We have a large number of stories about Black businesses this week.
Top Stories
Racism has cost the US economy $16 trillion in the last 20 years — and will keep costing the country money if things don’t change (Business Insider).
A Black Chicago Bar Owner wants more than fake support from his industry (Chicago Eater) – White bar owners decline to participate in protests, Johnson is left with feelings of performative ally-ship.
Fighting Climate Change, One Building At A Time (NPR)
Killer Mike wants to revolutionize banking (Vanity Fair)
With Greenwood, Black Lives Matter Brings its Powerful Message to Online Banking (Triple Pundit) – Using Killer Mikes celebrity status is a good strategy for Greenwood bank.
Business Groups Urge Trump to Withdraw Order on Diversity Training (Wall Street Journal) – Black people hold 3% of executive or senior-level roles at US companies with 100 or more employees.
Yelp Users Can Now Flag Businesses For Racist Behavior (Grit Daily) – Reviews for Black-owned businesses up 617% this summer on Yelp
Disparity In Bank Lending To Black Business Owners (Northern California Public Media) – There has been an 84% drop in lending to African American owned businesses in SBA program since 2007
Can Prop. 16 boost California’s Latino-, Black-, Asian- and women-owned companies? (LA Times)
Investopedia adds entry on Reparations for Slavery (Investopedia)
New Study Highlights $34 Billion Tourism Opportunity and Strong Traveler Interest in Black History and Culture (GlobeNewswire).
Investing in Black-owned banks key to ending racial disparities (CNBC) – Investing in Black banks can help fight the inequity in the disbursement of loans to the Black community.
Coronavirus / PPP
Income shocks hit Black and Hispanic families twice as much (Chicago Booth Review). Black and Hispanic households are 20–50 percent more sensitive to income volatility than their white counterparts.
‘A tale of two Americas’: How the pandemic is widening the financial health gap (Fortune).
Big Banks Prioritized Billions In PPP Funds For Wealthy Clients At The Expense Of Struggling Small Businesses, House Report Finds (Forbes)
Business group offers pandemic grants to Seattle-area Black-owned businesses (Seattle Times)
Protest / Social Justice / Racism
Black Lives Matter provokes change on Wall Street (Financial Times). Protestors are challenging asset managers to do more on racial injustice issues.
Racism has cost the US economy $16 trillion in the last 20 years — and will keep costing the country money if things don’t change (Business Insider).
Jobs / Workers / Unemployment
Mass Unemployment Is a Crisis — But We’re Not Treating It as One (Jacobin Magazine)
More than 865,000 women left the U.S. workforce in September (Business Record). Of those women, 324,000 were Latina and 58,000 were Black.
Black Business General
Black Business Expo in Lancaster PA hopes to create economic support system (ABC 27 TV)
Black Restaurant Week Establishes ‘Feed The Soul Foundation’ (Cision PR Newswire) –The foundation will support small business with developmental help and mentorship support.
Loan program looks to support businesses that are owned by and help communities of color (WFMY) — $100,000 given to Piedmont Business Capital to distribute to business owners of color.
Barefoot and New Voices Foundation Award Grants to Black-owned Beauty Businesses (Cision PR Newswire) — $60,000 in grant money given to Black businesses specializing in highlighting the beauty of women of color.
In Texas, some Black-owned barbecue restaurants saw an uptick in business during summer protests (Marketplace) – Pandemic would have posed insurmountable challenges for many Black businesses had there not been an uptick of support due to summer protests.
Black Entrepreneur’s Guide To The Rest Of 2020 (Forbes) – Tips for Black entrepreneurs looking to seize the rest of 2020.
We must support Black businesses, especially now (The Daily Targum) – A small list of unique Black Businesses. Rutgers University
Black business owners, city leaders discuss proposals to close wealth gap in Big Bend area (WTXL) – Black business owners call for a fair chance of success regardless of skin color.
Blaktober aims to put a spotlight on Chicago’s Black-owned restaurants (Chicago Sun Times) – 70 Black-owned to be highlighted in Chicago’s Blaktober
Black-owned businesses receive $250k from Kaiser Permanente Northwest (KGW). This investment is part of a national effort to uplift communities of color and improve public health.
Week-long event highlights the Black-owned restaurants in NOLA (The Louisiana Weekly)
Black Restaurant Week kicks off in Philly (Philly Metro)
These 15 Black Owned Plant Companies will Help You Find Your Green Thumb (Cosmopolitan)
Black Business Specific
A Black Chicago Bar Owner wants more than fake support from his industry (Chicago Eater) – White bar owners decline to participate in protests, Johnson is left with feelings of performative ally-ship.
Even During a Pandemic, LA’s Black-Owned Bars Offer a Ray of Hope (LA Eater) – Gentrification put a limit on Black-owned spaces, establishments like the Living Room keep hope alive.
Fighting Climate Change, One Building At A Time (NPR)
Killer Mike wants to revolutionize banking (Vanity Fair)
With Greenwood, Black Lives Matter Brings its Powerful Message to Online Banking (Triple Pundit) – Using Killer Mikes celebrity status is a good strategy for Greenwood bank.
Space City Shows Drive-In Celebrates Black-Owned Businesses (Houstonia Magazine) – EaDo, the first Black-owned drive-in theater, hosts venue featuring Black-led films and serviced by Black-owned food trucks.
Mastercard / Stride Partnership includes MoCaFi, a Black financial technology company (Pymnts Magazine)
Black Business Spotlight: Just Turkey (MSR) – New restaurant ‘Just Turkey’ targets niche market in Minneapolis.
Virginia Black Business Directory Expo Coming To Fredericksburg (Patch) – Expo to serve as a place for Black business owners to promote their products and services.
How a McDonald’s Father-Daughter Duo Inspires Positive Change (QSR Magazine)
Columbus Welcomes First Black-Owned Grocery Store in 25 Years (Spectrum News 1 Columbus)
Big Business
Google To Provide Digital Skills Training At HBCUs As Part Of $15 Million Pledge (Forbes) – Press Release
Merck CEO calls on private industry to ‘stabilize society’ amid racial injustice, economic downturn (Fierce Pharma) – Ken Frazier is one of four Black CEOs.
TD Bank Investments in International African American Museum (Monitor Daily) – Interesting story coming from a web site devoted to equipment leasing and financing.
Business Groups Urge Trump to Withdraw Order on Diversity Training (Wall Street Journal) – Black people hold 3% of executive or senior-level roles at US companies with 100 or more employees.
USAA launches $50M initiative to advance racial equality (The Business Journals).
Yelp Users Can Now Flag Businesses For Racist Behavior (Grit Daily) – Reviews for Black-owned businesses up 617% this summer on Yelp
Business Roundtable CEOs Announce Corporate Initiatives on Racial Justice (Industry Week) – One initiative of Business Roundtable is better service to underbanked populations.
New initiative goes beyond survival to assist small Black businesses with sustainable growth (Chicago Crusader) – The Comcast RISE program will offer media campaigns, computer and voice equipment, and free marketing insights to all applicants.
YouTube debuts a new platform to ‘amplify Black voices’ in new shows (Today). Youtube announced the $100 million Black Voices Fund.
JPMorgan commits billions to build Black and Latinx wealth (ImpactAlpha).
Facebook’s #BuyBlackFriday initiative promotes holiday shopping at Black-owned businesses (The Business Journals). Facebook is working with the U.S. Black Chambers on the initiative to encourage consumers to consider purchasing from Black-owned small businesses.
Corporate America Is Tackling Diversity Issues. Here’s What CEOs and Money Managers Say Will Turn Talk Into Action. (Barrons)
More than 150 business groups tell Trump to reverse executive order banning diversity training (The Hill)
Discrimination
Black businesses get fewer loan opportunities, study shows (The Grio)
Disparity In Bank Lending To Black Business Owners (Northern California Public Media) – There has been an 84% drop in lending to African American owned businesses in SBA program since 2007
Reparations / Affirmative Action
Can Prop. 16 boost California’s Latino-, Black-, Asian- and women-owned companies? (LA Times)
San Diego protest calls for reparations for Black Americans (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Will County Democrats want Black residents to decide how to spend revenue from cannabis tax as reparations for slavery (Chicago Tribune)
How much is owed to Afro-descendants in the Americas? (GQ UK)
Investopedia adds entry on Reparations for Slavery (Investopedia)
Real Estate / RE Finance / Residential Segregation / Gentrification
Black Americans are paying more to own a home and falling further behind (CNN). Black homeowners on average pay more in mortgage interest, mortgage insurance, and property taxes than other homeowners.
Why highways were designed to run through Black communities. SC faces historic dilemma again (Charleston Post & Courier) – In the old days, there was little community input. Planners looked for the least expensive land.
Why Are There So Few Black Farmers in The Midwest? (WVIK Public Radio)
Miami Gardens: Dade’s Black middle class city (Miami Hearld)
Pittsburgh Unveils ‘Avenues Of Hope’ Project To Revitalize Historically Black Neighborhood Business Districts (CBS Pittsburg)
ABC Nightline features family who says home appraisal value increased after removing ‘Blackness’ from home (First Coast News)
A community investment trust for Portland, Ore. residents to ‘buy back the block’ (Brookings)
Why accessing real estate capital is tougher for Black entrepreneurs (National Mortgage News)
Finance / Investments
Stocks are soaring, and most Black people are missing out (The Detroit News). Black households are less likely to own stock, missing out on “roughly 260% returns for S&P 500 funds over the last decade.”
New Report Finds Just 31 Black Founders Raised Venture Capital In Q3 2020 (Yahoo Finance). 31 Black venture capitalists raised $5.8 Billion with only 115 Million being invested in black founder-led startups.
LA Black Investors Club Pitch Competition (LABIC)
Economics
William Darity wins 2020 Leaders in Diversity Awards Lifetime Achievement Award winner (Triangle Business Journal)
Nobel problem: Economists want to see their profession diversify (Aljazeera). Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson speak about diversity within the field.
People / Careers / Motivation
Kristen Noel Crawley on spurring diversity in beauty: ‘We could be molding the next billion-dollar company’ (Glossy) – Crawley, a Black female founder, notes challenges she has overcome
Black CEOs Thrives Where Big Banks Fled (Bloomberg) — Darrin Williams of Southern Bancorp is pitching traditional banking to the untrusting and the unbanked.
Black Professionals News Publisher Earl Harvey, 65, remembered as an innovator (Philadelphia Tribune) – Earl Harvey, champion of Black entrepreneurs and organizer of innovative community-building events, dead at 65.
NFL superstar Malcolm Jenkins just created a venture capital fund focused on empowering black founders and investors (Business Insider).
Destiny Payton-Williams is Shaking up the Beauty Industry (Global News Wire)
Career / Industry
U.S. Space Force sends recruiting envoy to North Carolina A&T (Triad Business Journal)
Sports / Media / Entertainment
Oakland Businesses Propose $92 Million to Create First Black-Owned NFL Team (Oakland Post)
Viola launches cannabis business incubator program with Gold Standard Farms (Greenway). The ultimate goal of the incubator program will be to create 100 Black millionaires within cannabis.
Politics / Government
Experts testify about systemic racism in Illinois home loan, banking industries; Lawmakers look for answers from banking executives, community advocates, researchers (Quad-City Times) – Illinois
Experts Testify About Systemic Racism in Illinois Home Loan, Banking Industries (Northern Public Radio)
Black Super PAC Urges Candidates and Parties to Spend Millions with Black Businesses (Dallas Weekly)
Diddy Announces Launch Of Our Black Party PAC (Vibe)
OKC approves more funds for small minority businesses hurt by pandemic (The Oklahoman)
Has Trump failed Black Americans? (Brookings) – Trump’s Platinum Plan is too little, too late when it comes to addressing the neglect faced by members of the Black community.
Black business leaders bring policy proposals to City and County Commissions in Tallahassee, FL (WCTV) – Policies aimed to aid minority-owned businesses include breaking up large contracts for professional services.
Black Democrats demand minority lead Treasury under Biden (Axios)
Metro East senator says black businesses deserve fair share in state contracts (Illinois Business Journal)
Non-Profit
Wes Moore, CEO of the Robinhood Foundation talks about Race and Poverty in America (Washington Post) – Wes Moore, CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, seeks to aid in the eradication of poverty and the uplifting of Black and Latino communities
Caribbean / UK / Canada / Africa / International
Atlantic Council hosts session on investment in Africa (Atlantic Council)
Simply Noir Marketplace for black independent businesses launches in UK (Tamebay) – Simply Noir works to make black & ethnic products more accessible to all.
Black and Indigenous entrepreneurs struggle for traction in Canada’s cannabis industry (CBC)
6 Canadians on How They’d Elevate Their Businesses Through the Black Entrepreneurship Program (Flare) — Canada
Travel
New Study Highlights $34 Billion Tourism Opportunity and Strong Traveler Interest in Black History and Culture (GlobeNewswire).
Local ‘Green Book’ motel was a haven for Black travelers during Jim Crow. An affordable housing project seeks to honor that history (Chesterfield Observer)
Opinion
The Oakland Coliseum Should be Developed by and with Blacks (Post News Group)
Investing in Black-owned banks key to ending racial disparities (CNBC) – Investing in Black banks can help fight the inequity in the disbursement of loans to the Black community.
No one has done more for Black people than Black people (News Press). The focus on which president has done the most for Black people diminishes the contributions Black people made to their own history.