Happy Monday. There's so much to look forward to this week, including Juneteenth and a House hearing on slavery reparations on Wednesday, the first day of summer on Friday, and the first annual National Buy Black Week all week long! In this issue we take a look at the importance of buying Black, Sen. Elizabeth Warren's $7 billion plan to help minority entrepreneurs, and a design of what the now scrapped Harriet Tubman $20 bill would've looked like. You can expect the next issue of Noirnomics on Wednesday. Take care in the meantime.
The Black Dollar
National Buy Black Week Aims to "Ignite Black Economic Freedom"
In honor of Juneteenth, the Black Business Owners of Charlotte (BBOC) is hosting the first National Buy Black Week. The campaign aims to "strengthen Black economic mobility across the country" by supporting Black-owned businesses. Although African Americans have a $1.2 trillion spending capacity, not enough of those dollars get recycled in our communities. The National Buy Black Week initiative hopes to change that, at least for a week.
“Black people arrived in America on the balance sheet...we ARE wealth. We’ve been creators of wealth from the moment we got here. The goal for us needs to be becoming wealth creators for ourselves.”––???
(Keep reading for the answer)
Election 2020
Elizabeth Warren Proposes $7 Billion in Grants for Minority Entrepreneurs
Sean Rayford/Getty Images
Ahead of the Black Economic Alliance Presidential Forum this past weekend in Charleston, Sen. Elizabeth Warren announced her plan to provide $7 billion in grants for minority entrepreneurs if she is elected president. Here are the highlights of her proposal:
She would create a new "Small Business Equity Fund" to distribue the grants
Importantly, these would be grants, not loans or "guarantees"
To qualify, businesses would have to be at least 51% owned and controlled by a socially and economically disadvantaged individual
Recipients must have less than $100,000 in household wealth
Here's How the Harriet Tubman $20 Bill Would've Looked
Remember how excited we all were when the Obama Administration announced that Harriet Tubman would be on the new $20 bill? Well, like everything else, Trump has managed to screw that up, too. Last month, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced that the design of the Tubman bill would be delayed due to "technical reasons" despite a New York Times report that the design of the bill was well underway since 2016.
The design is now delayed indefinitely, but it sure was going to be a beauty. However, some people have, literally, decided to take the matter into their own hands.
Opportunity
Spotify is calling all aspiring women of color podcasters to apply for their Sound Up Podcast Program. The week-long program in New York City provides new podcasters with training in technical production, storytelling, and podcast marketing. At the end of the week, participants can compete for one of three $10,000 prizes to launch their podcast. Applications are being accepted through this Friday, June 21 and you can apply here. Just make sure you read the fine print.
Who Said That? Dr. Pamela Jolly
In a FANTASTIC first episode of Arlan Hamilton's new podcast Your First Million, she interviewed Dr. Pamela Jolly, Founder & CEO of Torch Enterprises, Inc., a firm that helps minority business owners develop plans and processes for the accumulation of generational wealth. Dr. Jolly has dedicated the past 15 years to helping Black Americans build legacy wealth, and you can read more about her on her website and listen to the podcast episode here.
