Truist Foundation today announced Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative as the top recipient of the inaugural Inspire Awards grant, a program inviting nonprofits that support Black-, Indigenous-, and people of color- (BIPOC) and women-owned small businesses across the country to submit innovative solutions to address the complex challenges facing small businesses.

Today's racial wealth gap stemmed from decades of economic policies that excluded Black people. This Atlanta Journal-Constitution article highlights how preparations for the Atlanta Olympics contributed to the racial wealth gap.

As part of AWBI's Advancing Collective Prosperity: 1,000 Black Businesses in 1,000 Days campaign, AWBI is partnering with Emory University who will serve as the initial anchor partner in our efforts to drive resources in support of a local and inclusive economy.

“We have redefined wealth.”

Latresa McLawhorn Ryan, Atlanta Wealth Building's Executive Director joined Reconstruction podcast host Monique Aiken to talk about strategies to build income and wealth for Black Atlantans.

While Atlanta is known as a major destination for Black business development, our city falls short in financial support for Black residents.

Listen to Bernstein Private Wealth Management's Changing the Trajectory’s podcast, “A Focus on Community Capital” to learn about Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative’s work with Atlanta’s Black business owners, emphasis on community capital, and overall insight on the realities facing Atlanta’s Black communities.

Tune in to CW Atlanta’s interview with our Executive Director, Latresa Ryan, where she continues to highlight the economic wealth gap in Atlanta’s small business community and Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative’s 1,000 Black Businesses in 1,000 Days Campaign.

Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative Executive Director Latresa McLawhorn Ryan provides a preview for an event hosted by Manatee Community Foundation, Manasota Black Chamber of Commerce, United Way Suncoast about closing the racial wealth gap utilizing small businesses and multi-sector coalitions.

“In a city that is 52% Black, Black-owned businesses should be thriving with equitable access and representation to procurement opportunities, access to affordable commercial space to grow and age in place, and the ability to leverage their businesses to build generational wealth. The 1,000 Black Businesses in 1,000 Days Campaign seeks to make this a reality while overcoming the historical barriers to social and financial capital by creating infrastructure and pathways for revenue growth by working with procurement offices at anchor institutions and providing Black-owned businesses the connections and tools they need to scale and take advantage of procurement opportunities.”

It has been a tough year for small businesses, but for some, it has been a year of transformation.

"What Georgia has proven... is that collective voice matters. We have to resist the urge to go back into our silos. There’s often talk about the intersectionality of wealth—whether it be social capital or intellectual capital or financial capital—and how it impacts every sector: the arts, housing, education, criminal justice, entrepreneurship, food insecurity. There’s this connective tissue there."

Looking at the racial wealth gap in the U.S. and the barrier Black people have faced in building wealth.

“AWBI was the first capital I received when COVID hit. That funding was a lifeline, and because of that timely infusion of capital, Brown Toy Box is not only surviving the pandemic we are thriving!” —Terri-Nichelle Bradley, Founder & Principal of Play, Brown Toy Box

“This is a new economy, and therefore it requires a new perspective. If we are intentional about creating inclusive products, inclusive opportunities for businesses to thrive and survive during this time, we have to be dedicated to the tools that are needed to create a truly equitable environment.”

In the U.S., Black wealth has never had an equitable opportunity to grow. Though Black people make up nearly 13% of the United States population, they hold less than 3% of the nation’s total wealth.

Rep. Kwanza Hall speaks about the racial wealth gap between Black and white Americans and the need for reparations for slavery.

Just Add Honey highlights barriers to capital for Black-owned businesses.

The city of Atlanta often leads the nation in income inequality. For example, the median household income for a white family in the city is $83,722, compared to $28,105 for a Black family, a nearly 3-to-1 ratio.

Job access, however, is just one pillar of economic opportunity. Almost 70 percent of people of color in Atlanta are liquid asset poor—meaning they do not have sufficient savings to stay out of poverty for at least three months.

Studies show it's ranked No.1 for income inequality, even though it’s considered the ‘Black Mecca.’

Many Black and minority-owned businesses in Atlanta were shut out of PPP funding and turned to alternative sources of Covid-19 relief, such as grants from the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative.

America’s system of racial capitalism must be overturned and replaced with a system—and ways of being—that naturally produce the outcomes of justice, freedom, health, healing, sustainable environment, and collective well-being that we seek. We call that system “a democratic and reparative economy.”

“Early data indicates that it is going to take two to three years for businesses to get back to their pre-Covid levels,” said Latresa McLawhorn Ryan, executive director of the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative. “We are encouraging everyone to be ready for an extended period of support for businesses.”