AWBI Executive Director Leadership Profile 2019 06 28 FINAL…

path to prosperity but instead an endless trail of land mines, insurmountable hurdles and  broken promises.    In the City of Atlanta, a black-owned business is worth $58,085, while a white-owned  business is worth $658,264 -- 11 times more! 96% of these black-owned businesses have no  paid employees. In the U.S., closing the racial growth gap would result in 9 million new jobs  and ultimately boost the national income by $300 billion. If we grow new and legacy  minority small businesses, we create more living-wage jobs and build family- and  community-wealth. Community wealth building (CWB) provides an opportunity to address  the historic and systemic nature of racial wealth inequality in our region and is a uniquely  pertinent strategy for metropolitan Atlanta given its vast economic inequity, particularly in  communities of color in contrast with the legend of Atlanta as the Black Mecca. 

THE ORGANIZATION 

Initially established in 2011 as a nonprofit 501(c)3 entity  created and powered by The Community Foundation  for Greater Atlanta, the Atlanta Wealth Building  Initiative (AWBI) adopted The Evergreen Cooperatives  of Cleveland’s model to start and incubate local  green businesses to address social problems such as  the rising level of income inequality, high rates of  unemployment, cyclical patterns in prison re-entry or  substance use, and business inefficiency. In response  to the continuing crisis of inequity confronting Atlanta,  in the fall of 2017 the Kendeda Fund and the Annie E.  Casey Foundation, in concert with community,  municipal and nonprofit leaders, decided to re-focus  and relaunch the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative  (AWBI). 

The goal of the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative (AWBI) is to foster solutions designed to  close Atlanta’s racial opportunity gaps, so that all of Atlanta’s residents are able to reach  their highest potential. In pursuit of this goal, as an intermediary AWBI seeks to achieve  shared prosperity by closing the racial wealth gap through ​ thought leadership that  advances bold ideas, ​ movement building that activates people on the ground and  strategic investments that equitably deploy capital. Community wealth building lies at the  heart of our model and our core values of inclusion, collaboration, innovation, courage,  impact and sustainability undergird our work.   AWBI seeks to leverage three critical components, which when activated together have  transformative power. Those components are ​ ideas, people and capital : 

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