AWBI 2020 Impact
2020 created unique and unprecedented challenges for our organization, the Atlanta business ecosystem we serve and our society at large. It has made us all reflect not just on what is valuable in our own lives and the communities in which we live, but revealed so many of the inequities that face communities of color across our country including access to healthcare, small businesses ownership, education, and criminal justice as seen in police brutalities and subsequent uprisings across the country. While the pandemic shed light on and, at times, exacerbated existing inequities in our communities, it has also opened the door to an opportunity to create a new normal. It has, perhaps, opened our eyes to the possibility of a more equitable, just, restorative, and sustainable community and future.
From its inception, AWBI has focused on creating shared prosperity by introducing new economic narratives that create opportunities for disinvested and overlooked communities. 2020 allowed AWBI to step in and play a pivotal role in both coordinating and deploying capital in support of Atlanta’s business ecosystem and led to the development of the AWBI COVID-19 Small Business Relief Fund which deployed more than $1,000,000 to nonprofits and Black-owned small businesses. In response to the uprisings last summer, AWBI led efforts to coordinate the Business is Black awareness campaign lifting up five calls to action to increase economic equity and support the Black economy.
