Showing 199 results for:
black-led
Popular topics
All results
In East Oakland, CA, a powerful coalition of Black-led organizations has secured $100 million to fund Rise East, a decade-long effort to transform 40 blocks into a model for what real community-led development can look like, Shoppe Black reports. According to the outlet, after decades of disinvestment and promises not met, the project marks one of the most significant grassroots investments in Oakland’s history, aimed at reversing long-standing patterns of displacement and economic exclusion. A Vision Rooted In Community At the center of Rise East is the 40×40 Council, a group of Black-led nonprofits working together to create long-term stability by focusing on three key areas: education, public safety, and housing. The 40-block area, according to Shoppe Black, spans from Interstate 580 to the San Francisco Bay and from Seminary Avenue to the San Leandro border. It’s home to Oakland’s largest concentration of Black residents, a community that has long endured the ongoing effects of...
A new hub for Black-owned businesses is opening in Evanston, IL. Led and owned by a team of predominantly Black community leaders, The Aux is a 16,000-square-foot commercial space that will feature a wellness studio with services provided by practitioners of color, pop-up marketplaces for healthy food entrepreneurs, flexible space for small business owners, and office and co-working areas, according to information on its website. “We are transforming a vacant property into a beautiful, environmentally sustainable building that emphasizes a quadruple bottom line for cultural, social, economic, and environmental impact,” The Aux website reads. The Aux acquired the property in 2021 and in that same year announced it was seeking a $6 million raise to renovate the space — a project managed by Black-owned, Chicago, IL-based firm Ujamaa Construction. The project’s final cost increased to $10 million with support from public and private donors, per the Evanston Roundtable. In 2022, the City...
Black-owned edtech company Beanstack has secured another investment from Mark Cuban. The platform was launched in 2013 by Felix Brandon Lloyd (CEO) and Jordan Lloyd Booke, a husband-and-wife duo with extensive backgrounds in education. Booke served as Google’s head of K-12 education outreach from 2011 to 2013, while Lloyd worked as a teacher and dean at the SEED Public Charter School for seven years. The idea for Beanstack was sparked while they were reading to their 2-year-old son, inspiring them to focus on increasing literacy rates. “The early idea for our company came one night when [me and Jordan] were reading a book to our 2-year-old son and soon-to-be big brother,” Lloyd told AFROTECH™ in a previous interview. “He pointed to biracial characters on the page that looked like him and said, ‘That’s me, and that’s little sister.’ The power of reading was so clear. We immediately decided to put our backgrounds in education to work on a new business idea.” Beanstack initially...
Business coach Precious Azuree is helping Black-led organizations measure their impact. Precious Azuree Group The Houston, TX, native has been leading her own coaching business for more than a decade. The pathway nearly fell into her lap upon graduating from high school as a self-taught web and graphic designer and blogger. Quickly gaining a reputation for social media marketing, many began to reach out to Azuree for her services, which evolved into the launch of the Precious Azuree Group, originally established as a project management and branding agency. “I was working with influencers, helping small business owners develop their brand identity, monetize their brand, build out their teams,” she told AFROTECH™ in an interview. Through her business, she worked with a myriad of clients which included Stacy Ike Inc., earning them over $100,000 in brand deals, as well as Essence Festival, AT&T, Pantene, and Regal Cinemas, on social media strategics that enhanced their brand engagement...
Created with good intention, Detroit, MI-based Sports Rap Radio has been shut down. As Blavity previously reported, it was the first all-Black-led sports radio station based in the United States. It was brought to life with the help of former Detroit sports anchor Rob Parker and his peers including former NBA player B.J. Armstrong and former college stars Dave Kenney and Maurice “Moe” Ways. “[This is] history-making,” Parker told CBS News at the time. “[It’s] groundbreaking, [and] we just believe that the time has come.” The need for a a fully Black-led radio station was essential, according to Parker, who considered it a “problem” the city didn’t already have one, when looking at its population. “Just four years ago, there were no Black full-time sports hosts on the radio in Detroit,” he mentioned, per CBS News. “In a city that’s nearly 80 percent Black, I looked at that as a problem.” The station launched on June 4, 2024 on AM 1270 leasing WXYT from Audacy, according to Barrett...
An interest in computer science has led Candace Mitchell to raise millions in funding for Black hair care. Forbes reports when Mitchell was 10 years old, she tinkered with installing software on the family computer, marking her official exposure to computer science. “I remember thinking, ‘I want to create software that can run on millions of computers like this one day,’” Mitchell told Forbes. She would study web design in high school, and in higher learning she attended the Georgia Institute of Technology and obtained a bachelor’s degree in computer science. She then ventured into the workforce landing IT roles at Siemens and Pepsi but made the decision that she no longer wanted to work for other companies. She wanted her own. With just $1,000 collected in a checking account, she became an entrepreneur and launched Myavana, a platform that taps her interest in technology for the purpose of disrupting the haircare market for Black women. Per the company’s website, it requires users...
The movement behind Avante Price and Eli Taylor-Lemire’s POSH has yet to lose steam. In April 2023, the co-founders and event planning professionals shared with AFROTECH™ their unified mission for the live events platform. “ POSH was born to democratize the ability for any fan with a passion for live events to get involved in the space with as little friction as possible,” Price, co-founder and CEO of POSH, told AFROTECH™. “ Simply put, our mission is to democratize the ability for anyone to earn capital through live experiences.” POSH raised $5 million in a seed round in 2023, as previously reported by AFROTECH™. New investors are now joining in on its movement to disrupt event management. POSH has raised $22 million in a Series A round, Forbes reports. The round was led by Goodwater Capital, and additional investors included FirstMark Capital, Companyon Ventures, and Epic Ventures. In addition, Day One Ventures was an existing investor. “We believe that the next social platform...
Detroit, MI, has done it again, and it’s only right that one of the Blackest cities in America becomes the home to the first all-Black-led sports radio station in the nation! Sports Rap Radio on AM 1270 made its debut on the airwaves in Motor City on June 4, and not only does it feature all Black hosts, but the radio station is also Black-owned, Blavity reports. “[This is] history-making,” said former Detroit sports anchor Rob Parker, per CBS News. “[It’s] groundbreaking, [and] we just believe that the time has come.” In addition to Parker, who is responsible for helping to bring this vision to life, the history-making team of co-owners includes Parker’s longtime friend Dave Kenney as well as athletes, former NBA player BJ Armstrong and University of Michigan wide receiver Maurice “Moe” Ways. “Moe was the missing piece. I needed somebody young, smart, from the city,” Parker told the outlet. The two have kept in touch since they first met, when Ways was a football star at Detroit...
A new day has begun in Detroit, MI, thanks to the leadership of the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network. For nearly a decade, the Motor City hasn’t had a full-scale Black-owned grocery store, Detroit Metro Times reports. Now, in May 2024, Detroit People’s Food Co-Op, the first Black-led co-op grocery store in Detroit, has opened its doors. As Detroit is one of the major U.S. cities that faces a significant shortage of food access, Detroit People’s Food Co-Op offers fresh, local grocery items, a deli, and a coffee bar. The outlet details that the store’s fruits and vegetables are sourced from four Black-owned farms in Michigan. In addition to providing quality food and health and wellness products, what makes the grocery store special is that anyone age 21 and over can become a member and have ownership in the co-op. On May 1, 2024, it had over 2,700 members and counting. “This is not something you’re invited to. It’s literally yours,” said Lanay Gilbert-Williams,...
Felix Lloyd’s company is among the 13 Black businesses to catch the attention of billionaire Mark Cuban during his time as an investor on ABC’s “Shark Tank.” Lloyd is former dean of students at the SEED Public Charter School and was recognized as Washington D.C.’s Teacher of the Year. In 2013, he and his wife, Jordan Lloyd Bookey, Google’s head of K-12 education outreach at the time, were inspired to create Zoobean. Initially introduced as a “book-of-the-month business” to connect families, with a focus on “non-traditional genres and interests,” the platform has since transformed into software catered to libraries and educational settings, the company website reads. It now encompasses features such as summer reading programs, simplified reading records, progress tracking analytics, and the option for users to host fundraising events centered around reading. In 2014, the founders were featured on season five of “Shark Tank” with their original business model. The opportunity to...
A Black-led grocery store will be opening in Detroit, MI, to help solve food insecurity. Detroit Free Press reports that Detroit People’s Food Co-Op will be opening its doors to the public in March 2024. The grocery store is part of the Detroit Food Commons (DFC) project, a 31,000-square-foot two-story building that will also provide a community space and local kitchen to support food entrepreneurs.
