics has a racial-disparity problem, Fed leaders say, and that worries them (Chicago Sun-Times)
  • Editorial: Economics is the study of efficiency and the real-world. However, in the theoretical, economic world there is no logical room for discrimination. Discrimination is inefficient; so economists say, “Ill ignore it”, “It does not affect my models”, or “I’ll let someone else model discrimination and until they do, I won’t account for it,” or worse “It’s a social science problem.” Thanks Gary Becker. Discrimination is always someone else’s problem. It does not make economic sense, so they treat it like it does not exist and kick the can down the road.
  • Here is Bill Spriggs on the same topic — “There appears to be no evidence that will get economists to admit, yes, there is discrimination, and, yes, it matters,” said William Spriggs, chief economist for the AFL-CIO.
  • Long shadows: The Black-white gap in multigenerational poverty (Brookings)
  • The Key To Closing The Racial Wealth Gap: Black Entrepreneurship (Forbes)
  • Some Economics of Black America (BBN Times)
  • The Conversion of Thomas Sowell (Reason) – Conservative
  • General discussion of the Black economic situation in the US featuring Cecilia Rouse, John Rodgers and some McKinsey data. (Washington Post) — Rouse stays on message. Rodgers promotes investments and financial literacy. McKinsey data is interesting.
  • Here is the transcript.

Straight up Econ / The economy

  • What Will It Take to Close the Wealth Gap? (Wharton)
  • Poverty Across Generations Is Largely Gone for White Americans (Bloomberg)

General Business

Big Business / Corporate / Business Strategy

  • Amazon’s Black employees say the company’s HR department is failing them (Vox)
  • Rebranded Aunt Jemima Maker Creates Black Female Empowerment Grants (Nonprofit Times)
  • Best Buy plans to spend $1.2B on diverse suppliers across its business (Retail Drive)
  • Why this entrepreneur thinks retailers’ approach to stocking Black-founded brands is ‘lazy’ (Fortune)
  • How public letters became companies’ favorite form of activism (Indian Express)
  • How should (and shouldn’t) retailers honor Juneteenth? (Retail Wire)
  • How 14 Black creatives got 800 companies to honor Juneteenth (Fast Company)
  • Dear Companies, No Black Squares This Juneteenth (NBC)
  • How corporate America is approaching Juneteenth, the newest national holiday (NBC News)

Discrimination

  • Women in finance feel overlooked for ‘mediocre’ male co-workers, UK study finds (CNBC)
  • ViewPoint: 50th Anniversary of “War On Drugs” (Saulton Online)
  • South Bend’s contracting with minority-owned firms is far off pace from goal (South Bend Tribune)

Real Estate / Housing / Segregation

Reparations / Affirmative Action / Diversity / Inclusion

  • The debate over slavery reparations: Where things stand to how much it could cost (CBNC). A cost estimate for reparations could be as high as $19 trillion.
  • To bring economic equality to women of color, we must do better than ‘build back better’ (Fortune)
  • America needs ‘wealth redistribution,’ not ‘income transfer’: Trevon Logan, Economist (Yahoo Finance)
  • 11 US mayors commit to develop reparations pilot projects for slavery (Business Standard)
  • What a reparations program would look like in The City (San Francisco Examiner)
  • Building Black wealth starts with reparations and home ownership: Spelman economist Dr. Suneye Rae Holmes (Yahoo Finance)

Industries and Categories

  • Estee Lauder Boosts Black Hiring, Plans Global Training Push (Bloomberg)
  • Industries and How to Set — and Meet — Your Company’s Diversity Goals (Harvard Business Review)
  • United Airlines Honors Juneteenth With an All-Black Crew on a Flight From Houston to Chicago (Travel Leisure)
  • 3 red flags that show a company doesn’t really value diversity and equity (Fast Company)
  • What Does It Take to Build a Culture of Belonging? (Harvard Business Review)
  • Black owned businesses make up less than 2% of all US corporations. There could be a $700 billion reward for those who can fill the gap. (Business Insider)
  • How These Experts Think Companies Can Incorporate Justice Into DEI Practices (Forbes)
  • Walk together: Diversity to racial equality (Charlotte Business Journal)
  • Evanston, Illinois, to begin paying reparations to some Black citizens this Summer (ABC 7)
  • One Year Later, LA Companies Make Progress on Diversity (Los Angeles Business Journal)

Categories and Industries

  • How 4th Avenue Is Reinventing Retail For The Black Community (Forbes)

Sports / Media / Entertainment

  • TikTok Begins Accepting Applications for Support Black Businesses Cohort No. 2 (Adweek)
  • Lansing studio pays homage to Black history while creating space for Michigan Filmmakers (Michigan Radio)
  • 20 Companies Commit to Spend at Least 2% of Their Total Annual Media Budgets in Black-Owned Media through GroupM’s Media Inclusion Initiative (PRNewswire
  • A’s ‘surprised’ that Oakland may consider proposal from new group to buy half of Coliseum site (San Francisco Chronicle)

Alcohol / Marijuana / CBD / Gambling

  • CEO of Black-Owned Whiskey Distiller Launches Fund to Help Black-owned marijuana company looks to break into recreational market, reinvest in communities (mlive)
  • Black farmers will be given priority in getting medical marijuana licenses (Sun Sentinel)
  • Florida prioritizing a Black farmer in next batch of medical marijuana licenses (Tampa Bay Times)
  • Governor expected to sign cannabis bill – and not a minute too soon for Black, Brown business owners (Austin Talks)
  • Can racial equality be built into the US cannabis industry? (Financial Times)
  • The cannabis bill does not offer the promise of equity its framers claim (CT Mirror)
  • Councilor seeking ‘equity’ in marijuana ownership (Salem News)
  • Other African-Americans In Spirits Industry ‘Build Generational Wealth’ (Atlanta Black Star)
  • A Black Woman’s Mission To Make Washington D.C. The Capital Of Cannabis (Forbes)
  • Director of group responsible for $20,000 Stoney campaign donation listed as Urban ONE casino investor (WRIC) – Richmond, Va.

Food / Restaurants

  • Restaurants Are Now Adding ‘Equity’ Charges to Customers’ Checks to Fight Oppression (Fee)

Beauty / Fashion / Retail

  • Why Are Black Designers Not Held To The Same Standard As Mainstream Designers? (Essence). It is up to the customers to help emotionally support these black businesses.
  • How The Athlete’s Foot Is Helping Boost Black Ownership With a New Franchising Program (Footwear News)
  • You can apply to the STAART program here.
  • Tracking Fashion’s Diversity: What the 20 Biggest Apparel Companies Have Done Since the Black Squares (WWD)

Finance / Investing / Venture Capital / Banking

  • Cryptocurrency Venture Fund Launches to Focus on Black Startups (Bloomberg)
  • Investment in Black entrepreneurs is on the rise (Marketplace)
  • Founder Of 1863 Ventures, Melissa Bradley, Is Helping Entrepreneurs Build Black-Owned Businesses (Forbes) — Written by Chris Gray, founder of scholly.com
  • Banks facing calls to address racial barriers (Investment Executive)
  • Hip Hop artist, businessman Killer Mike talks entrepreneurship and banking Black (Final Call)
  • Killer Mike’s banks need to postpone their launch again to keep up with high customer demand (Pennsylvania News Today)
  • ‘You need to find a way to get capital to Black-owned businesses:’ Milken Institute (Yahoo Finance)
  • The Clubby World of Venture Capital Finds a New Bet: Black Entrepreneurs (Wall Street Journal)
  • Black Female-Founded Companies Need Funding, Not Accelerators Or Incubators (Forbes)
  • Black Thought: Curing the Racial Wealth Gap by Reclaiming the Black Wall Street Mindset (Ebony)
  • The importance of building Black wealth for future generations: ‘You will create millionaires’ (ABC News)
  • Why the World Needs More Black Accountants (NY Times)
  • Big banks want communities of color to trust them. But it’s not so simple (LA Times)

Real Estate / Finance / Development / Segregation

  • The red-hot housing market is leaving people of color behind. JPMorgan is pushing for new rules to fight ‘appraisal bias’ in real estate (Business Insider)
  • Remarks by the Acting Comptroller of the Currency on Reducing Bias in Real Estate Appraisals (Office of Comptroller of Currency) – Press Release
  • The Black Homeownership Gap Is Worse. Here’s What’s Being Done. (Forbes)
  • Black appraisers call out industry’s racial bias and need for systemic change (NBC News)
  • Wells Fargo Has Programs to Help African American Homebuyers in Sellers’ Market (Washington Informer)
  • History of redlining helps explain present-day injustices in the housing market (Gainesville Sun)
  • Widening homeownership gap in Twin Cities is focus of new report (Minn Post)

Technology / Apps / Innovation

  • Only 4.8% of designers are Black. Herman Miller, Adobe, and Gap unveil a plan to change that (Fast Company)
  • How can employers help underrepresented tech pros get hired via upskilling? (Technically)
  • Tech companies lag behind their Black Lives Matter pledges (MIT Sloan School)
  • How Big Tech Allows the Racial Wealth Gap to Persist (New York Times)
  • ‘I don’t think you can have an anti-racist tech company at scale’ (Fast Company)

Cities / Urban Planning / Local Government

  • New bill aims to force Canada to tackle ‘systemic’ environmental racism (The Guardian)
  • These Black developers are buying back the block (Chicago Business)
  • For(bes) The Culture Newsletter: Calling All Black And Brown Community Champions (Forbes)
  • Wealthy Investors Are Not the Answer for Revitalizing Black Neighborhoods (Bloomberg)
  • How to rebuild neighborhoods? Start with equitable transit. (Crain’s Chicago Business) –Always keep your eye on potential gentrification.
  • Elevated Chicago: Promotes equitable transit oriented development.

Politics / Government / State and Local

  • Biden signs bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday (Associated Press)
  • How policymakers can stave off another crisis for small businesses (The Hill)
  • Is the US properly measuring its economy to include Black America? (Yahoo News)
  • Biden’s nominations for the Fed can change the economy. But his first is stuck in limbo. (Washington Post)

Taxes / Tax Policy

  • Detroit’s Black Wealth Tax. Detroit’s tax burden is one of the highest in the US for a city. (City Journal) – Conservative viewpoint. Wants to slash city government. The real answers are not easy. There is no new state aid nor does the city want to lay people off. However high city taxes stop Blacks from accumulating wealth.
  • Here is a link to city level tax burden data for the largest cities in the US

Education / Healthcare

  • ‘Achievement gap’ is rooted in systemic racism (Gainesville Sun)
  • Camden aims to put more teachers of color in the classroom (NJ Spotlight)
  • How Did Gaps in Hospital Quality Affect COVID-19 Health Disparities? (Patient Engagement)
  • Hospitals: One Reason COVID Is More Lethal for Black Americans (Health Day)
  • Segregated hospitals are killing Black people. Data from the pandemic proves it. (Washington Post)
  • “Would Black America Benefit from Biden’s Proposed FY 2022 Education Program?” (The Tennessee Tribune)
  • Doug Wilder and VA education secretary call for more investment in Virginia’s historically Black colleges (VA Mercury)

Farming / Agriculture / Food Production

  • Black farmers fight to keep their land, cultivate next generation (WHIO)
  • After years of setbacks, socially disadvantaged farmers get debt relief (Marketplace)
  • U.S. Farmers Of Color Were About To Get Loan Forgiveness. Now The Program Is On Hold (NPR)

Transportation / Warehousing, Logistics

People, Careers and All Other

Career / Professions / Entrepreneurship / Businesses You Can Start

  • How Lauren Maillian Is Driving Change For Black And Latinx Women Entrepreneurs In The Digital Age (Forbes)
  • How The Athlete’s Foot Is Helping Boost Black Ownership With a New Franchising Program (Footwear News)
  • Get to Know These Amazing 27-Black Owned Businesses in Alexandria (The Zebra) – Features hen quarter which is managed by Thompson Hospitality, America’s largest minority-owned food and facilities management company. Also interesting to see what kinds of Black owned business exist in an upper income area.
  • Black Wall Street Is Alive and Thriving—and America Needs It Now More Than Ever (Robb Report)

People / Motivation / Leadership / Success Stories / Ideas

  • How The Vision Of This Female Founder Has Created Unrivaled Access For Black Voices In Media (Forbes)
  • Founder Of 1863 Ventures, Melissa Bradley, Is Helping Entrepreneurs Build Black-Owned Businesses (Forbes) — Written by Chris Gray, founder of scholly.com
  • Catching up with Kevin Gatlin, a Voice for Charlotte entrepreneur who landed product deals with major retailers (QCity)
  • With ‘Launch Thy Neighbor,’ A Black Sommelier Is Giving Women Chefs Of Color Workers (Pro Market)
  • Their Own Stage In Wicker Park (Block Club Chicago)
  • Davis is named USDA specialist (Arkansas Online)

Business Strategy / Small Business Strategy

Caribbean / Africa / International

  • New Brixton business showcases Black-owned brands (Brixton Blog)
  • The Women that Run Big Business in Africa (Presswire)
  • NBA grants $500K to Toronto organization to build economic prosperity among Black Canadian youth (Global News) – Canada. Black unemployment is twice White unemployment in Canada. Career Education Empowerment Centre for Young Black Professionals (CEEToronto)

Travel / History

  • What is Juneteenth? (Washington Post). A cool and interactive article highlighting the history of Juneteenth.
  • ‘Forgotten history’: Can Columbia’s East 8th Street neighborhood be revitalized? (Columbia Daily Herald)
  • Hundreds of places in Virginia were listed in the famed ‘Green Book.’ This project seeks to find them all (Roanoke)
  • Unpublished 1936 guide The Complete List of Marxist, Un-American, Anti-White Things (According to White People) (The Root) — Long before Critical Race Theory or the 1619 Project, white America used the term ‘Marxist,’ ‘Communist’ and ‘Un-American’ to condemn Black life in Charleston reveals city’s movements.
  • Unpublished 1936 guide to Black life in Charleston reveals city’s first restaurant critic (Post and Courier)
  • The first PhD idea in Black Economics provides a solution to our problems today (Pennsylvania News Today)—Full employment
  • The future of the I-375 boulevard project and the history behind it (Click On Detroit)

Conservative / Alternative

  • Florida Rep. Byron Donald’s says Black America struggling under Biden economic policies (Fox Business)

Opinion

  • Can direct cash payments for Black families work? (Yahoo News)

Other

Stories for April 26th to May 9th 2021

Top Stories

  • Black Women Are More Likely to Start a Business than White Men (Harvard Business Review). A lot of statistics regarding type of business, funding, and education.
  • Telecommuting allows Black women in Maryland to build wealth (Baltimore Sun). The pandemic has opened labor markets which allows Black women to secure better-paying jobs.
  • Most expensive federal ‘stimulus’ program woefully failed minority communities, new analysis shows (Washington Examiner)
  • Robert Johnson, Founder Of BET, proposes $30 Billion Tax Incentive Legislation to Support Black and Minority Owned Businesses (PR Newswire)
  • There Is Growing Segregation In Millennial Wealth (NPR)
  • Why Black Neighborhoods Continue to Struggle (Governing)
  • Why giving felons a second chance is the key to economic prosperity for America (MarketWatch). Underemployment for felons is a huge loss in economic potential.
  • Paulla McCarthy is the First Black Woman CEO to Own a NY Spring Water Bottling Plant (Ebony)
  • It will take 333 years to erase equity gap for minority-owned businesses at current growth level (PRNewswire). Original report from the Michigan Minority Supplier Development CouncilSupplier.io is here.

    Supplier.io’s software calculates an “inflated” impact score using a “multiplier” that count down stream effects. For example, Black business is assumed to have 50% black employees and spend 25% of their money will other Black business, so the total spend 100% of the first Black business, 50% of wage and 25% of second Black business. Pretty creative.

    Supplier.io, a leading vendor of supplier diversity software, has few minority employees, none in leadership and outsources most of it’s work to India.

    Everyone’s making money off Black people except Black people. Some of these supplier diversity programs may be PR focused.

Stories

Protest / Social Justice

  • What local leaders have done a year after racial dialogue promises (Reporter Newspapers)
  • Black activists march on CHA headquarters (Chicago Sun-Times) — Several Black-led community activism organizations gathered outside of the Chicago Housing Authority to demand local, state and federal government support in Chicago’s Black neighborhoods. Including contracting opportunities.

Coronavirus / Covid-19 / Paycheck Protection Program

  • Most expensive federal ‘stimulus’ program woefully failed minority communities, new analysis shows (Washington Examiner)

Jobs / Workers / Unemployment / Gig Economy

  • Almost 2 million Americans will lose supplemental unemployment benefits in 16 states (CNBC). Workers will lose a $300 weekly supplement to unemployment benefits.
  • The Amazon union drive showed us the future of US labor (The Guardian)
  • Amazon Calls Black Worker’s Race, Sex Bias Suit Baseless (Law360) – Charlotte Newman worked for Sen. Cory Booker but amazon claims she did not have public policy experience.
  • Telecommuting allows Black women in Maryland to build wealth (Baltimore Sun). The pandemic has opened labor markets which allows Black women to secure better-paying jobs.
  • The Fear Black Employees Carry (Harvard Business Review)
  • Your Next Great Hire Is Graduating From a Community College (Edsurge)
  • OneWest offering free training for Black and minority job seekers in construction, Architecture (WHAS 11)
  • Disappointing April jobs growth keeps unemployment rate above 6% (CBS News)
  • Biden administration reverses Trump-era gig workers rule (Aljazeera) – Labor
  • Biden administration blocks Trump-era rule affecting gig workers(Reuters)
  • Jobs begin to bounce back but not every role will return (Independent.ie)

Inequality / Systemic Racism / Economic Justice / UBI

  • It will take 333 years to erase equity gap for minority-owned businesses at current growth level (PRNewswire). Original report from the Michigan Minority Supplier Development CouncilSupplier.io is here.
  • Supplier.io’s software calculates an “inflated” impact score using a “multiplier” that count down stream effects. For example, Black business is assumed to have 50% black employees and spend 25% of their money will other Black business, so the total spend 100% of the first Black business, 50% of wage and 25% of second Black business. Pretty creative.
  • Supplier.io, a leading vendor of supplier diversity software, has few minority employees, none in leadership and outsources most of it’s work to India.
  • Everyone’s making money off Black people except Black people. Looks like a lot of these programs are PR.
  • A Rude Awakening: A Surface-Level Understanding of the Barriers Black Founders Face (Nasdaq)
  • California lawmakers must commit to small, minority-owned businesses (Cal Matters) – Communities of color borne the largest burdens of California’s latest crises
  • Mothers see signs of economic hope after a year of stress (Detroit Free Press)
  • Black-White wage gap grows to highest level since the pandemic began (NJ Today)
  • $11.5 Million Settlement Reached In Racial Glass Ceiling Case Against Kaiser (Forbes). This article talks about the Kaiser case and the “concrete ceiling” that blocks Black employees into higher level positions.

Black Business

Black Business General / Interesting Businesses Stories

  • Black Women Are More Likely to Start a Business than White Men (Harvard Business Review). A lot of statistics regarding type of business, funding, and education.
  • Robert Johnson, Founder Of BET, proposes $30 Billion Tax Incentive Legislation to Support Black and Minority Owned Businesses (PR Newswire)
  • How Black-owned businesses can make the most out of the Biden infrastructure Plan (Brookings) – Andre Perry
  • Tampa is a city of opportunity for minority-owned businesses (Tampa Bay Business Journal)
  • After George Floyd, Black-owned bookstores bloomed across America – and now Houston (Houston Chronicle)
  • Meeting The Needs Of Black-Owned Small Businesses In The Digital Economy (Seattle Medium)
  • ‘It works.’ How a little money spurred growth in these small KC Black owned businesses (Kansas City Star)
  • Bold Xchange company created to support Black-owned businesses (ENN) – Elon graduates start an online retail shop promoting Black Businesses
  • Lalese Stamps: ‘People were wanting to support Black-owned businesses’ (Columbus Monthly)
  • Millennial content company gives a boost to Black-led startups (Yahoo News)
  • Why networking is essential to the survival of Black-owned businesses (Triangle Business Journal)
  • How this laundry detergent could help build economy in Rochester’s Black Communities (Democrat & Chronicle)

Black Business Specific

  • Paulla McCarthy is the First Black Woman CEO to Own a NY Spring Water Bottling Plant (Ebony)

Black Economics

Black Economics

  • Fed’s Powell says economic recovery clouded by racial, education gaps (Reuters)
  • How Systemic Racism Continues To Determine Black Health And Wealth In Chicago (NPR). Original article is from the New York Times.
  • Black consumers must demand respect in Philly, across U.S. (Philadelphia Tribune) – Michael Coard
  • There Is Growing Segregation In Millennial Wealth (NPR)
  • Why You Should Consider Moving Your Money to a Minority-Owned Bank (Consumer Reports)
  • Black Banking Executives on How to Sustain Post Floyd Changes (Bloomberg Equality)

Straight up Econ / The economy

  • How three combative, unconventional economists forced the president to abandon his neoliberal ways (The New Republic) — The Progressive Trio Shaping Biden’s Ambitious Economic Policy. Bye, Bye, Larry Summers.
  • Chairman Powell comments on Survey of Household Economics and Decision Making (SHED) report from FED. (Street Insider) – Twenty (20%) of Black prime aged workers(25-54) were laid off. 36% of Black mother were either not working or had to reduce their hours because of childcare issues. 67% of Black business had to reduce operations during covid.

Co-Ops / Employee Owned / Cooperative Economics (UJamaa)

General Business

Big Business / Corporate / Business Strategy

  • Coca-Cola is at the center of a debate over corporate social justice, with an anti-affirmative-action activist threatening to sue over its supplier diversity program (Business Insider)
  • Black Business Expo keeps dollars in the community, provides networking (News Now)
  • Corporate Spending On Diverse Suppliers Rose An Average Of 54% In Recent Years, According To New Research From Bain & Company And Coupa (Yahoo Finance)
  • A commentary on american corporations and society (Elko Daily)
  • American companies pledged $50 billion to Black communities. Most of it hasn’t Materialized (Fortune)
  • How two Black CEOs got corporate America to pay attention to voting rights (Philadelphia tribune)

Amazon

  • The Amazon union drive showed us the future of US labor (The Guardian)
  • Amazon Calls Black Worker’s Race, Sex Bias Suit Baseless (Law360) – Charlotte Newman worked for Sen. Cory Booker but amazon claims she did not have the required public policy experience.

Discrimination

  • Black customer recounts ‘degrading’ treatment at Ottawa bank branch (CBC)
  • SA mining company accused of crushing black-owned firms with anti-competition Behavior (IOL)

Real Estate / Housing / Segregation

  • Black Americans And The Racist Architecture Of Homeownership (WAMU)
  • Alabama School Segregation Increases Due To Economic, Historical Trends, Study Finds (Today KU)
  • Property tax sales rock Black neighborhoods (Valley Press)
  • Indianapolis homeowner files discrimination complaint after removal of Black identifiers leads to $100,000 appraisal increase (Fox 59) — Looks like something that we should be testing for.

Reparations / Affirmative Action / Diversity / Inclusion

  • San Francisco OKs task force to study Black reparations (AP)
  • The Fortune 500 now has two Black women CEOs. That’s actually an improvement (WRAL)
  • Walmart Boosts Black Corporate Officers Back Near 2015 Level (Bloomberg)
  • How Companies Are Helping To Close The Racial Wealth Gap (Forbes).
  • Recent happenings that further diversity, inclusion in the natural products industry (New Hope)
  • ServiceNow workforce grew 26% last year, but its diversity percentages barely budged (Silicon Valley Business Journal)
  • CEOs say they are committed to racially inclusive economic growth, but is it just talk? (Washington Post)
  • ‘I Feel like I’m Drowning’: Women Business Owners Keep Hitting New Barriers to Federal Loan Aid (Government Executive)
  • How Four Women Made Miami More Equitable for Startups (Harvard Business School)
  • Shelly Bell Is Making Sure Black & Brown Women Entrepreneurs Get What They’re Worth (Elite Daily)
  • Don’t have the funds to hire your own diversity director? The Columbus Chamber has a solution for that. (Columbus Business First)
  • When diversity isn’t enough: Building the case for inclusion (HR Executive)

Industries and Categories

Sports / Media / Entertainment

  • She was tired of seeing Black stereotypes on TV. So she started her own streaming service. (CNN). This article highlights the story of DeShuna Spencer and Kweli.TV.
  • New report shows Black, Hispanic workers underrepresented in creative jobs (NYN Media) —
  • Lebron James Now Owns Part Of the Red Sox. What Does That Mean For Sports? (GBH)
  • Black Artist Database Relaunches with Expansion Announcement and Music Industry Initiatives (DJ Mag)
  • ‘We’re all stuck in this cycle of scarcity’: Revolt CEO on why Black-owned media needs more investment (Digiday)

Alcohol / Marijuana / CBD / Gambling

  • The Cannabis Industry Is Rooted in Racial Justice (Barrons)
  • Marijuana social equity: Seeds planted but will they grow? (AP News)
  • Minority Entrepreneurs Face Uphill Battle To Enter Legal Marijuana Market (Forbes)
  • Here’s what to expect at Charlotte’s first minority-owned CBD dispensary, Lavender House CLT (Charlotte Business Journal)
  • Efforts to Expand Jefferson Park Cannabis Dispensary Stall Amid Equity Concerns (WTTW)
  • New York Weed Dealers Face a Choice: Go Corporate or Stay Underground (Curbed)
  • Illinois to Unveil Plan For 110 New Adult-Use Cannabis Licenses (Cannabis Business Times)
  • Jay-Z Sets Up a $10 Million Seed Fund for Minority-Owned Cannabis Businesses (Green Entrepreneur)

Food / Restaurants

  • Black Female Founder Attracts Venture Capital With Allergy-Friendly Snacks (Forbes)
  • Black restaurants surviving pandemic (Bay State Banner)
  • 2020 Showed That Supporting Black-Owned Supermarkets Has Never Been More Important (Buzz Feed News)
  • Alternative delivery players challenge third-party delivery stronghold (Restaurant Hospitality) – Other options beyond DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats begin to emerge.

Finance / Investing / Venture Capital

  • American Express puts $40 million into a fund to provide loans to small business owners of color (CNBC)
  • ‘Lenders Look at Us as Black Before They Look at Us as Entrepreneurs’ (NASDAQ)
  • This Barack Obama adviser is quietly investing $250 million in startup founders of color (Vox)
  • Carver Federal Savings Bank review: Black-owned bank with a free checking Account (Insider)
  • What history can teach banks about making change (Money Control)
  • Fund Companies Push Diversity in Bond Trading (The Wall Street)
  • Black venture capitalist Eric Collins fights ‘tough odds’ in Europe(RFI)
  • New Effort Bets on Pittsburgh as a Hub for Black Venture Capital (Bloomberg)
  • Black and minority founders are being excluded from venture-capital funding, new study finds (Business Insider)
  • Black founders raise just 1% of pre-Seed venture capital funding (Growth Business)

Real Estate / Finance / Development / Segregation

  • Why Black Americans And Homeownership Lags Badly in Minneapolis (Wall Street Journal)
  • Why Black Neighborhoods Continue to Struggle (Governing)
  • The Racist Architecture Of Homeownership (NPR): How Housing Segregation Has Persisted (GPB)
  • A new study shows anti-Black racism is costing American homeowners hundreds of thousands of dollars (Business Insider) 
  • How Dayton-area highways contributed to segregation, and what comes next: 3 things to know (Dayton)

Technology / Apps / Innovation

  • Dream job 2.0: How social media influencers create a more accessible path to Celebrity (The Globe and Mail)
  • How Broadband Access Advances Systemic Equality (ACLU)
  • Actor Hill Harper to launch Black-owned digital wallet (Richmond Free Press)

Cities / Urban Planning / Local Government / Development

  • Black Equity and Excellence project is funding initiatives with long-lasting potential (WRVO)
  • New York is inching toward its MWBE goals. (City & State NY)
  • How Black-owned businesses can make the most out of the Biden infrastructure plan (Brookings Institute)
  • Black and Brown Millennials and Long Island economics (Long Island Business News) – Survey of Black and Hispanic Long Island Millennials. Martin Cantor is a leading expert on race and real estate development

Politics / Government / State and Local

  • The county where Black women hold power — a few miles from the White House (Washington Post)
  • Biden just recited his wish list for struggling American families. Now he has to deliver. (Washington Post)
  • Biden’s Tax-and-Spend Plans Are Big, But Wealth Gaps Are Bigger (Bloomberg)
  • Biden’s Proposals Aim to Give Sturdier Support to the Middle Class (NY Times)
  • VP Kamala Harris dropped by local minority-owned businesses during visit to the Tri-State (WCPO)
  • A former Georgia sheriff’s deputy said he wanted to charge Black people with felonies to prevent them from voting, court documents show (Business Insider)
  • ‘My VP looks like me’ (USA Today)
  • Vice President Harris leading small business outreach in White House recovery plan push (CNBC)

Law / Legal / Non-profits / Philanthropy

  • Kaiser Permanente Racial Bias Case
  • Class Action Lawsuit on Behalf of African American Employees in Administrative Support and Consulting Services Job Families at Kaiser Permanente (kaiserracebiascase.com)
  • Kaiser Permanente settles $11.5 million dollar racial discrimination suit (Forbes)
  • The Settlement Provides Money and New Workplace Programs for African American Employees (Business Wire) – Press release

Education / Healthcare

  • After a Traumatizing Year, Black People Turn to Therapy (New York Times)
  • What A $577 Million Settlement Will Mean For Maryland HBCUs (WWNO)
  • Fauci: Addressing healthcare access disparities will take decades (Medical Economics)
  • Colleges Are Sabotaging Black and Brown Students (Inside Higher Ed)
  • Hiewet Senghor drives Black teachers to strong relationships (Atlanta Business Chronicle)
  • Here’s What’s Driving This CSULB Professor To Achieve Black Health Equity In Long Beach (Patch)
  • LSU names next president; will be first Black president of university system (KATC)
  • Apple Joins The Effort In Fostering Teacher Diversity (Forbes)
  • Black Studies represents only 0.1 percent of all University of California system undergraduate degrees(The College Fix) – Right wing stuff and simple mined, but makes a point. “What good is a baby?”

Farming / Agriculture / Food Production

  • House AG Chairman: Use Tax Code To Encourage Purchases From Black Farmers (Successful Farming)
  • Warnock works to remedy decades of USDA discrimination against Black farmers (Colarado Newsline)

People, Careers and All Other

Career / Professions / Entrepreneurship / Businesses You Can Start

  • Advancing Black entrepreneurship amid a racial reckoning and a pandemic (ABC News)
  • Long before United, Black pilots flew freely in American skies (USA Today)
  • New books on the black pioneer WEB Du Bois (NextTV)
  • ‘Married to Medicine’ star Dr. Imani Walker says the strong Black woman stereotype is harmful (Yahoo News)
  • The State of Black Entrepreneurship (Sahan Journal)
  • Samsung Continues To Create Sustainable Opportunities In E-Waste Industry (Samsung) – South Africa

People / Motivation / Leadership / Success Stories / Ideas

  • Why Americans Can’t Have Nice Things (The Indypendent) – Heather McGhee book
  • Lily Adeleye, the six-year-old behind the youngest Black-owned brand on Walmart’s shelves (Face2Face Africa)
  • This Black Mom Entrepreneur Is Paving The Way For Other Women-Led Companies (Forbes). Story about Monique Rodriquez and Mielle Organics.
  • Two Black Dads Celebrate Diversity By Creating Their Own Line of Black Dolls (Essence)
  • Black Woman Entrepreneur Lands Historic Deal With Resorts World New York (Black Business)

Small Business Strategy

  • Youngest CEO of a Black-Owned Business Lands at Walmart (Yahoo Finance)
  • Black-owned school-lunch business moving to Philly area to create ‘culturally relevant’ meals for kids (Philadelphia Inquirer)
  • After the Pandemic and Protests, a British Rapper Spotlights Black Businesses (New York Times) — Black Pound Day was created to find a sustainable way to support Black-owned businesses

Caribbean / Africa / International

  • Samsung Continues To Create Sustainable Opportunities In E-Waste Industry (Samsung) – South Africa
  • Black venture capitalist Eric Collins fights ‘tough odds’ in Europe(RFI)

Travel / History

  • The mothers of Malcolm X, MLK and James Baldwin: New book explores how they shaped their sons (Washington Post)
  • JXN Project examines the history of one of the first Black urban neighborhoods (PBS)
  • Deconstructing segregation: How highways contributed, and what can be done about it today (Dayton Daily News)
  • Isabel Wilkerson: How Did The Great Migration Change The Course Of Human History? (NPR). A podcast episode mentioning the effects of the great migration.
  • A History Buff Leads Walking Tours Of Black Indianapolis (NPR)
  • ‘The Secret History of Home Economics’ Review: Engineering the Everyday (WSJ)

Conservative / Alternative

  • Is it legal to prioritize women- and minority-owned restaurants for COVID-19 relief? A lawsuit alleges white men are ‘pushed to the back of the line.’ (Chicago Tribune)
  • Black Studies represents only 0.1 percent of all University of California system undergraduate degrees(The College Fix) – Right wing stuff and simple mined, but makes a point. Easy to refute with “People value the wrong things”, “Low enrollment is part of a larger problem in society” or “What good is a baby?” Why are these people even interested in Black Studies other than to generate headlines and cause division?

Opinion

  • Remove Governor Stitt from Tulsa Race Massacre Commission for signing HB 1775 (Black Wall Street Times)
  • Historically Black colleges need equal access to the bond market (The Hill)
  • America is having a Black Renaissance. We should learn from it. (Washington Post)
  • Why giving felons a second chance is the key to economic prosperity for America (MarketWatch). Underemployment for felons is a huge loss in economic potential.
  • CEOs speaking up for democracy is good business but employees and shareholders need to keep the pressure on (MarketWatch)
  • U.S. business moved to combat racism after George Floyd’s murder. Here’s what still needs to be done. (MarketWatch)

Stories for May 24th to June 7th 2021

Top Stories

  • When Tulsa’s Black Wall Street Went Up in Flames, So Did Potential Inheritance (Wall Street Journal)
  • Racial discrimination has cost American economy trillions. Tulsa, massacres just a start. (USA Today)
  • Wanted: Creative careers for Black and Brown New Yorkers (NY Daily News)
  • Tech companies made big pledges to fight racism last year — here’s how they’re doing so far (CNBC) – Wow, pretty comprehensive.
  • How Restaurants Can Promote a More Diverse and Inclusive Wine Industry (FSR Magazine). Association of African-American Vintners is here.
  • USDA starts rollout of debt relief for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers (AG Week) – What !!!
  • Four ways the US can pay reparations for slavery that aren’t direct cash payments (Business Insider). Good way to start thinking about equality (reparations). There is also “10 Solution to fix the racial wealth gap” from 2019.
  • A legacy of empowerment: Gipson Grocery in Dallas looks to expand its key role in the Black community (Dallas News)
  • Thomas Sowell: The Soul of Black Conservativism (Wall Street Journal)
  • Black-owned banks are booming, and they’re pouring money back into their communities(CNN) – Disappointing. No specifics on any actual specific community investment like home mortgages, commercial real estate or business loans nor customer geography. They could have at least pulled some CRA data. One United Bank’s Community Reinvestment Act filing is here.
  • Her mother told her to take an economics class at Harvard. Now Cecilia Rouse is a history-making economic adviser to President Biden (Boston Globe)
  • Biden’s $6 trillion budget proposal would rebuild America’s social safety net (Vox)
  • Sean Combs Teams Up With Salesforce To Launch SHOP CIRCULATE, An All-In-One Digital Marketplace For Black-Owned Businesses (PRNewswire)
  • Racism Derails Black Men’s Health, Even as Education Levels Rise (Kaiser Health News) — Good and long. Racism and isolation cause health problems.

All Stories

  • States Cutting off Expanding Unemployment (Vox)
  • Sean Combs Teams Up With Salesforce To Launch SHOP CIRCULATE, An All-In-One Digital Marketplace For Black-Owned Businesses (PRNewswire)
  • TPCO Invests In First Black Women-Owned Cannabis Speakeasy In The U.S. (Forbes)
  • Why Black Americans Need Black-Owned Banks (Time)
  • Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Actions to Build Black Wealth and Narrow the Racial Wealth Gap (The White House). Policy announcement from the White House.

Protest / Social Justice

  • 10 Minutes with… Black Lives Matter (License Global)
  • Asheville’s Black Lives Matter protests: What’s changed a year later? (Citizen Times)

Coronavirus / Covid-19 / Paycheck Protection Program

  • Lawsuit keeps minority-owned businesses from getting pandemic financial relief (Wish TV)
  • How social identities are affecting post-Covid economic prospects (Consulting)
  • Black-owned businesses used internet lending sites more than other groups for PPP loans (Banking Dive). Fed Study is Here.

Jobs / Workers / Unemployment / Gig Economy

  • How Cuts to Unemployment Benefits Will Hurt Rural People (In These Times)
  • Black, Latino NC workers had to play ‘Russian Roulette’ during COVID. The toll was steep. (Charlotte Observer)
  • Gig workers to lose all unemployment benefits in 20 GOP states (CBS News)
  • Black and Hispanic women are still behind as jobs rebound. (New York Times)
  • Without enough child care, workers can’t get back to work (Philadelphia Inquirer)
  • States Cutting off Expanding Unemployment (Vox)
  • Hiring Picked Up in May but Lagged Behind Broader Recovery (Wall Street Journal)
  • First 3 African American firefighters in Newark honored (Yahoo News)
  • Wanted: Creative careers for Black and Brown New Yorkers (NY Daily News)

Inequality / Systemic Racism / Economic Justice / UBI

  • Business of Pride: Davin Clemons of Relationships Unleashed (Proud to be IP)
  • The search for balance among four Americas. Book Review of George Packer’s “Last Best Hope” (Washington Post) – Conservative
  • Racism Derails Black Men’s Health, Even as Education Levels Rise (Kaiser Health News) — Good and long.

Black Business

Black Business General / Interesting Businesses Stories

  • Black Businesses Matter (Forbes)
  • Why doesn’t Rochester have more Black-owned business startups? (Post Bulletin)

Black Business Specific

  • 13-year-old entrepreneur supplies 400 notebooks to Penn Hills Charter School of Entrepreneurship (Trib Live). Kenz N’ Co is a business run by the 13-year old Ryleigh Mackenzie.
  • Kahawa 1893: The First Black Woman-Owned Coffee Brand in Trader Joe’s (GlobalNewsWire) – Press release
  • Sean Combs Teams Up With Salesforce To Launch SHOP CIRCULATE, An All-In-One Digital Marketplace For Black-Owned Businesses (PRNewswire) – Press release with good links.
  • The Importance of Black-owned Vintage Stores | Business (Pennsylvania News Today)

Black Economics

  • Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Actions to Build Black Wealth and Narrow the Racial Wealth Gap (The White House). An official report from the administration. Lot’s of good research and links.
  • Exclusionary Zoning: Its Effect on Racial Discrimination in the Housing Market (The White House) – Good research and links. Another very difficult problem that may be beyond our abilities as a country.
  • Sadie Alexander: Bucknell professor publishes book on first Black American economics Ph.D. (Daily Item)
  • For Black America, Bitcoin is Hope, Bitcoin is Change (Bitcoin Magazine)

Co-Ops / Employee Owned / Cooperative Economics (UJamaa)

  • One big strategy to reduce racial wealth inequality: employee ownership (Technically)
  • Bridging The Energy Efficiency Divide (Forbes) – Roanoke Electric Cooperative pays for members home energy upgrades.

General Business

Big Business / Business Strategy

  • Tech companies made big pledges to fight racism last year — here’s how they’re doing so far (CNBC) – Wow, pretty comprehensive.
  • Spending on diverse suppliers has increased more than 50%, says Bain report (Consulting.US). Supplier Diversity: How to Overcome Four Key Obstacles (Bain & Company)
  • How companies can celebrate Juneteenth (HR Dive)
  • This volunteer-led platform is tracking nearly $50 billion in corporate promises (Morning Brew)
  • Corporate board diversity census showed Black men lost ground (Aljazeera)
  • Racially Diverse CFOs Are in High Demand, but Challenges Persist (Wall Street Journal)
  • You Can Still Count The Number Of Black CEOs On One Hand (NPR). There are still just 5 Black CEOs within Fortune 500 companies.
  • Big business emerges as major US community investor – but ‘smaller dollar’ also playing a growing role (Pioneers Post)
  • One year after #BlackoutTuesday, what have companies really done for racial justice? (Vox)
  • PayPal Deposits $135 Million in Financial Institutions Serving Black and Underserved Communities as Part of $535 Million Commitment to Advance Racial Equity (Yahoo Finance)

Discrimination / Racism

  • Auditors find racial disparities in King County contracts (Bellevue Reporter)
  • Racial Discrimination Lawsuit filed Against Terlato Wine Group (Wine Business) – Same stuff; different day. Terlato Wine Group
  • For LGBTQ employees of color, sexual orientation is the biggest source of discrimination in the workplace (USA Today)
  • How does age discrimination affect the economy? (Marketplace). Age discrimination hits twice for black workers.
  • First study in 30 years to document whether minorities are getting their fair share of CT contracts (Danbury News Times)
  • Racial discrimination has cost American economy trillions. Tulsa, massacres just a start. (USA Today)
  • Not just Tulsa: Racist mobs were ‘widespread and a constant concern’ 100 years Ago (USA Today)
  • AlaBev, AKA Birmington Beverage Company, settles EEOC suit claiming racial bias (AP) — The chair of the agency, Charlotte Burrows, said the case illustrated “the destructive and demoralizing impact race discrimination can have on employees when they are denied employment opportunities based on their race.”

Real Estate / Housing / Segregation

  • Black homeownership: Low in California, even lower nationally (Silicon Valley)

Reparations / Affirmative Action / Diversity / Inclusion

  • What Happened When Evanston Became America’s First City to Promise Reparations (Bloomberg)
  • Steve Rodgers from Harvard Business School, suggests how white Americans can help fix racial wealth disparity (Chicago Sun-Times) – Problems are caused giant wealth gap. White people can donate to HBCUs, buy from Black businesses and support reparations.
  • Racial Justice and diversity in business require leadership (USA Today)
  • The huge diversity issue hiding in companies’ forced arbitration agreements (CNBC) – Interesting. Arbitration is less diverse than the court system.
  • Businesses with racial equity achieve 58% higher revenues (Personnel Today)
  • After George Floyd was killed, retailers pledged to put Black-owned brands on shelves. Here’s how it’s going (CNBC)
  • Four ways the US can pay reparations for slavery that aren’t direct cash payments (Business Insider). Good way to start thinking about equality (reparations). There is also “10 Solution to fix the racial wealth gap” from 2019.
  • Industries and Update On Retailers’ ’15 Percent Pledge’ (NPR)
  • How Can You Start Shifting Your Business to Be Actively Anti-Racist? (Entrepreneur)
  • How the Columbus Urban League hopes to boost the earning power and wealth of Black Women (Columbus Business First)
  • Repairing America (AZ Central) — Exploring Fight for Reparations, Racial Justice Across the Country
  • After a decade of being othered, here’s why this publicist started an agency for ‘misfits’ (Digiday)

Categories and Industries

Beauty / Fashion / Retail

  • How One Black-Owned Brand’s Handbag Became a Pandemic Hit (Washingtonian)
  • More major retailers are carrying Black-owned beauty brands (CBS News)
  • How Fashion Influencer Mamissa Mboob, AKA The Color Me Mam, is influencing women to wear more color (Digital Journal)

Sports / Media / Entertainment

  • General Mills, Nestle Among 20 Big Advertisers Pledging to Spend More on Black-Owned Media (Variety)
  • Black media owners remain skeptical despite investment pledges (Marketing Brew)
  • The pandemic sparked a Black cycling movement in South L.A. — and a new Business (Los Angeles Times)
  • IndyCar courts Black fans, drivers in its push to diversify (Indianapolis Business Journal) – Via AP
  • Directors should honor African Americans by hiring Black Americans to play them (LA Times)

Alcohol / Cannabis / Gambling

  • Legislators, law enforcement focused on black market marijuana and rural Concerns (Nondoc)
  • The brewing industry is facing a social reckoning. Now Black brewers are making craft beer more inclusive. (Business Insider)
  • Illinois Senator Lightford moves to create more cannabis dispensary licenses for minority applicants (Illinois Senate Democrats)
  • Colorado wrestles with increasing minority cannabis ownership (The Denver Channel)
  • A Black whiskey entrepreneur will help bankroll others like her (Philadelphia Tribune)
  • TPCO Invests In First Black Women-Owned Cannabis Speakeasy In The U.S. (Forbes)
  • How This New Food and Wine Festival Will Put the Spotlight on Black Chefs (Robb Report)
  • UK cannabis campaigners take note: in the US, change came from below (The Guardian)
  • How Restaurants Can Promote a More Diverse and Inclusive Wine Industry (FSR Magazine)
  • Association of African-American Vintners is here.
  • Rhode Island Coalition Pushes Most Equitable Legal Cannabis Regulations Yet (The Intercept)

Food / Restaurants

  • As part of goal to build Black generational wealth, SOUL Street starts Black Owned Farmers Market (Frederick News Post)
  • Diageo launches DEI initiative to boost Black community in spirits industry (Marketing Dive)
  • A legacy of empowerment: Gipson Grocery in Dallas looks to expand its key role in the Black community (Dallas News)

Finance / Investing / Venture Capital

  • Where Do Black Millennials Stand in the Wealth Game? (Ebony)
  • Black-owned banks are booming, and they’re pouring money back into their communities(CNN) – Disappointing. No specifics on any actual specific community investment. No discussion of community mortgage, real estate or business loans. No discussion of geography or customers they serve. They could have at least pulled some CRA data.
  • One United Bank’s Community Reinvestment Act filing is here.
  • How Waka Flocka Is Using NFTs To Amplify The Voices Of Black Artists (Forbes). Artists are using NTFs as a form of investment.
  • Why Black Americans Need Black-Owned Banks (Time)
  • Black, Latinx and female entrepreneurs are still ignored by most venture capitalists (LA Times)
  • Calling For Diversity In Financial Service (Wilmington Biz)

Real Estate / Finance / Development / Segregation

  • The housing market is booming but remains deeply unequal (Washington Post). Talks about discrimination within appraisals. 
  • How housing discrimination and white flight segregated America (Economist)

Technology / Apps / Innovation

  • TikTok Announces New Funding and Training Initiatives to Provide Support for Black-Owned Businesses (Social Media Today)
  • App Focuses On Racial Wealth Disparities By Boosting Credit Scores—And Home Ownership (Forbes). The app, My Home Pathway, helps those master financial literacy and increase credit scores.
  • The funding gap for Black founders of social apps (Axios) – Interesting read.
  • Meet 30 Black Founded Startups Selected By Google For Their New $2 Million (£1.5 Million) Black Founders Fund (Forbes) – What businesses are Non-US Blacks starting ? Google gave money to 30 of them.
  • Why A U.K.-Based Organization Has Launched An A.I. And Blockchain Accelerator For Black Founders (Forbes)
  • Ice Cube and Anthony Anderson endorse “Follow Me For Equity” social media investing app. (Black Unicorn Factory)

Science / Math / Statistics / STEM

Criminal Justice / Police / Corrections / Re-entry / Rehabilitation

  • A public health intervention for violence across the Americas (The Hill)

Cities / Urban Planning / Local Government

  • Building Back Severed Communities (American Prospect)
  • Charleston, Johns Island undergoing huge demographic shift among Blacks, Whites (Charleston Post & Courier) – Whites are moving back into Charleston and taking over the Black suburb of Johns Island.
  • The Highway That Sparked the Demise of an Iconic Black Street in New Orleans (Smithsonian)

Politics / Government / State and Local

  • Biden embraces symbolism, but substance on some issues proves more difficult (Washington Post)
  • Her mother told her to take an economics class at Harvard. Now Cecilia Rouse is a history-making economic adviser to President Biden (Boston Globe)
  • Senate confirms Kristen Clarke as first Black woman to lead DOJ civil rights division (CNN)
  • Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Actions to Build Black Wealth and Narrow the Racial Wealth Gap (The White House). An official report from the administration. Lot’s of good research and links.
  • Biden announces bold new plan to fight the racial wealth gap (The Hill)
  • Remarks by President Biden Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre (White House)
  • To Accelerate Our Economic Recovery, Look to the Arts (Governing)
  • Biden’s $6 trillion budget proposal would rebuild America’s social safety net (Vox)

Law / Legal / Non-profits / Philanthropy

  • As ‘Anti-Riot’ Laws Pass, Legal Challenges Grow (Law 360)
  • Courts are challenging the Biden Administration’s prioritization of women and minorities for restaurant relief grants (Nation’s Restaurant News)
  • Uber, DoorDash settle Arizona cases over waived delivery fees for Black-owned Businesses (CNET)
  • Amid Push for Inclusion, Law Firms Face Pressure to Make Racial Progress: “Everyone Has to Be Part of the Effort” (Hollywood Reporter) – Another business opportunity created by Black entertainment.
  • Meet LaMonica Love, a 40 Under 40 honoree who launched a law firm, a startup and more (Houston Business Journal)

Education / Healthcare

  • Prominent Atlanta businesses seeks to give 25K Black men free life insurance (Fox 5 Atlanta)
  • The Economics Of Early Childhood: ‘You’re There For The Kids…Not For The Money’ (LAist) — Even across overall low wages, there are disparities.
  • Louisiana Legislature approves Black history courses for TOPS qualification (The Advocate)
  • The 7 best scholarships for Black college students (Bankrate)
  • Tom Hanks says schools should teach the Tulsa Race Massacre and stop ‘whitewashing’ curriculums (Market Watch)
  • Why it may be hard to close the racial wealth gap without forgiving student debt (CNBC)
  • Opinion: The City’s Engine of Economic Mobility Needs a Kickstart (Bklyner)

Farming / Agriculture / Food Production

  • Black-owned vineyard and farm credits community for helping business thrive during pandemic (WRAL)
  • John Deere Starts New Initiative To Help Black Farmers Succeed (The Shadow League)
  • Seed Money: Black entrepreneurs hope pandemic gardening boom will grow healthier eating (Colorado Newsline)
  • USDA starts rollout of debt relief for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers (AG Week) – What !!!

People, Careers and All Other

Career / Professions / Entrepreneurship / Businesses You Can Start

  • Business leaders can fuel the next generation of Black innovators and entrepreneurs. Here’s what it will take (CNN)
  • Black Female Entrepreneurs Are Launching More Businesses Than Ever: Here’s What They Need To Help Them Mature (Forbes)
  • Start-ups in Black communities strongest nationwide amid entrepreneurship spike (Washington Post)
  • Kamalanomics: Vice President Harris Outlines Her Vision Of Inclusive Entrepreneurship (Forbes). A conversation with the Vice President that is a part of Forbes 50 under 50 series.
  • Entrepreneurship boomed in these predominantly Black neighborhoods during Pandemic (CBS News)
  • U.S. Department of State Appoints Howard Alumnus Gharun Lacy to Lead Cyber and Technology Security Efforts (Howard University)

People / Motivation / Leadership / Success Stories / Ideas

  • Founder Of 1863 Ventures, Melissa Bradley, Is Helping Entrepreneurs Build Black-Owned Businesses (Forbes)
  • A Black-Owned Plant Shop Blooms In The Pandemic’s Wake (Wbur)
  • Covid-19 decimated Black women-owned businesses — Ayesha Curry wants to change that (NBC News)
  • How a Black-Owned Digital Boston Radio Station Launched, Survived, and Thrived during Lockdown (Boston Magazine)
  • KC’s only Black-owned book shop — forced to find a new home — hits crowdfunding goal in just a few days (Starland News)
  • The female CEOs on this year’s Fortune 500 just broke three all-time records (Fortune)
  • Meet Lauren Haller, a 40 Under 40 honoree who champions diversity at Pattern Energy and with her own ventures (Houston Business Journal)
  • Roy S. Johnson: The true legacy of Black Wall Street? I lived it; my father, a massacre witness, embodied it (AL)

Caribbean / Africa / International

  • Google shares its $2M Black Founders Fund among 30 European startups (Tech Crunch)
  • Dikembe Mutombo Leads $1 Billion Investment to Revamp Mining in the Congo, Build Electric Vehicle Supply Chain (Sport Techie)
  • Workplace racism ‘amplified’ for Black Canadians, entrepreneurs, new reports find (The Hill Times) – Canadian
  • Federation of African Canadian Economics (FACE) schedules Toronto and Quebec Roundtable to meet with local entrepreneurs and provide information about the $291.3 million Black Entrepreneurship Loan Fund (Agility PR) – Press Release.

Travel / History

  • On these Black history walking tours, bring your imagination (CS Monitor)
  • An unprecedented push to save historic Black homes in Chicago (Chicago Business)
  • Documentary focuses in on longtime heart of Black community (Times-Enterprise)
  • How Protests Against the Jim Crow Credit Market Changed the Civil Rights Movement (Pro Market)
  • When Tulsa’s Black Wall Street Went Up in Flames, So Did Potential Inheritance (Wall Street Journal)
  • The Tulsa massacre wasn’t a ‘race riot’ — it was a pogrom (Forward)
  • Tulsa’s Greenwood neighborhood wasn’t America’s only Black Wall Street (Yahoo News)
  • A New Generation of Black Entrepreneurs Wants to Recapture Greenwood’s Past (Wall Street Journal) – Part of a larger series: Greenwood, 100 Years Later.
  • Black Wall Street was shattered 100 years ago. How the Tulsa race massacre was covered up and unearthed (CNBC)
  • Beyond Tulsa: The Historic Legacies and Overlooked Stories of America’s ‘Black Wall Streets’ (Time)
  • Meet Elmer Whiting, Jr., the first Black partner in the Big Eight (Accounting Today)

Conservative / Alternative

Opinion

Other

  • How American Icon Henry Ford Fostered Anti-Semitism (History) – Inside, Ford would hire Black workers and pay them close to White workers.

Stories for April 12th to 25th 2021

We are absolutely overloaded with great stories this week: PPP, Black fintech, Janelle Jones, Retiring while Black and Black women in Financial Technology.

Top Stories

  • Surviving the Pandemic: Black-Owned Businesses and the Paycheck Protection Program (BGA) – Hey, this is some really good real life reporting on four Black businesses in Chicago. They discuss the small amount of money they received from PPP.
  • This Top Biden Economist, Janelle Jones, Has A Plan: Create Jobs, Address Inequality, Ignore Trolls (KNBA) – Janelle Jones is the first Black woman to ever serve as chief economist at the Labor Department.
  • Retiring While Black (Consumer Reports)
  • These 8 Black women are using technology to combat financial inequities (Fortune)
  • Many younger Black Americans started investing in the stock market during the pandemic (Marketplace). 30% of Black investors under 40 got into the market for the first time in 2020.
  • Fed Is Taking on a Racist Legacy in the Field of Economics (Bloomberg)
  • School Integration Was Not Always a Good Thing for Black Educational Attainment, Study Finds (The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education). 
  • In Silicon Valley, how one Black-owned transportation business, Mosaic Transportation, pivoted — and survived — during the COVID-19 pandemic (MarketWatch) – Business is just now reaching 20% of pre-pandemic levels.
  • Goldman Sachs employs just 49 Black people in top US jobs (CNN)
  • OIC of America to honor legacy of Rev. Leon H. Sullivan (Philadelphia Tribune)
  • Kansas City businesses haunted by legacy of redlining during the Pandemic (Center for Public Integrity) – PPP loans followed the same, old pattern of discrimination.
  • The poor pay proportionately higher taxes in many categories leading to a higher overall effective tax rate for a given level of income. Here is the famous and well-known study from Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Who Pay’s – A Distribution Analysis of who pays state and local taxes. If you have time, compare New Jersey and Texas.
  • A beach town seized a Black couple’s land in the 1920s. Now their family could get it back (The Guardian).
  • Black youth unemployment rate of 40% similar to time of Brixton riots, data shows (Guardian)

    Stories

Protest / Social Justice

  • Black Worker Centers: Building Workplace Power in the Communities (American Prospect)
  • Many younger Black Americans started investing in the stock market during the pandemic (Marketplace). 30% of Black investors under 40 got into the market for the first time in 2020.
  • Mastercard Continues Support for Black Women Entrepreneurs (NASDAQ)
  • How Black-Owned CBD Companies Like Brown Girl Jane Are Forming Communities Around Cannabis (Forbes)
  • Mother-Daughter Entrepreneur Duo Aims To Inspire Black Youth To Cultivate Generational Wealth (News One). 7-year old Anastasia Linkpon and her mother Adriane Mack Bouj Flea Market, selling slime and bath bombs.
  • Floyd Killing Forces U.S. Business to Examine Its Record on Race (Bloomberg)
  • After Chauvin verdict, business leaders speak out saying fight for racial justice must continue (CNBC)
  • Will Smith Movie Pulls Production Out of Georgia Over GOP Voting Law (Wall Street Journal)

Coronavirus / Covid-19 / Paycheck Protection Program

  • COVID-19 disproportionately affected minority businesses, entrepreneurs, Kenan Institute finds (WRAL Tech Wire)
  • Covid-19’s Personal Finance Toll On Older Entrepreneurs (Forbes)
  • Black business owners tell their PPP stories (Austin Weekly)
  • Black Businesses Matter, But Will They Get Fair Share Of COVID-19 Aid Money? (Black Press USA)
  • Surviving the Pandemic: Black-Owned Businesses and the Paycheck Protection Program (BGA) – Hey, this is some really good real life reporting on four Black businesses in Chicago. They discuss the small amount of money they received from PPP.
  • In Silicon Valley, how one Black-owned transportation business, Mosaic Transportation, pivoted — and survived — during the COVID-19 pandemic (MarketWatch) – Business is just now reaching 20% of pre-pandemic levels.
  • ‘We need at least one more check.’ The case for a fourth stimulus payment (CNBC)

Jobs / Workers / Unemployment / Gig Economy

  • Black Worker Centers: Building Workplace Power in the Communities (American Prospect)
  • What Amazon can learn from a bruising union victory in Alabama (Bloomberg)
  • Amazon workers have spoken — are progressives listening? (The Hill)
  • Schools look to build a diverse teaching workforce (Grand Rapids Business Journal) – Kalamazoo – 13% of teachers are Black versus 30% of students. Plenty of jobs if you want to teach.

Inequality / Systemic Racism / Economic Justice / UBI

  • Georgia’s voter suppression bill is an assault on our democracy (Brookings)
  • A Philanthropic Drive to Aid Black Women Is Gaining Momentum (US News)
  • Goldman Sachs employs just 49 Black people in top US jobs (CNN)
  • America’s Struggle to Overcome Racial Inequities (US News and World Report) – Good, long article summarizing the issues.
  • Taking a systems-thinking approach to anti-Black racism (Phys.org)

    Black Business

Black Business General / Interesting Businesses Stories

  • Three Best Friends Form First Black Owned Bread Company in Chicago. (Chicago Defender)
  • Business owners of color faced greater challenges getting loans amid pandemic, report finds — even when they were a low credit risk (CBS News)
  • Women of color drive new business growth during pandemic (Biz Women)
  • Omaha developer’s proposed KC apartments would displace Black-owned Businesses (Kansas City Business Journal)
  • Black CEOs uphold American democracy (Bay State Banner)
  • Louisiana and Maryland: Two U.S. States Among Many Reporting Racial Bias in COVID-19 Relief Efforts (Triple Pundit)
  • Racism and obesity are inextricably linked, says a Harvard doctor – and here’s how she thinks that can change (Boston) — The two most common forms of bias in the United States are race bias, which is by far the most common, followed by weight bias. Report finds more obstacles to starting a new business for people of color
  • (WWLP)
  • Small businesses are less hopeful about their ability to get funding (Yahoo News)
  • The Auburn family that owns half of Camp Hill’s empty units seeks to restore them one by one (Outlook)
  • Bookstore named after Harriet Tubman celebrates women authors, artists and Activists (Today)

Black Business Specific

  • Duke Energy Entrust New Minority Owned Charcuterie Company Graze-Full Eats with 25th Annual African American Network-Carolinas Scholarship Gala (PR Web)
  • Sweatpea Technology and mo’pweeze Bakery get $10,000 grants (nj.com)
  • Three Minority Business Owners Investing In Charlotte’s Historic West End Community (WCCB) – Charlotte. Rita’s water ice, pizza and a pharmacy.
  • In Silicon Valley, how one Black-owned transportation business, Mosaic Transportation, pivoted — and survived — during the COVID-19 pandemic (MarketWatch) – Business is just now reaching 20% of pre-pandemic levels.
  • Prosperity Market: Creating a sense of urgency to give Black farmers a platform (KCRW)

    Black Economics

Black Economics

  • Breaking Barriers: Economist Cecilia Rouse (Historian Speaks) – Black History Now. Profile of Cecilia Rouse, Chair of Council of Economic Advisors to the President
  • Digital Banking Platform for Black and Latinos Partnered with Mastercard (Yahoo Finance)
  • This Top Biden Economist, Janelle Jones, Has A Plan: Create Jobs, Address Inequality, Ignore Trolls (KNBA) – Janelle Jones is the first Black woman to ever serve as chief economist at the Labor Department.
  • Soul City: A Utopia For Black Capitalism (NPR)
  • These 8 Black women are using technology to combat financial inequities (Fortune)
  • Many younger Black Americans started investing in the stock market during the pandemic (Marketplace). 30% of Black investors under 40 got into the market for the first time in 2020.
  • Here’s How Millennial Wealth Stacks Up Against That Of Prior Generations (NPR). Black Americans’ progress is not being translated in terms of wealth.
  • Broadway Financial Completes Merger to Create Largest Black-Owned Bank in the US (Los Angeles Business Journal)
  • Fundraising Opportunities For Minorities And Women Of Color (Forbes)
  • Black entrepreneurs seek to close racial wealth gap (Business Day)
  • The student debt crisis is crushing Black Americans. Here’s how loan forgiveness could help (USA Today)
  • Black Americans Are Embracing Stocks and Bitcoin to Make Up for Stolen Time (Bloomberg)
  • Retiring While Black (Consumer Reports)
  • More than 20 local banks form unprecedented $100M fund for minority-owned Businesses (Philadelphia Business Journal)
  • Fed leaders agree: Economics has a race problem (Yahoo News)
  • Economists are ‘lazy’ when it comes to studying the effects of racism, says AFL-CIO chief economist (Market Watch)
  • Dr. Loretta Mester, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Highlights Racial Disparities in Economics in Department Guest Lecture (Swarthmore Phoenix)

Straight up Econ / The Economy

  • Economic dynamism thrives in America’s minority communities (Brookings Institute)
  • Analysis: A tale of two tapers: This time is different for a Fed focused on jobs (Reuters) – Fed appears to be paying attention to the Black unemployment rate.
  • The economy is improving — but the pandemic isn’t over yet (Vox)

    General Business

Big Business / Corporate / Business Strategy

  • Mastercard Continues Support For Black Women Entrepreneurs (NASDAQ)
  • BofA Looks to Link Up Bond Issuers With Minority-Run Banks (Bloomberg)
  • More Businesses Are Standing for Justice (New York Times)
  • An update on policy, corporate pledges to address systemic racism (Marketplace)
  • Corporate Activism: Why Big Business Is Taking A Stand In Partisan Politics (Wbur)
  • Brands Address Equity Gap for Black Business Owners and Entrepreneurs (Triple Pundit)
  • Target Pledges to Invest $2 Billion in Black-Owned Businesses by 2025. (Chicago Defender)
  • Big-business pushback against voting measures gains momentum (StarTribune)
  • How marketers can turn societal upheaval into better branding (New Hope)
  • How the corporate backlash to Georgia’s new voting law is shaping other fights around the country over access to the polls (Washington Post)
  • Amazon Pledges to Promote More Women, Black Employees (Bloomberg)
  • Wells Fargo invests unspecified amount in five Black owned banks (Post News Group)
  • Pfizer to Place 100 Young Minorities in New Fellowship Program (Bloomberg)

Discrimination

  • Black Electrical Worker Kyrin Taylor Says He Found Noose In His Workspace (CBS New York)
  • Kansas City businesses haunted by legacy of redlining during the Pandemic (Center for Public Integrity) – PPP loans followed the same, old pattern of discrimination.

Real Estate / Housing / Segregation

  • Black millennials increased African American homeownership in 2020, but the road ahead is ‘going to be a challenge,’ experts say (Yahoo) from Business Insider
  • Biden proposal includes first major focus on restructuring roadways that divided cities and cut off minority neighborhoods (Thomas Reuters Foundation News)
  • Black neighborhoods in Kansas hard hit by property tax sales (ABC News)
  • Kansas Center for Economic Growth: Kansans of Color Often Pay More Than Their Fair Share of Taxes (ITEP)
  • Anytime someone says the poor don’t pay taxes or or the rich pay the majority of taxes, here is the counter argument. The poor pay proportionately higher taxes in many categories leading to a higher overall effective tax rate for a given level of income.

    Here is the famous and well-known study from Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

    Who Pay’s – A Distribution Analysis of who pays state and local taxes

    If you have time, compare New Jersey and Texas.

Reparations / Affirmative Action / Diversity / Inclusion

  • In a year of reckoning, slavery reparations bill moves forward in the House (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
  • Reparations for US slave descendants gains momentum (Al Jazeera)
  • ABC News makes history with new president (The Ticker) – Kimberly Godwin is the first Black woman to lead a major broadcast network’s news division and the first Black woman and Black president to head ABC News.
  • Supplier Diversity Programs Are Failing Black-Owned Businesses (Harvard Business Review)
  • Baltimore City Council bills aim to hold contractors accountable, help minority firms compete (Baltimore Business Journal)
  • Leaders need to create brave space, not safe space, for diversity and inclusion Conversations (CNBC)
  • Fed Is Taking On a Racist Legacy in the Field of Economics (Bloomberg)
  • The field of economics has a racial-disparity problem, Fed leaders say, and that worries them (Chicago Sun-Times)
  • A beach town seized a Black couple’s land in the 1920s. Now their family could get it back (The Guardian).
  • Manhattan Beach Took Beachfront Land from a Black Family. L.A. County Has Voted to Give It Back (LA Magazine)
  • What It Actually Means to Pass Local ‘Reparations’ (Bloomberg)
  • It’s Not The Shark—It’s The Water: What Companies Misunderstand About DEI Data (Forbes)
  • Why more BAME women in boardrooms makes business sense (Consultancy)
  • Supporting BIPOC-owned Businesses Creates Greater Opportunity for All (Sahan Journal)
  • How This Founder Is Diversifying Fashion And Media With A Directory Of Vetted Black And Brown Creatives (Forbes)

    Industries and Categories

Sports / Media / Entertainment

  • Ryan Coogler says moving the filming of ‘Black Panther 2’ out of Georgia will affect small businesses (The Source). Coogler will find other ways to fight against the Georgia voter suppression law.
  • IHeartMedia’s Black Information Network Is Monetizing The Old-School Way: Sponsorships (Ad Exchanger)
  • The entertainment industry is one of the least diverse in the US (NY Times) — Hollywood’s Anti-Black Bias Costs It $10 Billion a Year. McKinsey study is here.

Alcohol / Marijuana / CBD / Gambling

  • Kentucky entrepreneurs aim to revolutionize the alcohol industry (Spectrum News 1) – Louisville, Kentucky
  • How Black-Owned CBD Companies Like Brown Girl Jane Are Forming Communities Around Cannabis (Forbes). This story is important for three reasons: One, there has to be a base of retail outlets to support a business like a distributorship. Two, they are backward integrating into a new market, and three, they operating in a market with few, if any, Black businesses.
  • Two Entrepreneurs Launch the Newest Black-Owned Organic Tequila Brand Called Los Negros (Black Business)
  • With a new round of dispensary licenses on the horizon, cannabis industry advocates turn attention to greater diversity (Columbus Dispatch)
  • Black farmers in South Africa protest ‘exclusion’ from marijuana licenses in favour of rich white businesses (Telegraph)
  • Black Wine Entrepreneurs Find Passion, Racism And Legacy In The Industry, Study Shows (Forbes)
  • Introducing Black Cannabis Magazine, a New Media Venture Launching on 420 (Cision)
  • A Cannabis Pro Tells Us Her Hopes for the Medical Marijuana Industry (Motley Fool) – featuring Dr. Chanda Macias
  • State cannabis reform is putting social justice front and center (Brookings)

Food / Restaurants

  • PepsiCo partners with Black and Hispanic food trucks to launch Mexican soda (Fortune)
  • Black chefs, business owners plan to start up their food experience in Toledo (WTOL)
  • RangeMe saw surge in searches for minority-owned, women-owned businesses in 2020 (Food Navigator)
  • Ghost Kitchens in Austin (Eater) – A look at delivery only restaurants in Austin featuring Cook’s Nook, a Black owned ghost kitchen. Plus a look at some national ghost kitchen brands.

Beauty / Fashion / Retail

  • ‘A Labor of Love’: These Black-Owned Skin Care Businesses Originated In Florida (WUFT)
  • Philanthropic Fashion: How Brands Are Showing People Are More Than Profit (WWD)
  • The Funk Boutique: Celebrating Successful Black Women, Sustainability, and Sneakers (Glow Up)
  • Black Enterprise, Tradition And Culture At The Bronner Bros. Hair Show (NPR)

Advertising / Marketing / Promotion / Consumer Behavior

  • Payday loan lender target Black and Hispanic consumers (Next City)
  • GM vows more money and more opportunity for Black-owned media (Free Press) — Detroit

Banking / Finance / Investing / Venture Capital

  • The Funding Gap: How To Address Two Huge Challenges Holding Back Minority-Owned Businesses (Forbes)
  • White-owned small businesses are twice as likely to get financing as Black- and Latino-owned firms, Fed survey finds (Business Insider)
  • Black Americans Are Embracing Stocks and Bitcoin to Make Up for Stolen Time (Bloomberg)
  • 2021 40 Under 40: Paul Campbell strives to bring equity to venture capital (Minneapolis Business Journal)
  • Four minority-owned banks reveal how they’re overcoming Wall Street’s ‘woeful’ lack of diversity to play a bigger role in investment banking right now (Business Insider)
  • White-owned small businesses are twice as likely to get financing as Black- and Latino-owned firms, Fed survey finds (Business Insider)
  • Black Lives Matter to Banks, But Not Banking. Large Bank Leaders Reject DEI Audits (Banker & Tradesman)
  • Banks resist racial-equity audits, but they shouldn’t (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

Real Estate / Finance / Development / Segregation

  • Affordable Housing Forever (New York Times)
  • Black households face the highest home affordability hurdle (National Mortgage News)
  • A beach town seized a Black couple’s land in the 1920s. Now their family could get it back (The Guardian).
  • Manhattan Beach Took Beachfront Land from a Black Family. L.A. County Has Voted to Give It Back (LA Magazine)

Technology / Apps / Innovation

  • Ping-pong, free food, beer on tap — but no support for Black employees. Tech companies are rushing to create new policies, but are they willing to do the real work? (The Star)
  • Some Black tech founders in upstate New York say they feel left out of the growing opportunities that come to the area (Insider)
  • 8 charts that show the impact of race and gender on technology careers (World Economic Forum)
  • This startup wants to use AI to boost Black-owned businesses, and it’s raising money to do it. (Washington Business Journal)
  • These 8 Black women are using technology to combat financial inequities (Fortune)

Science / Math / Statistics / STEM

  • Criminal Justice / Police / Corrections / Re-entry
  • Boeing Invests $250K In Black-Owned Platform Designed To Combat Recidivism (Newsone)

Cities / Urban Planning / Local Government

  • ‘We Don’t Want To Look Like A Segregated Chicago’: Black Chamber Of Commerce
  • Looks Into North Side Opportunities (CBS Chicago)
  • Where Do We Go from Here? Four Part Series about the Syracuse Surge and Gentrification of the City of Syracuse (Urban Central NY) — Discusses issues around infrastructure construction.

Politics / Government / State and Local

  • Ray McGuire Wants to Show He’s Not Just the Wall Street Candidate (New York Times)
  • RAY MCGUIRE SAYS HIS ECONOMIC RECOVERY PLAN MAKES HIM BEST CANDIDATE FOR NEW YORK CITY MAYOR (Black Star News)
  • Bipartisan Senate proposal would grant $50 million to minority businesses (The Hill)
  • Black Panther sequel will not move filming from Georgia despite election law (WXIA 11 Alive)
  • 3 things Biden can do to enforce more equitable infrastructure (Fortune) – Use equality as part of determining which project get done. Involve business run by underrepresented groups. Make sure projects are reviewed by the community.

Taxes / Tax Policy

  • Kansas Center for Economic Growth: Kansans of Color Often Pay More Than Their Fair Share of Taxes (ITEP)
  • Anytime someone says the poor don’t pay taxes or the rich pay the majority of taxes, here is the counter argument. The poor pay proportionately higher taxes in many categories leading to a higher overall effective tax rate for a given level of income. Here is the famous and well-know study from Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Who Pay’s – A Distribution Analysis of who pays state and local taxes. If you have time, compare New Jersey and Texas.

Law / Legal / Non-profits / Philanthropy

HR / Personnel / Human Capital

  • To Build a Diverse Company for the Long Term, Develop Junior Talent (Harvard Business Review)
  • 7 steps for business leaders to take after the George Floyd case (HR Executive)

Education / Healthcare

  • Is there a Black doctor in the house? Why racial disparity in health care demands our attention now (Fortune). Lack of representation is the cause of race-based health disparities.
  • Why do Black Americans so often have worse health outcomes than other Americans? (Medical Economics) – More Black doctors and better health insurance would help.
  • Amid Racial Reckoning, A Push To Diversify College Investment Strategies (WGBH)
  • Stride, Inc. Changing the Face of American Education Through Partnership with National Association of Black Male Educators (Valdosta daily Times)
  • The biggest HBCUs in America (Chicago Tribune)
  • HBCUs: America’s pathway to next generation prosperity (Indianapolis Reporter) – And a link to the website featured in the article.
  • National Institute for Inclusive Competitiveness — Interesting. Not completely sure what they do.
  • School Integration Was Not Always a Good Thing for Black Educational Attainment, Study Finds (The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education). 
  • The fall and rise of C.S. Brown, the first high school for African Americans in North Carolina (EDNC)
  • Slow progress on race hampers business school diversity push (Financial Times) – Duh, how about the cost: $100,000 a year for basic accounting and finance. Where’s the ROI. B-School is for networking for the elite.

Farming / Agriculture / Food Production

  • These BIPOC-Owned Washington Farms Deliver CSA Boxes to Seattle (Seattle Met)
  • A New Crop: Portraits of Houston’s Black Urban Farmers (Texas Observer)
  • Gifts of Love Farm Is Helping BIPOC Farmers Thrive (NBC Connecticut)
  • Prosperity Market: Creating a sense of urgency to give Black farmers a platform (KCRW)

    People, Careers and All Other

Career / Professions / Entrepreneurship / Businesses You Can Start

  • Winston-Salem native starts his very own soda company (WFMY)

People / Motivation / Leadership / Success Stories / Ideas

  • Mother-Daughter Entrepreneur Duo Aims To Inspire Black Youth To Cultivate Generational Wealth (News One). 7-year old Anastasia Linkpon and her mother Adriane Mack BoujFleaMarket, selling slime and bath bombs.
  • How Jamie Foxx Is Paving The Way For The Next Generation Of Black Entrepreneurs (Forbes)
  • She Gamed Groupon to Make $300,000 Doing Massage Therapy. Now She Runs a
  • Million-Dollar Business Helping Black Spa Owners Do the Same. (Entrepreneur)
  • Orvin Kimbrough, chairman and CEO of Midwest BankCentre, write about his success (St. Louis American)

Good News

  • No good news this week. I love writing that.

Caribbean / Africa / International

  • Black youth unemployment rate of 40% similar to time of Brixton riots, data shows (Guardian)
  • Why more BAME women in boardrooms makes business sense (Consultancy UK)
  • Black Business Network – UK
  • Why some African Americans are moving to Africa (Black Economics UK)
  • Young black workers are three times as likely to be jobless as whites with more than 40 per cent unemployed – as high as time of Brixton riots (Daily Mail) – UK
  • The federal budget took steps toward racial justice — but activists say more must be done (CBC) – Canada. Here is the Canadian unemployment report for July 2020: Here. The Black Canadian unemployment rate was 16.8% which is similar to the US rate.

Travel / History

  • Deeds banning Blacks. Red-lined maps. What students dug up on Ridgewood’s housing legacy (North Jersey)
  • The earliest wealthy Black Americans (Afro) ‘Can’t lose our history’: Exhibit honors Black, immigrant legacy of Charleston street (The State)
  • Great Migration Creates Ties Between Mississippi, Illinois (US News)
  • The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration (Smithsonian) – Isabel Wilkerson
  • Remembering Black Wall Street (Afro-American)
  • OIC of America to honor legacy of Rev. Leon H. Sullivan (Philadelphia Tribune)

Classic / Old stories but good stories

  • The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration (Smithsonian) – Isabel Wilkerson

Conservative / Alternative

  • Black-owned businesses struggling at George Floyd Square, plead for help (NY Post)
  • An African-American professor on the case for black patriotism (NY Post)

Opinion

  • Racism destroyed a thriving neighborhood in my hometown. Now the fix is in sight (Kake)
  • How we close the racial wealth gap (AMNY)
  • Minnesota Is One of the Best Places to Live in America. Unless You’re Black. The state’s reputation belies some of the country’s largest racial disparities. (NY Times) – Lind of interesting; even progressive states contribute to racial problems.

Other

  • The American justice system finally worked. Does White America understand just how often it doesn’t? (Washington Post)
  • After Chauvin verdict, business leaders speak out saying fight for racial justice must continue (CNBC)
  • Black Business Warehouse – Companies can search for Black business partners in Washington and Oregon.
  • Link Black Business Network – UK
  • Link Urban One

Stories for March 29th to April 11th 2021

Just a heads up. We have consolidated two weeks of stories into one post.  We still read everything !!!

Top Stories

  • Connecticut’s Uneven Recovery: Poor people are still suffering from economic downturn brought by COVID (CT Mirror) – Great, long article about all the issue related to covid-19 recovery in Connecticut. Good details.
  • A Call to Arms to Fight Voting Restrictions (New York Times) — More than 70 Black executives demanded that corporate America push back against laws they say limit voting access. Gives you an idea of how powerful Black executives are.
  • Minority entrepreneurs struggled to get small-business relief loans (Philadelphia
  • Tribune)
  • The Fed Is Making Wall Street Forecasters Pay Attention to Black Unemployment (Bloomberg) – Should the Fed run the economy a little hot to reduce Black unemployment. Hell yeah.
  • CFPB Finds Four Out Of Five Payday Loans Are Rolled Over Or Renewed (CFPB)
  • General Motors Vows to Send More Advertising Dollars to Black-Owned Media Companies (Wall Street Journal)
  • Mother creates Just Us mobile app to help protect Black drivers (Good Morning America). More specifically to protect Black drivers during police stops.
  • Black Millennials Were Major Contributors To 2020’s Home Buying Surge (Essence)
  • Companies are condemning Georgia’s new restrictive voting law. Their criticism came too late. (Vox) – Ha, Ha. We thought it was timed perfectly: All benefit and no risk.
  • Mielle Organics Raises More Than $100 Million in Funding (Adweek)

All Stories

Protest / Social Justice

  • The effects of Black Lives Matter protests (Vox) – Interesting data analysis
  • 72 Black executives sign letter urging corporate America to stand against voter suppression (WBTV). Black Executives Call on Corporations to Fight Restrictive Voting Laws (NY Times)
  • A Call to Arms to Fight Voting Restrictions (New York Times) — More than 70 Black executives demanded that corporate America push back against laws they say limit voting access.

Coronavirus / Covid-19 / Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)

  • Connecticut’s Uneven Recovery: Poor people are still suffering from economic downturn brought by COVID (CT Mirror) – Great, long article about all the issue related to covid recovery in Connecticut. Good details.
  • Data shows Black bankruptcies linked to Covid-19 (Upsolve)
  • The Pandemic Was Historically Bad for Working-Class Women (Bloomberg)
  • Rainer Avenue Businesses Face Challenges, Remain Resilient As COVID Struggles Continue (Seattle Medium)
  • 7 Hard and Crucial Lessons of Covid-19 (Elemental)
  • Poor people are still suffering from economic downturn brought by COVID (CT Mirror)
  • The Right Way to Rebuild Cities for Post-Pandemic Work (Bloomberg)
  • Minority entrepreneurs struggled to get small-business relief loans (Philadelphia
  • Tribune)
  • Washington University study identifies groups most impacted in pandemic recession (KSDK) – Study is here.

Jobs / Workers / Unemployment / Gig Economy

  • The Fed Is Making Wall Street Forecasters Pay Attention to Black Unemployment (Bloomberg)
  • Unemployment Rate for Educated Black Workers Lagged in March (Bloomberg)
  • How Employees Can Check if Company BLM Promises Held True (Ad Week)
  • ‘This Is A Disgrace’; In 25 Years, The Pay Gap Has Narrowed By Just 8 Cents (Insurance News)
  • Opinion: Everyone should have the retirement plan federal employees enjoy
  • (Washington Post)
  • Op-Ed: Employers’ diversity and equity efforts often overlook people with Disabilities (CNBC)
  • Ending the Tipped Minimum Wage Will Reduce Poverty and Inequality (Center for American Progress)

Black Business

  • Black Business General / Interesting Businesses Stories
  • 3 Places to Find Funding For Your Business (Essence)
  • Black executives call out Barra as GM pushes to be ‘most inclusive’ company (The Detroit
  • News) – Black-owned media companies criticize General Motors Co. CEO Mary Barra (Detroit Free Press)
  • How a Black Female-Owned Subscription Box Service is Helping Young Girls Feel Loved Every Month (NBA)
  • Hennessy Is Investing $1M In Funding To Champion Black Entrepreneurs (Essence) – Hennessy aims to ensure more equitable landscape for black entrepreneurship.
  • Resources for Black-owned businesses (LA Standard)
  • New crowdfunding campaign aims to help Black-owned businesses, nonprofits (Click On)
  • Black-owned business development coverage has a wider return on investment
  • (Tampa Bay Business Journal)
  • JPMorgan Chase invests $3 million in UMD initiative to prevent small business Displacement (Yahoo News)
  • New Jersey announces $10M seed fund aimed at Black and Latinx founders (Tech
  • Crunch)
  • Charlotte NC seeks input on aid to Black Businesses (Q City Metro) – Link to survey is here.
  • Addressing Institutional and Systemic Barriers to Black Entrepreneurship: Building Black Owned Businesses (Inclusivity Project) – Northern California SBA
  • Fair Shot: Minority business owners advocate for greater share of state contracts
  • (Hartford Business)

Black Business Specific

  • No stories.

Big Business / Corporate

  • General Motors Vows to Send More Advertising Dollars to Black-Owned Media Companies (Wall Street Journal)
  • Black Media Execs Demand More Business From General Motors’ Multi-Billion Dollar Ad Budget (Ebony). Similar story as above, different perspective.

Discrimination

  • Discrimination in the insurance industry and at Met Life and (Insurance News Net) – Good, long article on discrimination in insurance. Lots of details.

Reparations / Affirmative Action / Diversity / Inclusion

  • Evanston’s grants to Black homeowners aren’t enough. But they are reparations. (Washington Post)
  • Reparations ‘definitely’ have merit and should be taken seriously, Atlanta Fed president says (Business Insider)
  • Evanston, Illinois’s First-In-The-Nation Reparations Program Draws Complicated Reactions (NPR)
  • Why Diversity of Staff and Thought Are Vital to Business Success (WWD)
  • #BuyDiverse talks to Congresswoman Robin Kelly of Illinois and Chicago MSDC Board
  • Chairman Mark Hands of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. (WGN)

Economics

Black Economics

  • The typical older Black millennial has 17 times less wealth than white peers, and student debt may be why (Business Insider)
  • The Money Gap Between Black and White Americans Is Wider Than Ever – Can Businesses Fix It? (MSN)
  • Gender Pay Gap Costs $78 Billion: For Black Moms, an Even More Disturbing Picture  (LA Sentinel
  • Black America Needs A ‘New Normal’: Equitable Credit Access To Build Economics
    (Philadelphia Tribune) – Charlene Crowell
  • Beyond Pandemic’s Upheaval, a Racial Wealth Gap Endures (New York Times)
  • Detroit’s Black Wealth Tax (City Journal)
  • A reckoning for Baltimore banks, asking them to invest billions more to help Black and Latino businesses and families (Baltimore Sun)

Straight up Econ / The economy

  • Fears of a Too Hot Economy Ignore Racial Inequality (Bloomberg)

General Business

Big Business / Corporate / Business Strategy

  • Target to spend $2 billion with Black-owned businesses, pledges to add products from 500 companies by 2025 (USA Today)
  • Target Beyond Measure Website mentioned in the Article.
  • Target Plans to Spend Over $2B With Black-Owned Businesses by 2025 (Sourcing
  • Journal)
  • Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs And JPMorgan Urge Shareholders To Vote Against Racial Equity Oversight (Yahoo Finance)
  • Companies Can’t Stay on the Political Sidelines (NY Times) – Huh? Sure they can.
  • Companies gave more than $50 million to state lawmakers who backed voting overhaul bills (CBS News) – Prominent companies urged by Black business leaders to reverse course of previous donation spending.
  • Black Corporate Leaders Form Alliance To Nurture Next Generation Of Executives (Essence) — The Black Executive CMO Alliance (BECA) will help to champion diversity at the corporate leadership level.

Real Estate / Housing / Segregation

Industry Stories, News and Ideas

  • Yelp to expand data on Asian-owned businesses as consumers prioritize diversity (Yahoo Finance)
  • Sticking to it: WKU student’s Black-owned, woman-owned business offers diversity to hobbyists (WKU Herald)
  • Startup Spotlight: Diversity, equity, inclusion becoming a higher priority at VC firms but progress is slow (WRAL Tech Wire)
  • America’s first Black woman billionaire is promoting diversity in the arts as well as the c-suite (CNN)
  • John Hope Bryant vows to create one million Black entrepreneurs, businesses with $130 million fund with Shopify (The Atlanta Voice)
  • Goldman, Starbucks, Wharton Form Group to Erase Black Wealth Gap (Bloomberg)
  • Why the nation’s first reparations program for Black residents is tied to homeownership (Marketplace)

Sports / Media / Entertainment

  • P&G increases opportunities for Black creators across advertising, film and TV (Marketing Dive)

Marketing / Advertising / Sales / Consumer Behavior

  • A year of exhaustion has weakened consumers’ resolve to make ethical buying Choices (Fortune)
  • Meet The Entrepreneur Who Is Bridging The Racial Divide In Soccer (Forbes)
  • Major League Baseball Has Not Gone Woke (New York Magazine)
  • P&G invests in Black pop culture to boost equity (Cincinnati Business Courier) –
  • P&G seeks to increase Black voices in advertising, film and television

Alcohol / Marijuana / CBD / Gambling

  • Black-owned distilleries are breaking barriers that once surrounded the Kentucky bourbon industry (Philadelphia Tribune)
  • Virginia 16th State To Legalize Recreational Pot, Latest To Emphasize ‘Social Equity’ (NPR)
  • The Highest Crop Advocates for Full Legalization of Cannabis (EIN)
  • Two new wine clubs give Sacramento made promises to Black entrepreneurs. Keep them before halting cannabis permits (Sacramento Bee)
  • Zoning bans, just one obstacle for Black-owned cannabis businesses (NJ Spotlight)
  • Black entrepreneurs say proposal to freeze cannabis permits for part of Sacramento will hurt equity progress (ABC 10)
  • ‘Black people drink beer, too’: Charlotte breweries pushing for more diversity in the bottle (Washington Post)
  • Did Marijuana Legalization In MA Put Pot Dealers Out Of Business? (Patch) –
  • Selling cannabis has been legal in Massachusetts for more than two years, but most sales still happen on the black market.
  • Seeing green: How recreational marijuana could create a billion-dollar business (PIX)
  • Social justice fuels the fight for legal pot (Rochester City) and craft beer (WCNC)
  • NY Legalizes Pot: Will That Squash The State’s Black Market? (Forbes)

Food / Restaurants / Bars / Hospitality

  • Tanya Taylor named new general counsel at Radisson (Minneapolis Star Tribune) —
  • Hotel veteran sees brand growth as key, looks to diversify ranks of owners.

Beauty / Fashion / Retail

  • ‘I did not copy her dress’: Designer responds after being accused of stealing design from Black-owned business (Yahoo News)
  • Fashion And Beauty Brands Pledged To Support Black Influencers. So How Are They Doing? (Huffpost)
  • Wilmington, Delaware entrepreneur creates app to support Black-owned Businesses (6abc)
  • Support Black businesses through social media during pandemic (Charlotte Post)
  • Master P, Lil Romeo, & Rouses Partner Up to Open Grocery Store in Senior Living Facility in New Orleans (River Beats)

Technology / Apps / Innovation

  • Mother creates Just Us mobile app to help protect Black drivers (Good Morning America). More specifically to protect Black drivers during police stops.
  • Black Owned AI Messaging Company Raises $36M In Series B Round (Essence) – Technology company uses AI and content to improve consumer communication online.

Finance / Investing / Venture Capital

  • Banks, J&J Ask Shareholders to Vote Against Racial Audits (Bloomberg)
  • Best Grants For Minorities (Investopedia) – Minority funding for business, education, arts, and more
  • 8 funding sources for BIPOC entrepreneurs (Mic)
  • Analysis: Diversity data debate at stock exchanges is about the role of finance (Crain’s Cleveland)
  • Momentum builds to rein in predatory payday lending (St. Louis American) – By Charlene Crowell: Center for Responsible Lending
  • CFPB Finds Four Out Of Five Payday Loans Are Rolled Over Or Renewed (CFPB)
  • In financial advertising, payday loan companies target Blacks and Latino while banks ignore them. (LA Times)
  • CommunityWorks’ Tammie Hoy Hawkins Helps The Underserved Access Financial Services (Greenvillew News)

Real Estate / Finance / Development / Housing / Segregation

  • Black developers call for reckoning in real estate (Washington Post)
  • Black Millennials Were Major Contributors To 2020’s Home Buying Surge (Essence)
  • Post-COVID equity must include closing racial gaps in housing (The Hill)

Construction / Jobs / Discrimination

  • Creating Solutions to Racism Problem in Construction Industry (National Law Review) — The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that Blacks comprise just six percent of the workforce in construction, a number that has been relatively unchanged for 25 years
  • Equal playing field: How Miles-McClellan is helping grow ‘a competitor’ in Sessley
  • Construction (Columbus Business First) — Joint has the capacity to shake up minority-contracting in Columbus’ construction industry in the future.

Criminal Justice / Police / Corrections / Re-entry

  • As Chester County’s new Sheriff, Fredda Maddox hopes to connect the county’s criminal justice system with the people who are most impacted by it. (Philadelphia Sun)

Cities / Urban Planning / Local Government

  • Biden’s New Infrastructure Might Begin To Dismantle Racist Urban Planning (NPR)
  • Detroit man crowdfunding to open city’s only Black-owned grocery store (FOX 2)
  • First Look: The Gathering Spot Is a Private Club for the Black Community (Washingtonian) — $200 a month; $2000 a year to join
  • The Right Way to Rebuild Cities for Post-Pandemic Work (Bloomberg)

Politics / Government / State and Local

  • Biden’s infrastructure plan includes more than $300 billion for small businesses, manufacturers, and entrepreneurs (Business Insider)
  • Biden wants to use infrastructure plan to right racial injustices (KSU Sentinel)
  • Biden aims to narrow racial inequities as part of his infrastructure and jobs
  • Programs (CNBC)
  • One of America’s first Black CEOs slams ‘bone-headed’ Georgia law as blatant attempt to suppress Black vote (CNN)
  • Companies are condemning Georgia’s new restrictive voting law. Their criticism came too late. (Vox)

Law / Legal / Non-profits / Philanthropy / Non-Profit

  • Bar Exams May Soon Be Easier to Pass, as States Eye Changes (Bloomberg Law) – States look at changes to promote diversity
  • Data shows Black bankruptcies linked to Covid-19 (Upsolve)

Education / Healthcare

  • New Census Data Show Homeschooling Tripled During the Pandemic—And One Key Group is Driving the Surge (Foundation for Economic Education). Homeschooling rate for Black students increased to 16.1%, higher than the population of Black students in K-12 public schools.
  • For some Black students, discrimination outweighed integration’s benefits (Phys Org)
  • Study: Black Adults Who Attended Racially Balanced Schools Were Worse Off
  • (Diverse Education) — Black adults who attended racially balanced mixed-race schools ended up finishing fewer years of school and were less likely to graduate than others who attended overwhelmingly white schools or predominantly Black schools
  • UK journalism alum creates scholarship for Black students (Lane Report)
  • Feds cancel $1.6 billion in capital debt for historically Black colleges (The Charlotte Post)

Farming / Agriculture / Food Production

  • Tracy McCurty Has Worked a Long Time to See Historic Wrongs Righted for Black Farmers (Civil Eats) – Good, long article about Black farmers and the legal system. She is director of Black Belt Justice Center. She previously worked at the Land Loss Prevention Project (Landloss.org) which publishes “Ten-ways to save your land” book and distributes it for free.
  • Black farmers have always faced injustice. Will the American Rescue Plan help? (newsday)

Business Strategy

People Careers and All Other

Career / Professions / Entrepreneurship / Businesses You Can Start

  • Why are there so few Black engineers in tech? (Yahoo News)
  • 5 inspirational black female UK entrepreneurs (Real Business)
  • A New Way to Teach Cultural Competency by Having Fun While Showcasing Unique African Talents (PR Newswire) – Motherland Cultural Connections
  • Operation HOPE Launches Minority Small Business Index in Collaboration with SurveyMonkey (Global News Wire) – Press Release. A partnership of operation hope and survey monkey
  • Operation HOPE|SurveyMonkey: HOPE Minority small business index (Survey Monkey) – Here are the March 31st results. Unfortunately, the final index calculation does not work, so there is no way to make a monthly comparison.
  • Some interesting results: 75% of responses came from females. 100% had some college and 60% had a college degree or more. None of the responses came from people with high school education or less than high school.
  • Access to capital as cited by 46% of people when asked “what us needed to start, reinvent or grow your business” ?
    • 69% are counting on the business to be their main source of income.
    • 90% say there is NOT enough support for small minority businesses in this country.
    • 90% say they expect government regulation to have a no effect or a positive effect on their business.

People / Motivation / Leadership / Success Stories / Ideas

  • Brandon Blackwood on Activism, Accessories, and Building a Black-Owned Brand (LOfficel) – This is pretty nice.
  • Interview: Meet the Founders of Black-Owned Boutique Dossier New York (Atwood Magazine)
  • A lot of ideas (and some already-strong programs) for Black and Latino Entrepreneurs (ROI)
  • Youngest Female Trader In Wall Street’s History Is a 26-Year-Old Black Woman Who Is on Path to Becoming ‘The New Face of Finance’ (Atlanta Black Star)
  • Mielle Organics Raises More Than $100 Million in Funding (Adweek)

All Other

Caribbean / Africa / International

  • Government’s race report ignores ‘brutal evidence’ of economic inequality, says charity (The Independent)
  • 5 inspirational black female UK entrepreneurs (Real Business)
  • Boris Johnson’s racial disparities commission ‘to recommend against using BAME term’ (MSN) – Blanket term may potentially mask the lived experiences of individual groups.
  • Tribe Network is looking to be Canada’s Innovation Hub for BIPOC Entrepreneurs (Betakit)

Travel / History

  • Why Republican efforts to ban the 1619 Project from classrooms are so misguided (Washington Post)
  • How W.H. Houser, Born an Enslaved Person, Constructed a New Charlotte (Charlotte Magazine)
  • Economics of the Great Migration (University of Delaware) — During the Great Migration, between 1910 and 1970, six million Black Americans journeyed from Southern states to points north and west in the United States with the goal of finding a better life for themselves and their families.
  • Fire in Little Africa Album to Be Released amid 100th Anniversary of 1921 Tulsa
  • Race Massacre (People)
  • Claiborne Overpass Construction That Obliterated Historic Black Business District
  • May Get Restitution in Biden’s Infrastructure Plan (Big Easy)

Opinion

  • Opinion: On anniversary of MLK’s death, justice in Boston awaits (Boston Business
  • Journal)
  • The Fate of Biden’s Agenda Hangs in the Balance (New York Times)
  • Let’s be real: it’s bigger than temporary solidarity (Bowdoin Orient) — a lot of
  • those who like to portray themselves as allies use the Black Lives Matter
  • movement as a mere trend.
  • Op-Ed: What Manhattan Beach’s racist land grab really meant (Los Angeles Times)

Other

  • Malaco Records: An inside look at ‘The Last Soul Company’ (Daily Journal) – Tupelo, MS

Black Business and Economic Stories for the week of March 22nd to 28th 2021

Top Stories

  • Guaranteed Income in Jackson Designed By Black Moms for Black Moms, Showing Results for Black Moms (Next City)
  • Evanston, IL becomes the first city to pay reparations for its anti-Black housing policies (Upworthy)
  • Building Wealth While Black: How Atlanta Fueled a Family Fortune (Bloomberg)
  • NY Mayor pushes cannabis revenue as gateway to racial equity (The Grio)
  • Greenwood banking platform geared toward Black and Latino people raises $40 million in funding (CBS News).
  • Fintech Startup Greenwood Raises $40 Million in Funding to Provide Black and Latino Banking Services (PR Newswire) — Press Release. Investors include: Truist, Bank of America, PNC, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Mastercard, Visa, and SoftBank
  • “Hood to Hire” Addresses the Unemployed and Displaced Workforce. (Chicago Defender)
  • Monique Greenwood , DC native creates chain of successful bed and breakfast inns (WTOP) — Akwaaba Bed and Breakfast Inns
  • Black female contractor builds million-dollar business in Columbia (Cola Daily) – South Carolina
  • Apple shares new data about diversity (9 to 5 Mac)
  • Powell ‘not at all happy’ with Fed’s diversity (The Hill) – Only 2 out of 417 fed economists are Black. Why Are There So Few Black Economists at the Fed? (NY Times)

Stories

Coronavirus / Covid-19 / Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)

  • Year after COVID crisis hits, some small businesses see ‘400 percent growth’ (ABC)
  • COVID-19 economic recovery remains slowest for communities of color in Wisconsin (WTMJ) – Milwaukee
  • Black-Owned Businesses Aim for Post-Pandemic Rebound (VOA)
  • As Black-Owned Businesses Struggle Through Pandemic, Many Find Lifeline Online (Nasdaq)

Jobs / Workers / Unemployment / Gig Economy

  • Black workers, hammered by pandemic, now being left behind in recovery (Politico)
  • Guaranteed Income in Jackson Designed By Black Moms for Black Moms, Showing Results for Black Moms (Next City)
  • “Hood to Hire” Addresses the Unemployed and Displaced Workforce. (Chicago Defender)
  • Four Ways to Support Racial Equality in the Workplace (D Magazine)
  • COVID pushed Black unemployment higher in Pa. than anywhere in the nation, report says (WHYY) – PA unemployment rate was almost 20% in Q3 2020.
  • New Analysis Reveals 20 Years of Stagnant Wage Growth for American Workers (PR Newswire)

Inequality / Systemic Racism / Economic Justice

  • A convergence of racial reckoning for Black and Asian Americans (Washington Post)
  • Is the tax code racist? (Marketplace)
  • UK businesses may be forced to reveal ethnicity pay gap (The Guardian)
  • ‘I felt like I was singled out.’ Two people who claim racial bias at Facebook describe their experiences (Fortune)
  • Black, Asian leaders in Atlanta hope tragedy sparks better understanding between Communities (WSBTV)

Black Business

Black Business General / Interesting Businesses Stories

Black Business Specific

  • Monique Greenwood , DC native creates chain of successful bed and breakfast inns (WTOP) — Akwaaba Bed and Breakfast Inns
  • Killer Mike’s Black-owned bank, Greenwood, raises nearly $40 million in funding (Revolt)
  • Black-owned firm says new training program will help make clinical research more diverse (Cincinnati Business Journal) – This is a great business startup. The idea is brilliant.
  • Family-Owned Business Awards 2021: Black Classic Press (Baltimore Business Journal)
  • Black Classic Press is a Book publishing business in Baltimore, MD.
  • Milligan Group and other Black-owned businesses face access-to-capital puzzle (Philadelphia Business Journal) – “We cannot get to the next level without it”
  • Black female contractor builds million-dollar business in Columbia (Cola Daily) – South Carolina

Big Business / Corporate

  • Black San Francisco man says Starbucks singled him out for removal, company Apologizes (NY Daily News)
  • Apple shares new data about diversity (9 to 5 Mac)
  • M&F Bank using funds to promote an inclusive pandemic recovery (WRAL)
  • Fifth Third awards $1.2 million to help Black, women entrepreneurs (Cincinnati Business Journal)
  • AT&T’s Jalayna Bolden secured $3.1B for Black businesses during the pandemic (Rolling Out)

Discrimination

  • Nielsen settles lawsuit with Black executive over alleged discrimination (Chicago Tribune)

Reparations / Affirmative Action / Diversity / Inclusion

  • Chicago suburb’s plan to pay Black residents reparations could be a national model (NBC News) — The city council, which has already committed $10 million over a decade to the effort, will vote on Monday to begin with a $400,000 round of payments.
  • Evanston, IL becomes the first city to pay reparations for its anti-Black housing policies (Upworthy)
  • Evanston’s reparations plan is more symbol than substance (Chicago Tribune)
  • Absurdity of the ‘black reparations’ wokery (The Conservative Woman)
  • Reparations in Chicago? (Bloomberg Next City) – Chicago was looking at a guaranteed income plan.
  • Reparations for bias and slavery gains momentum (RawStory)
  • Where to shop? Business Diversity Directory shows you options led by women, Minorities (Cambridge Day)
  • DivInc CEO: What Austin businesses get right about diversity, what still needs to be done (Austin Business Journal)

Economics

Black Economics

  • Powell ‘not at all happy’ with Fed’s diversity (The Hill) – Only 2 out of 417 fed economists are Black.
  • Why Are There So Few Black Economists at the Fed? (NY Times)
  • Self-Help Credit Union, Kiva partner with local cities on microloan program for minority entrepreneurs (Charlotte Business Journal)
  • Building Wealth While Black: How Atlanta Fueled a Family Fortune (Bloomberg)
  • Invest in Children and Equality: Hand Out Baby Bonds (Bloomberg)
  • Students, UGA Faced With Tough Decisions After Receiving New Funds (Grady)
  • Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs Illinois Legislative Black Caucus’ economic reform package
  • (Chicago Tribune)
  • Transcript: The Path Forward: Economic Mobility with Raphael W. Bostic, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta (Washington Post)
  • Inside JPMorgan’s $30 billion push for racial equity in the economy — and within its own walls (Business Insider)

Straight up Econ / The Economy

  • Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Cecilia Rouse, and Member of the Council of Economic Advisers Heather Boushey (Whitehouse.Gov) on March 24, 2021. The topics covered are Equal Pay Day for Women.
  • Reasons behind the ongoing challenge in attracting and retaining women in economics (Yahoo)

Industry Stories

Marketing / Advertising / Sales / Consumer Behavior

  • Black Americans are buying more guns while navigating ‘landmines of white supremacy and racism’ (Michigan Live)
  • Blacklisted Bingo: Month-long event encourages support of Black-owned
  • Businesses (Daily Advertiser)

Alcohol / Marijuana / CBD / Gambling

  • The First Black-Owned Multinational Cannabis Brand: Al Harrington’s Viola To Launch In Canada (Forbes)
  • NY Mayor pushes cannabis revenue as gateway to racial equity (The Grio)
  • How These Long-Lost Sisters Launched The Largest Black-Owned Winery In The US (Refinery 29)
  • Will the State Marijuana Bill Pay Off for Black and Brown New Yorkers? (The City)
  • New York Mayor Proposes Using Marijuana Taxes To Fund Guaranteed Income As Reparations For Black Community (Marijuana Moment)
  • Springfield To Spend Some Cannabis Tax Money Supporting East Side Small Businesses, Homeowners (NPR)
  • FAMU’s Medical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative hosting forum on Minorities in Marijuana (Tallahassee Democrat) – Story near the bottom
  • Recreational Marijuana Sales Race Ahead, But Industry Equity Falls Behind (MSN.Com)

Beauty / Fashion / Retail

  • A Year Into the Pandemic: How Black-Owned Hair Salons Are Keeping Their Doors Open (Popsugar)

Technology / Apps / Innovation

  • Greenwood banking platform geared toward Black and Latino people raises $40 million in funding (CBS News)
  • Black-Owned Tech Company Creates Safety App to Help Prevent Police Brutality (Black Business)
  • Tech Players Move to Promote Black-Owned Businesses (The Daily)
  • TikTok Is Boosting Black Content Creators (Los Angeles Business Journal)

Finance / Investing / Venture Capital

  • Majority Black-Led MaC Venture Capital Raises Inaugural $110 Million Fund To Invest In Emerging Tech Disruptors (Forbes). Another story from USA Today. Adrian Fenty, former mayor of DC, is a partner. The business is called MAC Venture Capital.
  • Asset Management: Racial Wealth Gap Between Black, White Americans Remains Wide (Chief Investment Officer) — Survey finds 71% of white Americans own stocks, compared with 55% of Black Americans.
  • Ariel-Schwab Black Investor Survey 2020 – Released February 2021

Real Estate / Finance / Development / Housing / Segregation

  • Town of Orange Park, Florida, says Blacks’ homes aren’t being targeted for development (News 4 Jacksonville) – Jacksonville, FL
  • Economic & Community Development Committee’s request for vacant land map creates confusion Policies (Upworthy)
  • Data Spotlights Pernicious Savings Gaps by Race, Ethnicity (Plan Advisor) – Fifty percent of Whites have a retirement savings plan while only 35% of Blacks. In addition Whites have an account balance of about $80,000 while Blacks have a balance of $35,000.

Construction / Jobs / Discrimination

  • In West Baltimore, two Black women developers take novel approaches to tackle Blight (Baltimore Business Journal)
  • Tacoma Water unfairly picks white management applicants over Black ones, complaint says (KIRO 7) – Tacoma, WA

Cities / Urban Planning / Local Government

  • Panel: Diverse leadership matters as Boston deals with racist reputation (Boston Business Journal)
  • Alabama Jobs Act and the Growing Alabama Tax Credit Has 3% jobs credit for Majority business and a 4%credit for Minority business (Birmingham Business Journal)
  • Southeast Side Organizers Say Solution to Pollution Problem Includes Clean Industry Jobs (WTTW) – Chicago, IL

Politics / Government / Federal, State and Local

  • Here are some of the key measures in the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus’ economics package signed by Pritzker (Chicago Tribune)
  • Biden Administration Ramps Up Debt Relief Program to Help Black Farmers (New York Times)
  • Obama Foundation President Wally Adeyemo picked to be deputy Treasury secretary (Chicago Sun Times)

Law / Legal / Non-profits / Philanthropy / Non-Profit

  • Biden Expected to Name First Black Manhattan U.S. Attorney (Bloomberg Law)

Education / Healthcare

  • Non-White Students Twice As Likely To Desire Virtual Internships, Jobs Upon Graduation (Forbes)
  • A Novel Way to Finance School May Penalize Students From H.B.C.U.s, Study Finds (NY Times) – Discusses income sharing as a payment option
  • Cohort Sistas 3.1% campaign celebrates Black women with doctoral degrees (The Grio)

Farming / Agriculture / Food

  • Returning to his roots: Award-winning Carter brings Africulture to Orange County farm (Orange County Review) – Virginia. Long story about Black Farmers using “Africulture” – growing crops from Africa in Virginia. To learn more about Carter Farms visit www.thecarterfarms.com and to shop for seeds you can grow in your own garden visit www.carterbrothers.net.
  • ‘Systemic’ USDA discrimination against Black farmers gets scrutiny (Missourian)

People and Careers

Career / Professions / Entrepreneurship / Businesses You Can Start

  • Black-owned firm says new training program will help make clinical research more diverse (Cincinnati Business Journal) – This is a great business startup. The idea is brilliant.
  • Multicultural Foodservice & Hospitality Alliance’s Pathways to Black Franchise Ownership Initiative (PR Newswire) – Press Release. Multicultural Foodservice and Hospitality Alliance (MFHA) is kind of interesting.
  • Glamping: Women-led, Black-owned business opens luxury camping season (Startland News)

People / Motivation / Leadership / Success Stories / Ideas

  • Meet Kerin John, the Woman Putting Black-Owned Canadian Businesses On (Complex)
  • MESO names Umpqua Bank exec Cobi Lewis as new executive director (Portland Business Journal)
  • Daymond John (Shark Tank) talks evolution of FUBU, importance of small Black businesses (Yahoo)
  • Meet one of the few Black women in charge of an Atlantic City casino (NJ)
  • DC native creates chain of successful bed and breakfast inns (WTOP)
  • A Black Architect Is Transforming the Landscape of Golf (New York Times)
  • Dante Lee, This HBCU Grad Has Helped Over 1,000 Black-Owned Businesses Generate Revenue (AfroTech)

All Other

Caribbean / Africa / International

  • Meet Kerin John, the Woman Putting Black-Owned Canadian Businesses On (Complex) – Toronto, CA

Travel / History

  • Red pill or blue? Historic Charlotte neighborhoods are getting new life — in virtual reality. (Greensboro)
  • The Black CPA Centennial: Meet the first Black CPA (Accounting Today)
  • Why the Roaring Twenties Left Many Americans Poorer (History)

Black Business and Economic Stories for March 15th to March 21st 2021

Top Stories

  • Black Women Are More Likely to Start a Business than White Men (Harvard Business Review). A lot of statistics regarding type of business, funding, and education.
  • Corporations vowed to fight racism after George Floyd, but many still don’t have a single Black board member (USA Today)
  • Maggie Walker: Why America’s First Black Female Bank Founder Is Still Owed A Great Debt (Forbes) – a very good long piece on Maggie Walker.
  • The Brands Reimagining Natural Hair Care (NY Times)
  • ‘Silver linings in this mess of a pandemic’: Telecommuting allows Black women in Maryland to build wealth (Baltimore Sun). The pandemic has opened labor markets which allows Black women to secure better-paying jobs.
  • She was tired of seeing Black stereotypes on TV. So she started her own streaming service. (CNN). This article highlights the story of DeShuna Spencer and Kweli.TV.
  • ‘The Banker” movie: Review And Plot Explained (Otakukart) – A movie everyone should watch.
  • Sir Arthur Lewis and His Enduring Legacy (You Tube) – London School of Economics. Sir W. Arthur Lewis: A Lasting Legacy (You Tube) – Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Very good.
  • Legacy of Nobel laureate Sir W. Arthur Lewis commemorated at Robertson Hall (Princeton) – Press release. Arthur Lewis at LSE – one of our best teachers(LSE)
  • Michael Strahan, Pharrell, Join To Educate Athletes About Their Finances At NKSFB Sports Wealth Summit (Black Chronicle)
  • 333 years needed to erase equity gap for minority-owned businesses at current growth level (PRNewswire). Original report from the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council

Stories

Coronavirus / Covid-19 / Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)

Jobs / Workers / Unemployment / Gig Economy

  • For Black workers, age discrimination strikes twice (Washington Post)
  • Tucker: Curb unemployment by paying a living wage (Telegraph Herald)
  • Biden calls on employers to help get more workers vaccinated, saying it will boost the economy (Washington Post)
  • Almost 2 million Americans will lose supplemental unemployment benefits in 16 states (CNBC). Workers will lose a $300 weekly supplement to unemployment benefits. 
  • Uncounted in the Unemployment Rate, but They Want to Work (NY Times)

Inequality / Systemic Racism / Economic Justice / UBI

  • Cesca: Geography and public policy are strongly influencing racial inequality (Baltimore Sun)
  • How Businesses Can Drive the Systemic Change They Say They Want (Barrons)
  • Our America: The history of the model minority myth and its impact on Asian-American communities (ABC) – Model minority myth used to make unfair comparisons, pitting Asian Americans against Black and Latino people.
  • 333 years needed to erase equity gap for minority-owned businesses at current growth level (PRNewswire). Original report from the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council

Black Business

Black Business General / Interesting Businesses Stories

  • ‘There Are No Words For It’: Husband And Wife Duo Behind Frugal Bookstore Reflect On Their Whirlwind 2020 (WGBH)
  • How Will You Market Your Business in this Economy (Nasdaq)
  • This Black Women-owned Brand Makes Some of the Most Unique Travel Accessories Out There (Travel and Leisure)
  • ‘We Didn’t Have Time To Pause’: Entrepreneurs Of Color Reflect On The Pandemic (WGBH) – Basic Black
  • Second Round Of PPP Brings More Success For Some Minority-Owned Businesses (WFAE)
  • There Are Valuable Lessons To Be Learned From Black Business Icons (Forbes)
  • Black Women Are More Likely to Start a Business than White Men (Harvard Business Review). A lot of statistics regarding type of business, funding, and education.
  • Memphis aims to financial help 500 black business over the next three years (Commercial Appeal)
  • Black-Owned Food Establishments Struggle In Nation’s Capital (NPR) – Discusses Washington DC food with Anela Malik from Feed the Malik blog.

Black Business Specific

  • Black’s Life Center offers a personalized funeral experience, expert care (Marshall News Messenger) – Texas
  • Mother, daughters create tiny resort business in Lee County (WSFA12)
  • AMERICAN BLACK JOURNAL: Detroit Restaurant Business (PBS North Carolina) – Discusses Kuzzo’s kitchen in Detroit.

Black Economics

Black Economics

  • Sir Arthur Lewis and His Enduring Legacy (You Tube) – London School of Economics
  • Sir W. Arthur Lewis: A Lasting Legacy (You Tube) – Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Very good.
  • Legacy of Nobel laureate Sir W. Arthur Lewis commemorated at Robertson Hall (Princeton) – Press release
  • Arthur Lewis at LSE – one of our best teachers(LSE)

—————————————————————————————————————————-

  • The Two Women Fixing the Pipeline for Black Female Economists (Washington Post)
  • Breaking Barriers For BAME Entrepreneurs (Forbes)
  • Inclusive Economy (NAACP) – NNACP introduce and inclusive economy program.
  • How businesses can heed Martin Luther King, Jr.’s call to support Black banks (CNN Business)
  • Could one road project change the future of Alabama’s black belt? (AL.COM) – Route 43.  A look inside rural development in Alabama’s Black belt.
  • How Systemic Racism Continues To Determine Black Health And Wealth In Chicago (NPR). Original article is from the New York Times.
  • ‘Silver linings in this mess of a pandemic’: Telecommuting allows Black women in Maryland to build wealth (Baltimore Sun). The pandemic has opened labor markets which allows Black women to secure better-paying jobs.
  • Maggie Walker: Why America’s First Black Female Bank Founder Is Still Owed A Great Debt (Forbes) – a very good long piece on Maggie Walker

Economics / The economy

Co-Ops / Employee Owned / Cooperative Economics (UJamaa)

  • Decolonising race and class (Barbados Today) – Advocates coops and employee ownership.

General Business

Big Business / Corporate / Business Strategy

  • Rosalind Brewer officially takes the helm at Walgreens, becoming the only Black woman Fortune 500 CEO (CNN)
  • Will Walmart’s early payment program be a difference-maker for minority vendors? (Retail Wire)
  • Coca-Cola is at the center of a debate over corporate social justice, with an anti-affirmative-action activist threatening to sue over its supplier diversity program (Business Insider)
  • Corporate brands stepped up during 2020’s racial reckoning — now comes ‘the hard work’ of real equity and inclusion (MarketWatch)
  • Black Lives Matter holds rally Saturday for Amazon union vote (AL.com) – Gotta be careful.  This might backfire.
  • Black Workers at Amazon Warehouse have the Power to Keep Making History (Tennessee Tribune)
  • Goldman Sachs commits billions to impact black women’s lives (Business Chief) – Have to keep an eye on GS. Goldman Sachs does not have a good record on social justice, helping poor people or supporting the government.
  • Goldman Sachs Commits Additional $500 Million to Launch With GS for Total of $1 Billion (Black PR Newswire). Goldman Sachs program Launch with GS is here.
  • ‘Racial bias runs deep’ at America’s big banks, study says (CNN). The study covers discrimination against workers. Here is the Better Banks Accountability Project and the study.
  • Solar project aims to deliver training and equity to North Minneapolis (Energy News Network)
  • Board Prospects Releases Report Highlighting Lack of Black Board Members in Russell 3000 (PR Newswire) — The report shows that more than 60% of companies in the Russell 3000 have no Black board members. — Board Prospect is a recruiting firm specializing in minority board members. Read report here.

Discrimination

  • Corporations vowed to fight racism after George Floyd, but many still don’t have a single Black board member (USA Today)

Real Estate / Housing / Segregation

  • Commercial Real Estate: Why Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Are Paramount for Smart Business at Lument (Commercial Observer) – NYC commercial real estate news.  CRE Industry is basically devoid of minorities.
  • PACE loan program gives loans to underserved communities in ST. Louis (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Reparations / Affirmative Action / Diversity / Inclusion

  • Monday numbers: A closer look at the case for reparations for Black Americans (NC Policy Watch)
  • Chicago suburb’s plan to pay Black residents reparations could be a national model (KFGO) – Reuters
  • Amherst creates fund to pay reparations to Black residents (The Westerly Sun)
  • New Ford Bronco Sport ad spotlights Black women, challenges stereotypes (Detroit Free Press)
  • ‘There were six. And now there’s zero’: Restaurant industry grapples with lack of diversity in executive ranks (USA Today)
  • Still Too Few Black Executives In SA, Sectors Not Doing Enough – 2021 Sanlam Gauge Report (iafrica)
  • Diversity in the Workplace: Accelerating Change in the Boardroom with Ursula Burns, Senior Adviser of Teneo & Former CEO of Xerox (Washington Post)
  • Charleston ports agency could get more oversight, add minority contractors (Post and Courier)

Industries and Categories

Beauty / Fashion / Retail

  • Engineer Aliyah Powell takes fashion industry by storm (Afro.Com). Here is Fit Fashionista website as mentioned in the article.
  • The Brands Reimagining Natural Hair Care (NY Times)

Sports / Media / Entertainment

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

  • IPG pledges to spend 5% on Black-owned media by 2023 (Marketing Dive)
  • Marketers are reportedly underpaying Black influencers compared to white people with less followers (Business Insider)
  • Report: Kyle Lowry’s Investments Motivated by More Than Capital Gains (Sports Illustrated)
  • NBA stars like Kevin Durant and Kyle Lowry are increasingly pouring money into startups for the thrill of investing and a chance to break down barriers for people of color (Business Insider)
  • She was tired of seeing Black stereotypes on TV. So she started her own streaming service. (CNN). This article highlights the story of DeShuna Spencer and Kweli.TV.
  • New report shows Black, Hispanic workers underrepresented in creative jobs (NYN Media)
  • Black Workers Find Little Opportunity in Growing Video Game Industry (Yahoo Finance) – Well, Bloomberg

Alcohol / Marijuana / CBD / Gambling

  • Cannabis Advocates Rip Arizona’s Draft Rules for ‘Social Equity’ Licenses (Phoenix New Times)
  • The cofounder of Colorado’s first Black-owned cannabis dispensary (Business Insider)
  • How will Plainfield handle marijuana? City wants public input (My Central Jersey)
  • Meet Florida’s first Black female winemaker. Desriee Noisette founded Mermosa four years ago (Click Orlando)
  • Phil Long of Longevity Wines (South Florida Reporter)

Food / Restaurants

  • Organization brings Black Restaurant Week to Nashville’s culinary scene (Nashville Business Journal)
  • Cereal bar brings Saturday morning nostalgia and encouragement to other Black-owned businesses (Spectrum News)
  • As barbecue booms, Black Southern pitmasters claim their rightful place (Tennessean)
  • Entrepreneur creates a welcoming environment for women to purchase hair care Supplies (Philadelphia Tribune)
  • Black-Owned Food Establishments Struggle In Nation’s Capital (NPR) – Discusses Washington DC food with Anela Malik from Feed the Malik blog.

Finance / Investing / Venture Capital

  • Women and minority investors are taking matters into their own hands (Chicago Booth)
  • American Express puts $40 million into a fund to provide loans to small business owners of color (CNBC)
  • Minority-Owned Investment Banks Are Underwriting More Corporate Bond Offerings (Wall Street Journal) (MorningStar)
  • ‘Racial bias runs deep’ at America’s big banks, study says (CNN). The study covers discrimination against workers. Here is the Better Banks Accountability Project and the study.
  • U.S. Bank Access Fund to Focus $25M on Women of Color in Business (Philanthropy Women)

Real Estate / Finance / Development / Segregation

  • Local partnership aims to assist BIPOC community members looking to start businesses and buy homes (Ithaca Voice)
  • Are renters—and the U.S. economy—hurtling toward an ‘eviction cliff’? (Phys)
  • Black Americans and The Racist Architecture Of Homeownership (NPR)
  • A new study shows anti-Black racism is costing American homeowners hundreds of thousands of dollars (Business Insider
  • New crowdfunding rules set to boost investment in diverse startups and founders (Impact Alpha)
  • Marcia Fudge Assumes HUD at Critical Time for Housing, Reverse Mortgages (Reverse Mortgage Daily)  — It’s funny to see how a publication, of the disreputable reverse mortgage industry, treats a regulator who might crack down. 
  • Maggie Walker: Why America’s First Black Female Bank Founder Is Still Owed A Great Debt (Forbes) – a very good long piece on Maggie Walker
  • ‘The Banker” movie: Review And Plot Explained (Otakukart) – A movie everyone should watch

Technology / Apps / Innovation

  • From Silicon Valley To Nairobi: Sote Founders’ Startup Dream Spans Two Continents (Crunchbase)
  • 3 Ways Technology Can Help Minority-Owned Businesses Recover (LMT)

Science / Math / Statistics / STEM

  • Gerald Johnson: Black Engineer of the Year (BEYA Stem Conference) – Executive Vice President Global Manufacturing, General Motors

Cities / Urban Planning / Local Government

  • The Neighborhood Fighting Not to Be Forgotten (The Atlantic)

Politics / Government / Federal, State and Local

  • Biden senior advisor Cedric Richmond on how American Rescue Plan benefits Black communities (The Grio)

Education / Healthcare

  • Community College enrollment drops 10% (Amarillo Globe-News)
  • Historically Black colleges need equal access to the bond market (The Hill)

Farming / Agriculture / Food Production

  • Black Farmers Have Long Faced Discrimination. New Aid Aims To Right Past Wrongs (NPR)
  • A $5 billion down payment on what America owes to Black farmers (CNN)

People, Careers and All Other

Career / Professions / Entrepreneurship / Businesses You Can Start

  • Matice Wright-Springer rejoins Booz Allen as partner (Consulting US) – It’s nice to see Black people cashing in on the revolving door of government consulting.  Consulting Magazine offers a peak inside the world of consulting.  Consulting is like the cheese cake factory of the knowledge service industry.
  • Vanessa Whiting owns 16 popeye’s franchises (Cleveland.Com)
  • ThirdLove Announces Bright Black as Second Winner of The TL Effect Incubator Program to Continue Advancement of Female Entrepreneurs of Color (Business Wire) – Press Release
  • Solar project aims to deliver training and equity to North Minneapolis (Energy News Network)

People / Motivation / Leadership / Success Stories / Ideas

  • Eventnoire, a Black-owned ticketing platform, just won first place in a $1m startup Competition (Face 2 Face)
  • 28-Year-Old Shares 3 Wealth Tips That Helped His Family Go From Welfare to Millionaires (Entrepreneur)
  • Lily Adeleye, the six-year-old behind the youngest Black-owned brand on Walmart’s shelves (Face2Face Africa)
  • This Black Mom Entrepreneur Is Paving The Way For Other Women-Led Companies (Forbes). Story about Monique Rodriquez and Mielle Organics.
  • Two Black Dads Celebrate Diversity By Creating Their Own Line of Black Dolls (Essence)
  • Mary T. Washington Wylie in 1943 became the nation’s first Black woman to earn the CPA license. The first Black woman to become a CPA (Journal of Accountancy)

Caribbean / Africa / International

  • New network aims to create opportunities for African Nova Scotians (CBC) – Canada
  • ‘It’s a matter of opening our eyes,’ Black-owned creative agency hopes to change the marketing environment (CTV) – Montreal, Canada
  • South African banks under fire over their exclusion of black businesses (IOL)
  • PIC has funded much less black-owned businesses than white – Dr Iqbal Survé (IOL)
  • Diversity advocate calls out “subtle racism” in Scottish finance sector (Insider) – United Kingdom
  • Snapshot on African Economy as of March 19th, 2021 (Proshare Investing) – Nigeria. Interesting site with a daily take on African financial markets. Nigeria is know for it’s advanced financial system.

Travel / History

  • Statue of “King” William Lanson (Atlas Obscura) – Statue honors a pillar of early New Haven Black Community.
  • 9 Entrepreneurs Who Helped Build Tulsa’s Black Wall Street (History)
  • A guide to the sites of the civil rights era encourages travelers to engage with Black history (NBC News) – Here is the website referenced in the article.
  • National Park Service Civil Rights Trail Website – Outstanding !!!
  • Maggie Walker: Why America’s First Black Female Bank Founder Is Still Owed A Great Debt (Forbes) – a very good long piece on Maggie Walker

Conservative / Alternative

  • Is it legal to prioritize women- and minority-owned restaurants for COVID-19 relief? A lawsuit alleges white men are ‘pushed to the back of the line.’ (Chicago Tribune)

Opinion

  • One People, One House: Help eliminate Black fatigue (Guest viewpoint) (Mass Live)
  • Black People Are Far More Powerful Than Critical Race Theory Preaches | Opinion (Newsweek)
  • Remove Governor Stitt from Tulsa Race Massacre Commission for signing HB 1775 (Black Wall Street Times)
  • America is having a Black Renaissance. We should learn from it. (Washington Post)
  • Why more Americans should leave home and move to other states (LA Times)

Other

  • Black and Hispanic Americans See Their Origins as Central to Who They Are, Less So for White Adults (Pew Research)

Black Business and Economic Stories for March 8th to March 14th 2021

Top Stories

  • “She-cession” threatens economic recovery (Axios). Fears that the women who left the workforce won’t return and the chances are higher with Black women.
  • Marketers Are Underpaying Black Influencers While Pushing Black Lives Matter (Bloomberg)
  • Hollywood is losing out on $10 billion in revenue every year by underfunding work by Black creators (Business Insider)
  • Black Americans are not investing in the stock market, and it’s costing them (The Denver Channel).
  • How Unfair Property Taxes Keep Black Families From Gaining Wealth (Bloomberg). Caused by the overvaluation of Black homes and the undervaluation of securing mortgages. 

Stories

Coronavirus / Covid-19 / Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)

  • Many Still Dealing with COVID-Related Financial Loss (Manufacturing)
  • Black-owned businesses face obstacles with Paycheck Protection Program (Yahoo News)
  • Newark art gallery owner fights to stay open during the pandemic (News 12 Connecticut)
  • TruFund, a Community Development Financial Institution, based in New York, distributed 87% of it’s PPP loans to minority businesses. (PR Newswire). TruFund PPP report is here.

Jobs / Workers / Unemployment / Gig Economy

  • “She-cession” threatens economic recovery (Axios). Fears that the women who left the workforce won’t return and the chances are higher with Black women.
  • A Year Later, Who Is Back to Work and Who Is Not? (New York Times)
  • Just 3% of Black professionals want to return to the office full-time, post-Covid (Silicon Valley Business Journal)
  • ‘Raising the Minimum Wage Has Direct Implications for Black Families’ (Fair)
  • Glassdoor rates the best companies for Black employees (EBN)
  • On International Women’s Day, a Look Back at the Last Year in Pandemic for Working Women (Wall Street Journal)
  • Black and Hispanic women aren’t sharing in the job market recovery (CNBC)
  • Pandemic exposes corporations’ true aims: Gig-ifying more jobs (Black Voice News)
  • Hiking the Minimum Wage to $15 Is Key — But It’s Hardly a Living Wage (Truthout)
  • Employment Rates Are Dropping Among Black Women, Data Shows (Madam Noire)

Inequality / Systemic Racism / Economic Justice

  • Marketers Are Underpaying Black Influencers While Pushing Black Lives Matter (Bloomberg)
  • Goldman: Closing the earnings gap for Black women would contribute up to $300B to U.S. GDP (Yahoo Finance)
  • In East Tampa, pandemic relief merges with small business development (Tampa Bay Times)
  • Racial inequality is a business risk (CBR) — Long-term investors and corporate leaders must help address racial injustice and economic inequity
  • Black women’s wealth is 90% lower than White men. Goldman Sachs is investing billions to change that (Philadelphia Tribune)
  • The Next Phase Of Retail: Values Driven Marketplaces (Forbes) – Marketplaces focusing on social impact and underrepresented communities are thriving.
  • New stimulus proposals look like a guaranteed income experiment. Early results show whether it will work (CNBC)

Black Business General / Interesting Businesses Stories

  • How he built one of the Charlotte area’s fastest-growing Black-owned businesses (Charlotte Business Journal)
  • 25 Black-owned brands to shop for your everyday essentials (CNN)
  • N.J. foundation invests $1M for unconventional loans to support Black-owned businesses (NJ.Com)
  • Nashville’s iconic Lower Broadway gets its first Black-owned businesses (Marketplace)
  • Florence native fights food insecurity and hopes to inspire future business owners (WPDE) – Florence, SC
  • International Women’s Day: Meet the two best friends from Birmingham taking the business world by storm (The Voice) — Niyo Enterprise was created to be a platform to empower black women.
  • 8 Black Women Owned Brands To Support For International Women’s Day (Essence)
  • To weather coronavirus, Black and brown-owned businesses show grit and Determination (MSN)
  • He put it all on the line opening his butcher shop a year ago. Then the pandemic hit. (Washington Post)
  • Pandemic highlights hardships black business owners face (WETA / PBS Newshour)

Black Business Specific

  • Black-owned “Oooh Wee It Is” Restaurant Opens Second Location in Chicago (Chicago Crusader) – Restaurant concept.
  • Mo’s Bows partners with GoDaddy for Black business development (Daily Memphian)
  • L. Brian Jenkins has brought his businesses Entrenuity, Mox.E and Overflow Coffee to the South Loop to provide services to help entrepreneurs. (Chicago Sun Times). Here is the website for Entrenuity mentioned in the story.

Big Business / Corporate

  • Goldman Sachs to invest billions in Black women (Marketplace)
  • Nike sets fresh diversity targets for 2025, and ties executive compensation to hitting them (CNBC)
  • Keep an eye on these four companies and their diversity efforts(CBS News) – Bank of America, UPS, Netflix and Walmart are leader in diversity and inclusion.  They also have a large Black consumer base.

Discrimination

  • Noose hanging at job site targeted Black worker at NC electric company, lawsuit Says (Charlotte Observer)
  • Only 1.3% of farmers in the US are Black, and some say they still face Discrimination (Business Insider)
  • ‘Second-Class Citizens’: Black Amazon Manager Sues Company Over Alleged Racial Discrimination, Harassment (Daily Beast)
  • UCLA-led Study Reveals ‘Hidden Costs’ of Being Black in the U.S. (Newswise) – Press release.
  • Money Protects White but Not African American Men against Discrimination: Comparison of African American and White Men in the Same Geographic Areas (IJERPH Journal Citation)

Reparations / Affirmative Action / Diversity / Inclusion      

  • Chicago suburb to become first city to give Black residents reparations (NBC News)
  • Evanston, Illinois, Could Be First City to Use Marijuana Tax to Fund Reparations for Black Residents (News Week)
  • Lindsey Graham criticizes COVID stimulus funds for Black farmers. ‘That’s reparations’ (Tri-City Herald)
  • For The Culture Newsletter: Going Beyond Black History Month With Our State Of Black Entrepreneurship Project (Forbes)
  • This Black Family Ran a Thriving Beach Resort 100 Years Ago. They Want Their Land Back. (New York Times)
  • Keep an eye on these 4 companies and their diversity efforts (CBS News)
  • Black History Month branding was good. Now companies need to do it for the whole year (Fast Company)
  • These Black Women Are Bringing Representation To The Podcast Space (Forbes)
  • How to hire more black women for leadership roles (Financial Times)

Economics

Black Economics

  • Revolution’s David Hall talks Covid-19, venture capital and what the future holds for Rise of the Rest (Washington Business Journal)
  • Experts Detail How Student Loan Debt Is Strangling Black and Latino Students (Sac Observer) – Black and Latino students have higher debt, and the borrowing of money creates vicious economic cycle preventing generational wealth.
  • “She-cession” threatens economic recovery (Axios) — Decades of the slow economic progress women made catching up to men evaporated in just one year.
  • More banks, not more regulation, key to minority business growth (Williamsport Sun-Gazette)
  • Banking co-ops run by Black women have a longtime legacy of helping people (The Conversation)
  • Relief bill is most significant legislation for Black farmers since Civil Rights Act, experts say (Washington Post)

Straight up Econ / The Economy

  • Child allowances could save working families. ‘Promoting marriage’ definitely won’t (Fortune) – Good discussion of marriage subsidies.
  • To Juice the Economy, Biden Bets on the Poor (New York Times)
  • When You’re a Small Business, E-Commerce Is Tougher Than It Looks (New York Times) – Big business is killing small business, especially in the e-commerce space.
  • Analysis: U.S. central bankers are mostly white men. The Fed wants to change that (Reuters)

Co-Ops / Employee Owned / Cooperative Economics (Ujamaa)

Industry Stories

Sports / Media / Entertainment

  • Hollywood is losing out on $10 billion in revenue every year by underfunding work by Black creators (Business Insider)
  • Black inclusion gap costs Hollywood $10 billion a year, report says (Los Angeles Times)
  • Why Triller’s Acquisition of Verzuz is a Big Business Win for Black Music, Especially Hip-Hop (Ebony)

Food / Restaurants / Bars / Hospitality

  • How this nonprofit is ‘Turning Tables’ for Black bartenders, tackling industry racial inequality (NOLA.Com) – There has been lots of discrimination in “the front of the house”. Turning Tables, which is referenced in the story, is working to fix the problem. Mino Foundation is also mentioned. Nice, long story. The BLS says 84% of bartenders are White.

Alcohol / Marijuana / CBD / Gambling

  • Meet the youngest Black woman dispensary owner in the U.S. breaking barriers in the cannabis industry (CBS News).
  • Black Entrepreneurs Are ‘Going Green’ With Cannabis Companies (Newsweek)
  • Constellation Brands Announces Commitment to Invest $10 Million in ‘Clear Vision Impact Fund’ to Support Black and Minority-Owned Businesses (GlobalNewsWire) – Press release
  • Brough Brothers Bourbon files false advertising lawsuit against Lexington company (Louisville Business First)
  • Uncle Nearest Is Now the Best-Selling African-American Owned and Founded Spirits Brand Ever (InsideHook)
  • African American Owned and Founded Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey Achieves Sales Milestone of 1.5 million bottles (Bevnet)
  • Detroit overwhelmed by applicants for recreational marijuana shop licenses (The Detroit News) – 50% of license will go to “legacy” Detroiters.

Technology / Apps / Innovation

  • BIPOC students gain web design skills while building sites for Black-owned businesses (Geek Wire) – Black employees make up only 3.7% of web developers nationwide. Program seeks to help change this.

Finance / Investing / Venture Capital

  • Black Americans are not investing in the stock market, and it’s costing them (The Denver Channel).
  • Goldman Sachs Unveils $10 Billion Push to Invest in Black Women (Wall Street Journal)
  • Transcript: Race in America: Minority-Owned Businesses with Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO & President of Ariel Investments (Washington Post)
  • Legendary investor John Rogers Jr. wants you to have this money conversation with your kids (Fortune)
  • Black Investor Survey 2020 Press Release: New Ariel-Schwab Black Investor Survey Shows Black Americans Continue to Trail Their White Counterparts in Building Wealth (BusinessWire) – Press Release
  • States and DC examine Predatory Payday Lending (Washington Informer)

Real Estate / Finance / Development / Housing / Segregation

  • Black homeownership rate hits lowest level since the 1960s — that’s unlikely to change in Pandemic Year 2 (MarketWatch)
  • How Unfair Property Taxes Keep Black Families From Gaining Wealth (Bloomberg). Caused by the overvaluation of Black homes and the undervaluation of securing mortgages. 
  • It pays to get a 2nd home appraisal, especially if you’re a Black homeowner, hidden camera investigation shows (CBC) – Canada has a problem too.
  • A beach in LA Country, potentially worth up to $72 million, may go back to the descendants of the first Black owners (Becauseofthemwecan)
  • 5 road projects threaten long-established Black communities across the Lowcountry (Charleston Post and Courier) – You must own land to have agency.

Politics / Government / State and Local

  • Biden Bill’s Aid to Minority Farmers Spotlights Post-Trump Pivot (Bloomberg)
  • How $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill aims to help Black and socially disadvantaged farmers (USA Today)
  • Treasury makes $9B investment in minority communities through Emergency Capital Investment Program (Augusta Free Press)
  • Two Decades After the ‘End of Welfare,’ Democrats Are Changing Direction (New York Times)

Law / Legal / Non-profits / Philanthropy / Non-Profit

  • Lightfoot proposes minority contracting reforms (Chicago Sun Times)
  • Black Media Alliance of NY hosts Black Economic Empowerment Talk (NY Carib News) – Only 2% of contracts in NYC go to Black firms.

HR / Personnel / Human Capital

  • DIVERSANT Acquires Atrilogy Solutions Group (PR Newswire)

Education / Healthcare

  • ‘A Lot of My Lower Ones Are Blacks’: Georgetown Law Adjunct Resigns Over Grading Comments (Law)
  • Howard University Receives $4.9M Grant For Music Business Center (NewsOne)
  • Former UPS executive raises pledge to Morgan State to $15 millions dollars total (African American Voice)
  • Spelman, Morehouse and Black Economic Alliance open center for Entrepreneurship (Because of them we can)

Farming / Agriculture / Food

  • Biden to Sign Bill with $4 Billion in Debt Relief for Minority Farmers (Agriculture)
  • The COVID-19 relief bill includes $5 billion in aid for farmers of color who have long faced discrimination by federal officials (Business Insider)

People and Careers

Career / Professions / Entrepreneurship / Businesses You Can Start

  • Marcia Fudge confirmed as first Black woman to lead HUD in more than 40 years (Washington Post)
  • The typical White business owner has over 2.5 times the liquid wealth of the typical Black business owner in each of the first four years. (JP Morgan Chase)

People / Motivation / Leadership / Success Stories / Ideas

  • Shalanda Baker and the energy crisis plaguing Black and brown Americans (NBC News). Baker dives deep into the energy injustice African Americans face.
  • Exclusive: Why this local recording artist started Black Men Ventures — and what it means for D.C.-area startups (Washington Business Journal)
  • Rebound: Business-ing While Black (NBC Bay Area) – Gourmonade owner Vicktor Stevenson reflects on racism
  • Lisa Wardell, Chairman and CEO of Adtalem Global Education Inc., was elected to Board of Directors at American Express (AfroTech)

All Other

Caribbean / Africa / International

  • African payments company Flutterwave is valued at $1 Billion (TechCrunch)

Travel / History

  • From buggies to buses, the first Black-owned US automaker did what few others dared (ARS Technica)

Classic / Old stories but good stories

Conservative / Alternative

  • The case against reparations Part II (Antelope Valley Press) – Larry Elder. We can’t do reparations because we don’t know who is responsible and who will pay?

Opinion

  • Opinion: D.C.’s build-build-build mind-set results in more gentrification (Washington Post)

Other