Blavity announced the recipients of a grant and mentorship program to help Black-led startup companies find their footing.Paris Alexandra and Alicia Ferguson founded BK Yoga Club in 2019 with just $350. Eventually, their sun-drenched studio in the Brooklyn borough of New York City brought in clientele who wanted body-positive yoga in a racially diverse community setting.
Blavity is a Black-owned company that runs five content brands like Shadow and Act and namesake news site Blavity that formed in 2014. The Growth Fellowship, a six-month program, gives each of the 12 participating businesses a $10,000 grant, access to corporate sponsors, and training in executive leadership, data analysis, pricing and hiring, among other things. The inaugural fellowship begins next month and will run twice a year.
“We want to give them the flexibility that this capital provides, but we want them to maintain their ownership and be able to reap those long term rewards,” Nelson said. “This is a growth fellowship. What we are looking for are startups that have some degree of success or attraction, and they're really at a point where an infusion of capital, and some mentorship, can really allow them to accelerate and grow.
As a result, just 5 percent of Black Americans hold some business equity compared to 15 percent of white Americans, the report said. Among equity holders, the average Black American’s business is worth 50 percent of the average American’s and a third of the average white American’s, the report said.
Why are you capitalizing “black” in all your tweets? Seems odd