Miami-Dade chosen for new Rockefeller initiative to boost minority business

A Rockefeller Foundation effort to combat economic inequality selected Miami-Dade County as one of 10 places nationwide for the nonprofit’s newest initiative: the Rockefeller Foundation Opportunity Collective.

Launched Tuesday, the collective has pledged an initial $10 million across the locations to invest in partners and projects that help eliminate barriers for Black, Latino and women-owned businesses.

Increasing access to credit and capital for minority business owners and helping them expand are among the initiative’s goals, said Otis Rolley III, the Rockefeller Foundation’s senior vice president of the U.S. Equity and Economic Opportunity Initiative.

“The data shows us [that] the more Black and brown businesses that get dollars, the more Black and brown individuals are empowered and start to generate wealth,” Rolley said.

The foundation has not finalized the amount each of the 10 locations will receive in funding. The focus will be on partnering with existing groups and organizations already working to create economic equity, Rolley said.

Potential uses for the funds include offering financial support to entrepreneurs, pushing out data that exposes existing systemic inequities and working with banks to help them provide more loans and credit to minority-owned businesses.

Studies indicate that people of color are under-represented in business ownership and face financing challenges at disproportionate rates. They’re less likely to be given business bank loans and more likely to have insufficient capital when launching a business, according to a U.S. Census Bureau Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs.

“If we see those numbers change,” Rolley said, “if we see more systems change in terms of access for people of color and women- owned businesses being able to stay in place and to grow — that for us will be proof positive that our investment makes sense.”

Previously, the Rockefeller Foundation has included Miami-Dade in its 100 Resilient Cities program, which helped cities transform their structures for dealing with pressing challenges. That experience helped the foundation determine Miami-Dade was a prime target for its latest initiative, Rolley said. In 2016, foundation funding helped launch Resilient 305, a joint initiative between nonprofits and local governments to identify strategies for tackling local issues.

Also included in the Opportunity Collective are Atlanta, Ga.; Boston, Mass.; Chicago, Ill.; El Paso, Tex.; Houston, Tex.; Louisville, Ky.; Newark, N.J.; Norfolk, Va. and Oakland, Calif.

This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 9:22 AM.