Common Future CEO Rodney Foxworth reflects on the COVID-19 pandemic Like many of you, I’ve been living in a persistent fog of anxiety, uncertainty, and discomfort over the past two years. During this time, I’ve been reminded often of a poem of great significance to me, Mother to Son by…

I am excited to share that Common Future has received an unrestricted, seven figure gift from trailblazing philanthropists MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett, the largest such donation in our organization’s history. Their remarkable investment further enables Common Future to incubate, co-create, and fund equitable and impactful community wealth building opportunities. …

But we refuse to be broken. Instead, we build. — To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious, is to be in a rage almost all the time. So the first part of the problem is how to control the rage so that it won’t destroy you. Part of the rage is this: it isn’t only…

We live in an urgent time: duopolies and monopolies greatly suffocate the growth of small, local businesses; tax policy overwhelmingly favors the wealthy; corporate subsidies remain a lynchpin in economic development efforts; and the racial wealth gap continues to grow exponentially. Systems changing ideas and beliefs are needed to confront today’s economic challenges. — A hundred years ago, Greenwood, a 35-square-block section of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was home to one of the largest concentrations of African American-owned businesses and wealth in America. Booker T. Washington referred to Greenwood as “Negro Wall Street.” …

The predominant belief driving impact investing is that the market principles of capitalism should be applied to social change. That belief overlooks the many ways in which market forces generate injustice and inequality in the first place. — “It is not a risk to invest in black and brown people fighting for liberation. It’s the surest bet. When we have the resources to lead our own struggles, the world is transformed.”

It’s been an incredible week at BALLE. Last week, Courtney Martin wrote about our work in The New York Times. As she makes clear, BALLE’s network of leaders work on many of America’s most difficult challenges — economic inequality, racial animosity, and rural vs. urban division. BALLE Fellows work tirelessly…

If we’re truly motivated to deconstruct the wealth inequalities that have ravaged and extracted wealth from rural, indigenous, and majority people of color communities, then we must rid ourselves of the power dynamics, biases, and culture that got us here in the first place. — “Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.” — Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Case for Reparations

When I was selected for the BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) Fellowship last year, I vastly underestimated the profound impact it would have on me. From the enduring friendships and partnerships I’ve developed with extraordinary leaders like Derrick Braziel (MORTAR), Anthony Chang (Kitchen Table Advisors), Jessica Norwood (the…

The events of the past few weeks have been both troubling and traumatic. For some, witnessing the racial divide and the anguish that surrounds it has been eye-opening; for others, it’s confirmed long-held beliefs that some lives — especially black lives — are valued far less than others. Publicly and…