Hi Reader,

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You've probably seen that a US Federal Court of Appeals panel has suspended the Fearless Fund’s Striver Program for Black women entrepreneurs.

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This program awards $20k grants to Black business owners in an attempt to correct historical injustices and disinvestment in black owned businesses. The goal: foster more Black women business owners.

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One study I saw showed that less than 0.05% (that's less than one-half of one percent) of Venture Capital investment goes to businesses founded and run by Black women.

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The court has ruled that the program is discriminatory against white business owners and as a result can’t distribute funds as it chooses.

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The only pathway forward for the Fearless Fund, if they choose to take it, there is to appeal to the Supreme Court.

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As of today, there is one less avenue for Black women entrepreneurs to get funding for their businesses.
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And, it should be noted that even Stearns Bank (if you remember my email from a few months ago) documented the barriers to capital that Black women specifically face.
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The argument is often made that, in a free market like the U.S., Venture Capitalists and Investors should be able to decide who they give their money to.

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Currently that means that 99.9% of the VC money is diverted from the business bank accounts of Black Women-owned businesses.

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Yet, the courts haven’t flagged this discrimination. Which is why the Fearless Fund stepped in, fearlessly. To aim to right this wrong.

But the courts say they are acting in discriminatory ways that must be ended.

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It's ironic, painfully so, that the law used to fight the Fearless Fund was originally created to ensure that Formerly Enslaved African Americans wouldn’t experience economic inequity at the hands of free Whites (and White-led government) who were withholding opportunities from Black folks.

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​Being Fearless

The Fearless Fund did an assessment to identify where there was inequity—in other words, where there was a barrier to an underrecognized and underrepresented group having access to what they need to be successful—and they created a solution.

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For them, it was Black women entrepreneurs and the lack of access to capital to run and sustain a business.

And so they acted.

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That takes imagination and fearlessness.

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In your neck of the woods, how are you examining the state of inequity for your employees, clients, or community where you’re based?

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Have you considered how the policies, practices, and budget choices your organization makes can have an equitable or inequitable impact on your employees or clients?
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This is one move you can make today to be an equitable leader.

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There’s a tool that we use with our clients to help them do this. It’s called a “Equity Screening Tool '' often called a “Racial Equity Tool”. You can use this tool to examine the impact of your choices on any underrecognized, historically and currently marginalized group that you choose.

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The tool invites us to ask specific questions to help us be more mindful and intentional about our choices.

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I’ll be teaching about this tool in 2 weeks inside my DEI and culture change membership program, and 2 clients have booked Strategy Sessions to learn how they might use this tool as they refine programs and strategies for the remainder of 2024 and 2025.

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If you’d like that tool, I’d love to share it with you. Simply reply to this email and I’ll make sure my team gets you a copy.

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For now, my invitation is for you to consider how you can become even more fearless in a time where people and even systems are actively working to roll back the clock on civil and human rights.

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Creating the world and the workplaces that are more joyful and equitable will require all of us.

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Warmly,

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