St. Paul – The Center for Economic Inclusion, headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota, today announced it is offering a total of $700,00 in forgivable loans and $50,000 in unrestricted grant funding to 10 Latina and Black Women business owners in the Twin Cities region. Recipients will also receive a full-ride scholarship to attend the Founders First Business Accelerator Program, along with coaching supports and access to a quarterly peer cohort. The program application deadline is Wednesday, February 21, 2024. The program aims to rectify the historical inequities in access to capital by supporting the ability to scale and further contribute to the nation’s economy.
Minnesota-based Center for Economic Inclusion Announces Expansion to Close Racial Wealth Gaps in 9 Regions
St. Paul – The Center for Economic Inclusion, headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota, today announced expansion of its job creation and wealth building racial equity tools and services into nine markets in Alabama, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio, and Virginia through groundbreaking partnerships with regional business organizations.
Biz Journals: Businesses take stock of diversity efforts
3M, U.S. Bank make progress in diversity efforts, reports Center for Economic Inclusion - Alyxandra Sego - Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, September 13, 2023
“While pressures to abandon racial equity and inclusion efforts are loud and sometimes vicious, the case for accelerating efforts is even more compelling when considering the opportunity that inclusion presents businesses and our broader economy.”
3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) are among Minnesota companies making progress in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, according to this year’s racial-equity report from the Center for Economic Inclusion (Center).
The "2023 Racial Equity Dividends Index Report- Private Sector" is the second annual report from the St. Paul-based racial economics organization. Last year, 40 companies with large footprints in Minnesota participated in the racial-equity survey. For this year, 22 companies participated, making the total of unique companies participating for both years at 50, the Center reports.
The index was created as a tool to help businesses identify and monitor their actions for anti-racism, Tawanna Black, the Center’s founder and CEO wrote in the report’s opening statement. It also serves as a barometer for consumers, workers, shareholders and investors, she continued.
The index currently measures 43 racial-equity standards across seven equally-weighted categories (leadership; hiring; culture, retention and advancement; procurement; products and services; philanthropy and investment; and public policy). Some categories, if they were not applicable to a certain company, were excluded from that company’s total score. For example, if a company didn’t participate in lobbying, public policy may not be measured against their score.
According to the report, the average score for this year’s participants was 44 out of 100.
Both 3M and U.S. Bancorp met racial-equity standards within four of the seven categories, the highest in this index. Maplewood-based 3M scored at highly in initiatives related to leadership, hiring, procurement, as well as philanthropy and investment. Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank, meanwhile, scored highly in leadership, hiring, products and services, as well as philanthropy and investment. Both organizations last year met the report’s standards for the category measuring culture, retention and advancement, but did not do so in this year’s report.
Click to read full article from BizJournals (paywall)
Read the full 2023 Racial Equity Dividends Index for the private sector to learn more about the organizations that participated.
Contact Nashan McKelton, director of sales and growth if you want to see how your organization measures up.
Join us at our Oct. 5 #PoweringInclusion Forum (a virtual event) to understand how recent U.S. policy changes could undermine these efforts!