Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative Partners with Village Micro Fund to Help Strengthen Atlanta’s Black-Owned Small Businesses
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 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 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.