Two Atlanta-based groups are the beneficiaries of grants designed to help Black women achieve racial equity and economic opportunity.
The One Million Black Women Initiative was launched earlier this year by Goldman Sachs, a leading global financial institution, and commits $10 billion in investment capital and $100 million in philanthropic funds over the next decade to address those racial and gender inequities.
A spokeswoman said the amount was not publicly disclosed, but the 11 groups across the nation who received funding have been notified.
In the first round, announced Wednesday, grants went to the Center for Maternal Health Equity at Morehouse School of Medicine and Buy From a Black Woman, which provides technical assistance and funding to small Black women-owned businesses. The Center for Maternal Health Equity was started to address the disparity in pregnancy-related mortality among Black women.
Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There are a number of factors that put Black women, in particular, at higher risk including underlying chronic conditions, the quality of healthcare, structural racism and implicit bias.
Others receiving grants include Springboard To Opportunities: Magnolia Mother’s Trust in Jackson, Mississippi, to provides Black mothers living in extreme poverty with a $1,000 monthly stipend; and the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio in Columbus to fund an initiative to address the systemic funding gap faced by nonprofits led by women of color.
Five years ago Nikki Porcher founded the Atlanta-based nonprofit Buy From A Black Woman, which helps empower and educate Black women entrepreneurs. The organization offers programs on starting and running a business, along with a microloan program for business owners.
The nonprofit also encourages people to buy from Black women-owned companies and maintains an online directory of more than 500 businesses across the globe.
The grant from Goldman Sachs will help with that mission.
“It will help us pour back into the community,” Porcher said. Black women business owners “are the backbone of almost every community. Some Black women don’t even call themselves business owners, but they help their households and they’re building a legacy. They might barter. It’s entrepreneurship that doesn’t have a label but a Black woman is using her gifts and talents.”
The Goldman Sachs initiative is in partnership with Black women-led organizations, financial institutions and other groups.
The Ruth J. Simmons Center for Race and Justice at Prairie View A&M University in Texas will track the impact of the investments and grants.
Recently, Goldman Sachs announced a partnership with Ayesha Curry and small business and commercial real estate lender Lendistry to encourage and develop Black women entrepreneurs in the restaurant industry in the Greater Oakland area, according to a release about the initiative.
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