Our work is informed by and in partnership with practitioners and community. Beginning in 2017, AWBI, The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Atlanta Civic Site, The Kendeda Fund, and Prosperity Now identified organizations to participate in a Community of Practice (CoP) after facilitating several stakeholder interviews. The Community of Practice was tasked with shaping recommendations for a more vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem to support African American businesses in building community wealth. The CoP understands that creating a self-sustaining, economic ecosystem that is inclusive of all people will require a deliberate, equitable strategy marked by jobs, innovation, renewed resolve, and new economic structures.
Over the course of six months in 2017, the Community of Practice convened for three in-person and two virtual conversations facilitated by Prosperity Now. Meetings focused on identifying some of the key challenges facing African American entrepreneurs, including lack of access to credit, capital, technical assistance, networks, and markets as well as solutions within the systems that drive these challenges. Each organization submitted a SWOT analysis intended to take stock of and reveal overlaps within strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. After exploring the data and identifying challenges, the CoP prioritized the need to increase the number of African American businesses with more than one employee. A final report, released in the fall of 2017, identified key strategies for supporting 1,000 Black-owned businesses in 1,000 days to hire one additional employee or pay a living wage. Working groups and initiatives formed and launched by the CoP are actively moving from strategizing and planning to action as part of AWBI. Following its initial convening almost two years ago, the Community of Practice continues to meet and push forward their goals, focused on systems change, collaborations that enhance collective action to enhance local economies and to catalyze and inform AWBI’s thought leadership and movement building strategies.
To learn more of the Community of Practice and how your organization can get involved, please reach out to info@atlantawealthbuilding.org.
Community of Practice members include:
Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs (ACE)
American Alternative Court Services
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Atlanta BeltLine Partnership
Atlanta BeltLine, Inc.
Breedlove Beauty & Wellness Accelerator
City of Atlanta - One Atlanta
Economic Empowerment Initiative (EEI)
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
Georgia Budget & Policy Institute
Georgia Cooperative Development Center
Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia MicroEnterprise Network (GMEN)
Georgia Watch
Goizueta Business School
Goodie Nation
Grove Park Foundation
Inside Gwinnett
Invest Atlanta
LISC Atlanta
Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce - Workforce Development
Morehouse School Entrepreneurship
Partnership for Southern Equity (PSE)
Quality Care for Children
Russell Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (RCIE)
UGA Small Business Development Center
Small Business Majority
Start Up Atlanta
Start:ME Accelerator
Microsoft Tech for Social Impact
The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation
The Core Ventures
The Gathering Spot
The Kendeda Fund
The Kenekt
The Mayors Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
United Way of Greater Atlanta
Urban League of Greater Atlanta
Village Market ATL
Village Micro Fund
Women's Entrepreneurship Initiative
Young Entrepreneurs of Atlanta