The Cultivate Method is an anti-racist organization. We are committed to actively dismantling systemic racism through our work with small businesses and entrepreneurs.
As an organization focused on serving this community of business owners and entrepreneurs, we acknowledge that inequality persists in entrepreneurship. Systemic racism and the racial wealth gap have limited access to capital for entrepreneurs of color, and capital is what allows a business to get off the ground, build traction and succeed. As a result of systemic challenges, large racial and ethnic gaps also persist in self-employment rates and business performance, and studies have shown that Black and Hispanic-owned firms have higher failure rates than White and Asian-owned firms. Most recently, we have seen that in times of crisis, businesses owned by people of color have faced structural inequities and that Black-owned businesses have been hit the hardest.
Our commitment to removing these barriers and dismantling systemic racism starts with:
This commitment is a work in progress and will continue to be added to, updated, revised and improved as we learn and grow.
Thank you Kylie Gomez and Neha Arnold for reviewing and contributing to this formation of this policy.
Sources:
Kauffman Foundation - Kauffman Compilation: Research on Race and Entrepreneurship, December 2016
Vox - Study: Covid-19 lockdowns hit black-owned small businesses the hardest, June 2020