Emergent Equity for Black Women & Families (EEBW)

Business Resource Group Ujima Housing Churches for Communyty Development

BIPOC- and Women-Owned Businesses

Expand existing project, program, or initiative

Black women face a myriad of challenges in their roles as breadwinner, daughter, mother, aunt, teacher, investor, and financial planner. Mental and physical exhaustion, along with depleted financial assets is causing these burdens to perpetuate cycles of poverty and stress-related health issues. Black women want the best for their families and work tirelessly to provide for them financially. Limited time, low earnings, and savings levels foster an elevated need for resources and ways to help their families advance. Local policies cause obstacles rather than pathways for racial equity. Single parent family structure and aging parents cause undue childcare burdens. Many engage in business ventures to bolster their income, accounting for the dramatic increases in Black led female-owned businesses over the past few years. Black women-owned businesses have lower revenue and employees than other firms. Los Angeles policies intended to support BIPOC women block access for these entrepreneurs.

Our project will deliver a single integrated solution to help Black led families access resources needed to reduce and eliminate barriers to improving their overall financial conditional We will use a centralized assessment audit tool to do an equity audit comparing the family resources needs with those of other families and create and economic advancement of the overall family by reducing family financial burdens, support academic advancement of children and integrating, individual asset building, layering senior care and student resources referrals, with wrap around resources to improve personal, child care, ways to strengthen credit profiles and offer linkages ot support entrepreneurship skill enhancement, all while bolstering circles of family support and health care. Each family with have a customized plan to help them emerge as a stronger more resourced family unit. Families will receive resource support and services to adopt and implement the strategies outlined in their advancement plan. We will assign case managers to coach nd help the families track and implement solutions. We will also examine and address public policies and practices that systematically deprive Black single parent families from equitable access to opportunities and wealth creation pathways. Eliminating these barriers will diminish undue burdens and pressures on these individuals and their families.

As a result of our work, there will be a centralized resource for Black women and an integrated process for Black women and their families to elevate their financial lives. A comprehensive, multi-part family equity audit will examine the family's needs, map to accessing resources, and craft plans to assist the family to emerge from current circumstances and improve its overall financial trajectory. rs

We measure impact by the number of families enrolled and receiving the equity audits, the number of barriers faced, the proposed solutions included in economic advancement plans, the number of resource referrals made, and the short-term impact of said referrals by tracking the number of services which the family actually took advantage of during the 12 months following the grant award. On the advocacy front, we will track the # of community partners engaged and mobilized to make a lasting impact on changes in public policies that adversely limit access to opportunities and resources for Black led single-parent families. We will report on the number of community meetings and call-to-action events that we host to eliminate said barriers to access and champion the elimination of the community-defined top two public policies or practices that create racial barriers for black-led families.

Community Build's expert case magement and outreach to families will help us to bolster engagement and define community resources. We will also use their robust partnership programs will 11 local agencies to support local families. BRG's 20 years serving women and female entrepreneurs with fincial coaching and will anchor support services. Their assessment tools will be adapted to integrate and track the distinct needs of single-black female-led multigeneratiol families. Ujima Housings will use its expertise and network in housing and energy efficiency to integrate and offer housing cost reduction strategies to reduce families' fincial budgets Church - We partner with Churches to provide outreach, engage women of color and promote programming across the Black community.