June 21^st to July 18^th 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

• Black Owned CPA Firm Celebrates Its 80th Anniversary (Michigan Chronicle)

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