Around the country, a growing effort to help Black-led businesses thrive has gained critical momentum and is delivering more capital and better-trained employees. These are moves that will help to put the entrepreneurs behind those businesses on the path to success. One group helping to build this wave of support, is the Urban League of Louisiana (ULLA). The ULLA is the Southern Communities Initiative’s lead community organization for the Greater New Orleans area, and it helps assist underserved communities in “securing economic self-reliance, parity, power and civil rights.” While the National Urban League was initially established in 1938, it expanded to a statewide entity in 2016, creating ULLA. The organization’s President and CEO, Judy Reese Morse, is a community lead for the Southern Communities Initiative.
Launched in 2021, the Southern Communities Initiative is a broader plan that works to accelerate racial equity funding, programming and outcomes for disinvested communities in the southern United States. The initiative is supported by Paypal, Boston Consulting Group and leading global investment firm, Vista Equity Partners (Vista), of which Robert F. Smith is Founder, Chairman and CEO.
The Urban League of Louisiana’s efforts to support the racial equity priorities of the Southern Communities Initiative focus on four main areas:
MBE Entrepreneurship & Supplier Diversity
ULLA is working to increase the volume and value of Black-owned businesses by providing $10 million to ULLA’s Black Business Works Fund to support 3,000-4,000 minority-owned businesses. Additionally, it will provide $20 million to fund the New Orleans Business Alliance, Thrive New Orleans and Propellor in order to scale bookkeeping, B2C payment, marketing support and subsidized rent, supporting over 200 minority businesses with up to $5 million in annual revenues.
Access to Capital
ULLA will provide $30 million to help four to five Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs) to hire and train staff, expand marketing and leverage teams to conduct needs diagnostics, implement tech solutions and provide technical assistance.
Education/HBCU & Workforce Development
ULLA will provide $12 million to Smith’s Student Freedom Initiative to support around 120 Black STEM students per year through the program’s private education loans for qualifying students at participating HBCUs. Additionally, the organization will provide $40 million to local organizations including the New Orleans Youth Alliance and YouthForce NOLA to support internship placements and career prep opportunities.
Digital Access
ULLA will provide up to $35 million in donations towards creating internet hotspots and offering laptops for up to 55,000 homes in the Greater New Orleans region. Additionally, the organization will increase community outreach efforts in low-income areas to help get households onto Emergency Broadband Benefits for high-speed internet service.
The Southern Communities Initiative Leads the Effort
The Southern Communities Initiative focuses on four racial equity priorities to drive impact, including:
- Grow Black-owned and other minority business enterprises (MBEs);
- Modernize systems and technology of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs), hire and train talent and increase CDFI/MDI capacity to issue more capital;
- Reduce student debt and support high-paying employment opportunities via education and skills training for people of color;
- Increase access of affordable high-speed internet solutions for those who live in low-income and minority communities.
The Southern Communities Initiative is geographically focused on the six main urban areas where 51% of Black Americans reside: Atlanta; Birmingham, AL; Charlotte; Houston; Memphis; and Greater New Orleans. To date, Southern Communities Initiative has partnered with over 90 organizations and supported over 9,000 Black-owned businesses and minority business enterprises.
Learn more about the racial equity pillars of the Southern Communities Initiative.
