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

• Here’s who bought the $8 million Four Seasons penthouse (Baltimore Business Journal) — Eddie Brown, Owner of Brown Capital Management, one of the largest Black owned investment companies.

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

• Making Farm-Fresh Deliveries (Triangle Business Journal) – Fresh farm food delivered. Another business idea.

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