Ally Financial is supporting Black Business Month the best way companies can by investing money back into Black communities. In an effort to address issues of low capital and lack of access to funding for Black founders, the digital financial services company has pledged to make a hefty $30 million investment into venture capital funds created to support Black and people of color, a press release reports. A sum of $25 million will go toward SoLa Impact’s recently launched $300 million Black Impact Fund and the remaining $5 million will be invested into the Fearless Fund — a venture capital fund created by women of color for women of color. In addition to these investments, Ally Financial will also work closely with Fearless fund to develop a series of programs to promote more Black entrepreneurship and wealth growth. “Black-owned businesses are the backbone of many communities throughout the country,” Diane Morais — President of Consumer and Commercial Banking at Ally Bank — said in...

The global neobanking market is expected to reach an estimated $723 billion by 2028, according to Grand View Research. As more people handle their finances online, the neobanking industry has been getting a lot of love, but what are neobanks anyway? Neobanks are digital-only financial institutions that operate similarly to traditional banks, but without physical branches, The Balance explains. You typically access neobanks through mobile applications and online platforms. While neobanking can be convenient, have lower costs and are more easily accessible, they don’t have the same accreditation as traditional banks and are regulated much less. Above all, neobanking requires access to technology and internet, a luxury that not everyone has. Another thing to think about with neobanking is that even with access to technology and internet, consumers have to be comfortable and trust tech in order to invest in using online-only banking systems. Some neobanks like N26, Atom Bank and Monzo...

During the summer of last year, at the height of the social justice reckoning, Michael Jordan and the Jordan Brand announced a $100 million pledge to support the Black community over the next 10 years. This week, the two entities are continuing that mission by launching the first cycle of its newly-launched Community Grants program — which aims to provide $1 million in grants to local, grassroots and social organizations that are striving to create a more equitable future for Black America. “Since announcing our commitment to the Black community in June of 2020, we’ve been focused on two things — action and impact,” Craig Williams, President of Jordan Brand, shared in a statement. “I’m excited about the impact these grants will have in local communities. We know that when we create positive change for the Black community, it benefits everyone.” According to a blog post from Nike, the first round of Community Grants — which are Facilitated by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors — are...

JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced this week a $30 billion plan to advance racial equity and help remedy the country’s racial wealth gap over the next five years, as it relates mainly to underserved Black and Latinx communities, CNBC reports . According to CNBC , the bank’s pledge includes a combination of loans, investments, and philanthropy efforts that is expected to stretch beyond its normal course of business. The banking institution shared that barriers within the U.S.’ financial structures has generated profound racial inequalities that have been especially apparent amid the COVID-19 pandemic. JPMorgan Chase’s new commitment arrives to help drive more inclusive measures for the economy’s recovery efforts and eliminate systemic racism. “Systemic racism is a tragic part of America’s history,” said Jamie Dimon — Chairman and CEO, MDIs JPMorgan Chase & Co. — in a press statement . “We can do more and do better to break down systems that have propagated racism and widespread economic...

Minority founders are getting a special kind of support from one of the most successful startup accelerators in Silicon Valley. Y Combinator — a business accelerator — has launched a new feature on its website called the YC Directory to help investors, customers, and prospective founders discover all Y Combinator-backed companies created by Black founders. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Y Combinator (@ycombinator) According to a company blog post , the directory lists over 2,000 publicly launched startup companies from the accelerator with three new built-in filters to highlight Black-founded companies, Latinx-founded companies, and women-founded companies. Courtesy Photo The idea for the new directory was inspired by internal conversations during the aftermath of the recent Black Lives Matter protests, according to the blog post. The consensus from the community was to then create landing pages to amplify Black, Latinx, and women founders in the Y Combinator fixture....

Since the start of COVID-19, the U.S. has been rocked to its core as unemployment continues to rise while displacing many Americans from their jobs — specifically those a part of disinvested communities who have especially felt the effects of the pandemic. Over 100 days later and the country is still in search of answers to our socioeconomic issues as they relate to unemployment. However, thanks to these nonprofit organizations, we can expect to see a change on the horizon. XPRIZE —  a nonprofit organization that uses global competitions to crowdsource solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges — and New Profit — a nonprofit venture philanthropy organization that backs breakthrough social entrepreneurs in America — have joined forces. The two have announced a competition called XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling — powered by XPRIZE and MIT Solve — that aims to reinvent job training methods for displaced workers and get people back to work. The XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling Prize contest...

For many small and Black-owned businesses, COVID-19 has presented an uphill battle of maintaining and surviving the fragile economy. Additionally, some businesses have also suffered as a result of the uprisings and civil unrest in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. While some business owners have made individual efforts to rebuild, CEOs Alexis Akarolo and Zelnnetta Clark teamed up to create Rebuild the Block , which works to give small Black-owned businesses a helping hand to get back on their feet. What started as a GoFundMe page blossomed into a full-blown organization determined to rebuild businesses in the Black community so they can continue to prosper. Credit: Alexis Akarolo Co-founder Akarolo — creative director for clothing brand, Lovello Elizabeth , and graduate student at Penn State — described the initiative as “divine intervention” in the way that it came together. A personal passion project of hers turned into a joint venture with her former college roommate, Clark — a...

Racial bias in healthcare affects Black people disproportionately. As a global health pandemic spreads, doctors fear Black communities don’t have access to adequate coronavirus tests. BuzzFeed News reports that a group of Virginia-based doctors—Dr. Cameron Webb, Dr. Taison Bell, Dr. Leigh-Ann Webb, and Dr. Ebony Hilton—is requesting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization release data about testing in underserved areas. The concern with current public information is the absence of stats broken down by race and ethnicity. They fear that Black people aren’t tested. As a result, they are not being treated. “I want to make sure that in this pandemic, that Black and Brown people are treated in the same way and that these tests are made available in the same pattern as for white people,” Dr. Ebony Hilton, an associate professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Virginia, told BuzzFeed. The public has already...