The saying “it takes a village to raise a child” doesn’t explicitly factor in how much that village will cost. The price of just “being Black” is expensive. And for many creatives, innovators, and entrepreneurs, the cost of growth and expansion is unaffordable. Although one of the brief responses to the murder of George Floyd was a slight uptick in public and private commitments, data reveals that funding to Black entrepreneurs still severely lagged in comparison to what white spaces received. Institutions gained a lot of clout and exposure being connected to the brand of Black activism and movement, but not that most have departed from their public promises, Black entrepreneurs seeking to build impactful ventures are lumped back into the traditional models of funding and support—which includes tokenizing and the VC quest for the next “unicorn” in tech and business.

Former NYC Deputy Mayor and current CEO of Robin Hood Foundation, Richard Buery, Jr., challenges the From Chains to Links community to question whether these standards yield sustainable results, and how bridging imagination with capital interventions helps us build the villages we deserve