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)