FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 
April 23, 2024
Contact: media@atlantawealthbuilding.org 

ATLANTA – The Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative (AWBI) and the Center for Community Progress are receiving $1.7 million from JPMorgan Chase to support equitable development in historically Black neighborhoods in Atlanta.

AWBI was awarded $700,000 over two years to develop a first-of-its-kind, data-informed, brick-and-mortar development and retention strategy for business owners in historically Black neighborhoods throughout Atlanta, like Cascade and the West End, using neighborhood level data and trends. AWBI will focus on filling knowledge gaps regarding the availability of affordable commercial spaces amid rising rents and patterns of business closures. The research will enable decision-makers to create meaningful and equitable change for Black business owners and the communities they serve.

“The preservation of historically Black commercial corridors is an essential strategy to promote shared wealth and prosperity in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods,” said Dr. Alex Camardelle, vice president of Policy and Research at the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative. “Rising commercial rents are having a disproportionate impact on Black businesses and Black neighborhoods in Atlanta, which is leading to business closures and the loss of good-paying jobs. AWBI is committed to using the power of research and advocacy to mitigate that trend and support Black businesses in Atlanta.” 

This new place-based research and data will equip AWBI to co-create and promote policy and practice solutions alongside business-serving partners and their small business owner clients. AWBI will also publish and promote an anti-displacement toolkit and technical assistance for use by leaders in the public and private sectors.  

As a national expert in systemic vacancy and community revitalization, the Center for Community Progress is deploying its two-year, $1 million commitment from JPMorgan Chase to catalyze new development partnerships for affordable housing. The Center for Community Progress will host convenings of developers and local land banks to help facilitate the redevelopment of vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties for affordable housing and develop recommendations for the philanthropy, policy, and financing fields to advance housing affordability, energy efficiency, and climate resilience. The initiative will support diverse, non-profit and mission-driven for-profit property development firms from Fulton, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties.

“In Atlanta and across the country, community developers are at the heart of successful revitalization,” said Kathleen J. Guillaume-Delemar, President & CEO of the Center for Community Progress. “These small-scale developers have to overcome additional hurdles created by systemic barriers in financing real estate development to build a portfolio of projects. The Center for Community Progress is committed to changing how neighborhood-scale developers of color are connected to land and opportunity to unlock their full potential.”

JPMorgan Chase has made more than $14 million in philanthropic contributions to nonprofits organizations in metro Atlanta over the past four years. In addition, this year alone, the firm supported more than 1,800 small businesses in Georgia with the capital they need to grow and thrive and provided them with more than 77,800 hours of advice and support.

“At JPMorgan Chase, we are committed to helping people and businesses realize their full potential for economic growth and prosperity,” said Suganthi Simon, JPMorgan Chase’s head of Global Philanthropy for Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas. “We are proud to support Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative and Center for Community Progress as they work to increase the supply of affordable commercial and residential properties to stabilize Atlanta’s historically Black businesses and neighborhoods. We believe that these investments will help residents and business owners reinvigorate their communities, stay in their neighborhoods and build wealth.”  

To kick off the work, AWBI and Community Progress hosted a community forum bringing together residents, local businesses and other stakeholders, to learn about and discuss displacement and vacancy trends in the impacted communities. The goal of the forum was to increase community awareness of recommendations and solutions to tackle persistent commercial and residential displacement within their neighborhoods. 

 Click here for AWBI Commercial Affordability for Black Businesses in Atlanta Fact Sheet

About Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative: Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative (AWBI) is a catalytic nonprofit that seeks to achieve shared prosperity by building Black wealth through community wealth building strategies. We are a community of investors, advocates, and activists working to transform systems and structures of capital to create opportunities to build Black wealth in Atlanta and across the South. We promote an understanding of community wealth-building strategies to cultivate the engagement, capacity, and leadership necessary to shape a new economic narrative.  

By challenging systemic bias and introducing new systems and structures of capital, AWBI aims to re-engineer and redesign Atlanta’s economic ecosystem such that all sectors, from small businesses to large corporations, to anchor institutions, philanthropy, nonprofits and government, consider day to day how to integrate the economic well-being of our most disenfranchised families and communities into their strategy and operations. 

 

About the Center for Community Progress: The Center for Community Progress helps people to transform vacant spaces into vibrant places. Since 2010, their team of experts has provided urban, suburban, and rural communities battling systemic vacancy with the policies, tools, and resources needed to address the full cycle of property revitalization. As the only national nonprofit dedicated to tackling vacant properties, Community Progress drives change by uncovering and disrupting the unjust, racist systems that perpetuate entrenched vacancy and property deterioration. Community Progress has delivered customized, expert guidance to leaders in over 300 communities and provided hundreds of hours of free educational resources as well as leadership programming to help policymakers, practitioners, and community members across the country return properties to productive use. To learn more and get help for your community, visit communityprogress.org.  

Filing comes as state level programs gain momentum across the country.

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The network will bring together investors, partners, advocates, and scholars to build Black community wealth.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 
Oct. 26, 2023 
Contact: media@atlantawealthbuilding.org 

ATLANTA — Today, the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative announces our partnership with Executive Financial Partners to develop a program to build the capital readiness and business operations expertise of Black businesses and Business-Serving Organizations (BSOs). The program will provide quarterly coaching and/or consulting services that implement a capital readiness strategy, business planning, training in fiscal management best practices, and fundraising.

“We are grateful for the expertise that Executive Financial Partners will bring to this work as we serve as a thought partner to help Black businesses and Business-Serving Organizations,” said Dr. Janelle Williams, CEO and Co-Founder of Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative. “The success of Black businesses is one of many key factors in building Black wealth in the South. As more businesses open in Atlanta we want to make sure they have the best tools and policies to build capital readiness and business operations for maximum success.”

“We are extremely privileged to partner with the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative to build the capital readiness and business operations expertise of Black businesses and Business-Serving Organizations (BSOs),” said Sandy Petty, CEO of Executive Financial Partners. “Executive Financial Partners is dedicated to supporting business owners — not only by maintaining their books — but by being true partners while working side by side and helping them build the solid foundation necessary for growth. In doing so, we help to create financial infrastructures that translate into greater efficiency and productivity, better cost control, and greater financial resilience.”

AWBI and Executive Financial Partners will work with up to 20 existing businesses and up to five to seven BSOs over 12 months to provide perspective or approaches to challenge, act as a sounding board for ideas,  provide opportunities for discussion, and assist in thinking or decision-making. 

This effort is part of a larger initiative to help Black businesses in the Atlanta region. Earlier this year, AWBI announced two partnerships including an initiative with IBEX IT Business Experts to bolster the procurement training capacity of business-serving organizations in the Atlanta region and a program with Village Micro Fund to invest in Atlanta’s Black-owned small retail businesses to promote an inclusive and thriving economy for all.

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About Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative

Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative (AWBI) is a catalytic nonprofit that seeks to achieve shared prosperity by building Black wealth through community wealth building strategies. We are a community of investors, advocates, and activists working to transform systems and structures of capital to create opportunities to build Black wealth in Atlanta and across the South. We promote an understanding of community wealth-building strategies to cultivate the engagement, capacity, and leadership necessary to shape a new economic narrative.

By challenging systemic bias and introducing new systems and structures of capital, AWBI aims to re-engineer and redesign Atlanta’s economic ecosystem such that all sectors, from small businesses to large corporations, to anchor institutions, philanthropy, nonprofits and government, consider day to day how to integrate the economic well-being of our most disenfranchised families and communities into their strategy and operations.

The podcast’s second episode includes a conversation on the concept of Black wealth and its significance for the Black community.

ATLANTA — Kindred Futures (KF), formerly known as Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative (AWBI), released the second episode of its new groundbreaking podcast, Black Wealth Unlocked. The latest episode, “Black Wealth Unlocked: Strategies for Advancing Economic Justice and Liberation,” brings together host Dr. Janelle Williams, CEO and Co-Founder of AWBI, and guest Dr. Alex Camardelle, AWBI VP of Research and Policy for a thought-provoking conversation on how wealth equates to freedom and liberation, along with the role that data and public policy plays in shaping Black wealth outcomes.  

With a focus on the structural determinants of Black community wealth, Kindred Futures (formerly AWBI) aims to dismantle systemic racism and empower individuals to live freely. They discuss the power that transforming the economic landscape and protecting democracy has in the struggle to build Black wealth, while emphasizing the need for race explicit solutions to combat historic discrimination.  

Janelle and Alex also explore the dynamic and diverse meaning of Black wealth, and how it is vital to create better outcomes for Black communities. Through this episode, discover how Kindred Futures is working towards building Black wealth by amplifying community voices, challenging policymakers and philanthropy, and rewriting existing policies and practices.  

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and be sure to watch the full episode on YouTube here. 

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About Black Wealth Unlocked

Black Wealth Unlocked aims to explore and celebrate the power of Black wealth, sharing stories, insights, and strategies for building and unlocking economic prosperity within Black communities.

In each episode, we will dive deep into conversations with thought leaders, entrepreneurs, financial experts, and community activists who are making waves in the Black wealth movement. We will explore topics like entrepreneurship, generational wealth, financial literacy, real estate, and much more.

About Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative

Kindred Futures, formerly Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative (AWBI) is a catalytic nonprofit that seeks to achieve shared prosperity by building Black wealth through community wealth building strategies. We are a community of investors, advocates, and activists working to transform systems and structures of capital to create opportunities to build Black wealth in Atlanta and across the South. We promote an understanding of community wealth-building strategies to cultivate the engagement, capacity, and leadership necessary to shape a new economic narrative.

By challenging systemic bias and introducing new systems and structures of capital, AWBI aims to re-engineer and redesign Atlanta’s economic ecosystem such that all sectors, from small businesses to large corporations, to anchor institutions, philanthropy, nonprofits and government, consider day to day how to integrate the economic well-being of our most disenfranchised families and communities into their strategy and operations.

Kindred Futures, formerly AWBI receives over $200,000 from Walmart through the Walmart.org Center for Racial Equity to fund this program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 
Sept. 27, 2023 
Contact: media@atlantawealthbuilding.org 

ATLANTA—Today, Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative (AWBI) is pleased to announce our partnership with Village Micro Fund (VMF) to develop and execute a program to invest in Atlanta’s Black-owned small retail businesses to promote an inclusive and thriving economy for all. This new program, sponsored by a $230,000 grant from Walmart through the Walmart.org Center for Racial Equity, will support AWBI’s continued efforts to build Black wealth in Atlanta and across the South.

Through this key partnership, AWBI and VMF will work together to identify at least 20 Black-owned retail businesses in Atlanta for a cohort, develop an outreach and marketing campaign in support of the cohort, and ensure access to training and technical assistance. This includes a 14-week curriculum-based training program that focuses on operational training, sustainability, marketing and sales, customer pipeline development, capital readiness coaching, and access to capital and procurement opportunities.

“Atlanta has been historically considered one of the country’s leading Black Meccas, but it’s also the number one city for income inequality in America. Prosperity Now found that the average Black-owned business is worth $58,085, while a White-owned business is worth $658,264. Moreover, 96 percent of Black-owned businesses in Atlanta have no paid employees, leaving little room for growth beyond day-to-day subsistence,” said Dr. Janelle Williams, CEO and Co-Founder of the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative. “Access to financial and social capital, as well as technical expertise to scale, has historically been a major obstacle for Black-owned businesses located in disinvested and overlooked communities. Through this program, we hope to narrow the racial wealth divide by helping Atlanta’s Black small businesses develop tools and strategies to support their business development and resiliency.”

She continued: “Two of the core principles in our manifesto are to honor the ideas and commitment of southern organizations that deliver results to move the needle and use inclusive design and investment practices that are deeply informed by directly impacted communities. As an Atlanta-based grassroots microfinance organization with a proven track record of executing small business development programs for Black-owned businesses, Village Micro Fund is the ideal partner for this program. We are grateful to the Walmart.org Center for Racial Equity for investing in this important work.”

Donte Miller, co-founder and president at Village Micro Fund, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership, stating, “Village Micro Fund is proud to partner with the AWBI to empower our community of entrepreneurs. With this collaboration, we’re providing the knowledge, connections, and resources vital for these dynamic founders to ‘level up’ and reach that next level of business development, which can often be so elusive for those in our network. Community-corporate collaborations like these are transformative; our entrepreneurs are often community advocates, addressing local issues through their ventures, being active stakeholders, and fueling economic growth in Black and other underserved communities. This synergy underscores our dedication to uplifting our communities in tangible, meaningful ways.”

“As we inch closer to our ten-year milestone,” Miller continued, “the community can anticipate an array of pioneering programs, innovations, and collaborations like this. Our mission is to consistently expand our footprint and amplify our positive impact on those we serve.”

“We’re excited for the opportunities this initiative will unlock for entrepreneurs and the Atlanta community overall,” said Monique Carswell, director, Walmart.org Center for Racial Equity. “AWBI is well positioned to advance economic equity in the region, and we look forward to seeing their impact.”

This program will integrate into our existing 1,000 Black Businesses Campaign, which supports 1,000 Black-owned businesses to hire employees and increase living wages for current staff.

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About Kindred Futures, formerly the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative

Kindred Futures, formerly the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative (AWBI) is a catalytic nonprofit that seeks to achieve shared prosperity by building Black wealth through community wealth building strategies. We are a community of investors, advocates, and activists working to transform systems and structures of capital to create opportunities to build Black wealth in Atlanta and across the South. We promote an understanding of community wealth-building strategies to cultivate the engagement, capacity, and leadership necessary to shape a new economic narrative.

By challenging systemic bias and introducing new systems and structures of capital, AWBI aims to re-engineer and redesign Atlanta’s economic ecosystem such that all sectors, from small businesses to large corporations, to anchor institutions, philanthropy, nonprofits and government, consider day to day how to integrate the economic well-being of our most disenfranchised families and communities into their strategy and operations.

About the Village Micro Fund
Village Micro Fund (VMF) is a grassroots microfinance organization with the mission to empower entrepreneurs in metro Atlanta by providing access to capital, business education, and a “Village” of support. Through small business training and community-based cooperative investing, Village Micro Fund is proving that under-resourced communities across the country can self direct the development of their neighborhoods.