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Black Voices, Black Spaces: The Power of Black Innovation
Summary
Equivolve and Echoing Green explore the possibilities for increased impact in the social innovation field through reflections on their investment in U.S.-based Black social innovators over the last decade.
Date
2022
Solution
Strategic Research & Analysis
In Black communities, social innovation is a well-worn pathway to liberation. Black leaders often use social innovation to design their own futures, heal our society of historical wounds, and create a world that honors life. Their solutions have the power to defy the constraints of structural racism, anti-environmentalism, and economic inequality, identifying opportunities to produce new and shared public value to propel us all forward into a more just world.
Over the past decade, the research has painted a clear picture of the disparities funding gaps, discrimination, differences in social networks) for Black leaders and communities. Despite the clear and present need for a significant shift in how the field views and supports Black leaders, recent research shows that long-term commitments to funding Black leaders and Black communities are still episodic at best. Fast Company highlights a post-2020 trend, naming that, after a brief streak, venture capital has “ditched” Black startups.