The Challenge

Chicago Solidarity Collective
Chicago, IL

Urban Growers Collective, ChiFresh Kitchen, Grower Greater Englewood, and Women’s Justice Institute formed to create the Chicago Solidarity Collective. The collective will advance wealth creation for formerly incarcerated Black women by offering them training and employment in worker-owned food cooperatives.

Chicago Commons Association
Chicago, IL

Chicago Commons, Instituto del Progreso Latino, PODER Learning Center, and YWCA Metropolitan Chicago will work to establish supported career pathways for Black, Latina, and immigrant women through trauma-informed career development and wealth-building programs.

Fresh Start Women’s Foundation
Phoenix, AZ

Fresh Start Women’s Foundation will provide skills training, financial coaching, and other programming integrating mental health support for women of color across the Valley.

Congress Heights Community Training & Development Corporation
Washington, D.C.

Congress Heights Community Training & Development Corporation will develop a small business career and skills building incubator for Black female entrepreneurs.

Neighborhood Housing Services of Brooklyn
Brooklyn, NY

Neighborhood Housing Services of Brooklyn will provide resources, technical training, and counseling for Black female property owners to help them develop successful property management skills and retain ownership of their properties.

GRID Alternatives Greater Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

GRID Alternatives Greater Los Angeles will prepare formerly incarcerated women of color for career opportunities in solar and renewable energy through a workforce training program.

Dallas Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation
Dallas, TX

Dallas Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation.

Inclusive Action for the City
Los Angeles, CA

Inclusive Action for the City, California Reinvestment Coalition, Public Counsel, and East LA Community Corporation will implement a county-wide initiative in Los Angeles advocating for new permit systems governing the open air economy that create more opportunity access for Black and Latina street vendors and other micro-entrepreneurs, while helping to launch or expand their businesses through legal assistance, capital access, and professional development opportunities that accelerate wealth building.

Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida
Miami, FL

Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida, Miami Workers Center, and Catalyst Miami will provide worker-owned business training, financial capability education, and access to capital to Black and Latina women in South Florida’s care economy, equipping them with the tools to launch and develop worker cooperatives. The worker cooperatives, businesses that are owned and run by the people who work there, will provide good jobs and workplace conditions, as well as wealth-building opportunities.

Center for Economic Inclusion
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN

Center for Economic Inclusion, Activate Network, Certified Access, Fearless Commerce, and NEOO Partners Inc. will launch a multi-sector accelerator committed to maximizing wealth-building and job creation with Black and Latina women business owners in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region.

Beloved Community
New Orleans, LA

Beloved Community, Agenda for Children, BanchaLenguas Language Justice Collective, the City of New Orleans Office of Youth and Families, Power Coalition for Equity & Justice, For Providers by Providers of Louisiana, Early Partners, Louisiana Department of Education, Louisiana Policy Institute for Children, Total Community Action, United Way of Southeast Louisiana, and Windsor Court Hotel aim to foster Black and Latina women-led child care businesses that value Black and Latina women as caregivers, entrepreneurs, employees and mothers.

Philadelphia

PIDC Community Capital, Rebuilding Community Infrastructure, and Philadelphia Works aim to help address the vast underrepresentation of women and people of color in the local construction industry, particularly in the Black and Latinx communities. This collaborative will leverage Philadelphia’s historic investments to revitalize local parks, libraries, and recreation centers, enabling diverse workers and business to access well-paying jobs and public works contracts across the city.

Boston

Boston Medical Corporation, Boston Children’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Action for Equity, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, Jewish Vocational Services, and Health Resources in Action aim to shift how cross-sector anchor institutions approach place-based hiring, purchasing, and investing to connect historically underserved Boston neighborhoods to opportunity. The collaborative will create a flexible capital fund to preserve and develop affordable housing for cost-burdened residents, and establish new training strategies, connecting Black and Latinx communities to quality jobs in the healthcare, tech, and biotech industries.

Portland

Craft3, Network for Oregon Affordable Housing, and Community Housing Fund Collaborative will support Portland neighborhoods where long‐time residents and small businesses, in particular those owned by Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian and Pacific Islanders, are threatened to be displaced. The collaborative will combat affordability challenges by providing comprehensive financing products that increase access to transit-oriented affordable housing, enable homeowners to build wealth, and provide small businesses access to capital and commercial real estate.

Baton Rouge

Build Baton Rouge, TruFund Financial Services, MetroMorphosis, and New York University’s Co-City Baton Rouge Project aim to eliminate blight, grow small businesses, and preserve housing affordability in North Baton Rouge, where 97% of the community is Black and 37% of households are living below the poverty line.

New Orleans

NOLA Business Alliance, the City of New Orleans, YouthForce NOLA, Delgado Community College, University of New Orleans, Good Work Network, Propeller, NewCorp, Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans, Thrive New Orleans, and Urban League of Louisiana aim to strengthen the city’s economic and climate resilience by providing pathways to new career opportunities and contract opportunities for local small businesses, particularly for people of color, in the growing blue-green infrastructure industry.

Chicago

The Resurrection Project, Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council, Peace and Education Coalition of Back of the Yards, Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation, Capital Good Fund, Lawndale Christian Development Corporation, and Southwest Organizing Project aim to help increase the supply of affordable housing through modular housing and increase long-term homeownership through innovative financial products in South and West side neighborhoods, including Back of the Yards, North Lawndale, and Chicago Lawn neighborhoods.

Portland

Worksystems, Mt. Hood Community College, Oregon Department of Human Services, and the Joint Office of Homeless Services aim to align disconnected workforce, childcare, and housing systems to increase economic opportunity for low-income women, enabling them to pursue occupational training.

Digital Inclusion and Economic Resilience
Louisville, Kentucky

Digital Inclusion and Economic Resilience will help equip residents with skills necessary to compete for jobs while also connecting them to financial and social services through high-touch community outreach strategies and a formalized referral network.

Partner Organizations:
• Metro United Way of Louisville
• Goodwill Industries of Kentucky
• The Greater Louisville Workforce Development Board    (KentuckianaWorks)
• Russell: A Place of Promise (RPOP)
• Cradle to Career/Evolve502
• AMPED
• Catholic Charities
• Commonwealth Institute of Kentucky at the University    of Louisville
• OneWest

Resilient 305
Miami, Florida

Resilient 305 will help strengthen the region’s economic resilience by dismantling silos across service providers to increase access to quality jobs, and working with anchor institutions to connect small businesses to procurement opportunities.

Partner Organizations:
• The Miami Foundation
• City of Miami
• Health Foundation of South Florida
• Florida International University
• Other government, university and nonprofit partners

Advancing San Diego
San Diego, California

Advancing San Diego will use a demand-driven, employer-led strategy to both connect underrepresented residents to high-demand jobs and provide small businesses access to diverse talent pipelines.

Partner Organizations:
• San Diego Regional Economic Development    Foundation
• San Diego Workforce Partnership
• San Diego and Imperial Counties Community College    Association
• United Way of San Diego
• City of San Diego

Syracuse Surge: Blueprint for Inclusive Growth
Syracuse, New York

Syracuse Surge: Blueprint for Inclusive Growth will develop long-term strategies to surface talent from vulnerable populations and connect them to jobs in high-tech industries, while also attracting, expanding, and incubating tech businesses led by diverse founders.

Partner Organizations:
• The CenterState CEO
• City of Syracuse
• Onondoga County
• Le Moyne College
• Syracuse University
• Allyn Family Foundation