You Don’t Plant Greens and Get Corn

A note from The Highland Project’s Founder, Gabrielle Wyatt

I had the honor of gathering with the inaugural cohort of Highland Leaders in Jackson, MS at the beginning of this month to share breakfast with civil rights activist and leader Ms. Flonzie Brown Wright. She reminded us “you don’t plant greens and get corn.” As Black households and communities come together today for a second day of honoring our ancestors and celebrating Juneteenth, I’m sitting with Ms. Flonzie’s words.

Highland Leaders and Ms. Flonzie Brown Wright in Jackson, MS

Two years ago after the senseless murders of Black Americans flooded mainstream media, we saw national pledges across sectors to invest in, protect and honor Black lives. For the first time- since 1865 — Juneteenth became a federal holiday. Billions of corporate and philanthropic dollars were pledged to fight systemic racism and discrimination. Very little has flowed to date.

Rhetoric and symbolism alone will not get us protected, respected and thriving Black communities for multiple generations. “You don’t plant greens and get corn.”

In just one year since The Highland Project’s first national poll of over 700 Black women, rhetoric and symbolism has not made us better off. In our latest poll in partnership with brilliant corners Research & Strategies:

• In just one year since our last national poll, Black women not only feel left out but falling behind in the economy writ large: 57% say economic conditions are getting worse. 53% say their own wages are falling behind the cost of living.
• Black women continue to name concerns about a number of issues beyond just the economy. While lowering inflation and the cost of goods is of concern (33%), police reform (25%), voting rights (22%), health care (20%), women’s reproductive rights (20%) and college affordability and improving K-12 education (25%) remain top issues.
• Black women are not just worried about present day economic conditions; they are worried about how today impacts their futures and the futures of their communities.
• Black women are not seeing educational attainment as a means to thrive economically. College degrees are not protecting economic anxieties.

Black women simply cannot escape all of the compounding issues as our lives are uniquely influenced by several systemic and social factors.

“You don’t plant greens and get corn.”

This Juneteenth, our humanity as Black women and communities is on the line. If we are serious about multi-generational change and investing in Black communities, then we must invest beyond the next decade of leadership and in seven generations forward. We must plant and invest in abundance.

What might this look like? At Camelback’s Guardian Summit this month, I asked a room full of investors and other leaders to imagine a world where we invested abundantly in Black women. Celebrated Black women abundantly. Amplified Black women abundantly. They had thirty minutes to come up with as many possibilities and visions as possible. No idea was a bad idea. No idea had to be fully fleshed out or considered “reasonable” by today’s status quo. Why? Because we must plant abundance.

We’re inspired by the manifesto they seeded and on this Juneteenth, we ask you to reflect on, add to, and invest in this vision of abundance.

130 Ways to Invest in, Amplify, and Celebrate Black Women by 2022 Guardian Summit Attendees

1. Ask Black women what they need
2. Black women are able to take care of themselves first and burdens are lifted
3. Black women can do what they are passionate about and it is valued
4. Invest in activists in the same way we do entrepreneurs
5. Redefine expectations of a women’s role in society
6. Men are advocates and champions
7. Elect a Black woman President
8. Cancel student loans
9. “DEI” is gone! No one is the DEI lead because it is integrated and viewed as integral to success
10. Invest in maternal health initiatives
11. Establish gender and racial pay equity
12. Equalize family leave
13. 100% of public companies are Black women CEOs
14. Endow Black-led non-profits
15. Invest in school suspension reform
16. Black women can make mistakes as they innovate and not be punished
17. Require 10-year spend down of all foundations — get rid of permanent philanthropy
18. Provide full tax breaks for donations to Black-led organizations / investments in Black-owned companies
19. Experience matters as much as “credentials”
20. Invest in Black women maternal health care
21. Invest in a sustainable climate / planet
22. Investing in education must to free next generation from debt
23. Invest in funding alternative schools
24. Universal broadband!
25. Invest in safe spaces
26. Fund inter-generational conversations
27. Cultivate 10 more MacKenzie Scotts
28. Celebrate: turn our networks into ambassador groups to amplify our work and impact
29. Invest in resources to support Black women who are the leading caregivers for their families
30. Invest in culturally competent childcare
31. Invest in outsourcing non-essential services to support all Black women in imagining the future
32. Invest in wealth development advising
33. Invest in changing the rules of the game
34. Invest in shifting power and decision making
35. Invest in listening space
36. Invest in stipends for preventative health
37. Mandate a 15% pledge for Black-women owned business
38. Invest in individualized education plans
39. Create policies — federal and state — that empower Black girls
40. Create Black Girl Joy Fund — funding the arts, gardening, and more
41. Invest in free Montessori education for Black girls
42. Support Black women in creating stories for Black girls
43. Invest in Black women-led institutions
44. Create ‘common core’ for white people about the impact of Black women on society
45. Invest in raising children as anti-racists
46. Endow chairs and fellowships at universities
47. Limited partnerships redefine requirements for first time WOC fund managers
48. There’s more growth equity supporting women
49. There’s more publicly traded Black women-led businesses
50. Create Giving Pledge for Black women
51. Develop an endowed Liberation Fund to finance education for Black women
52. Create minimum basic income for Black women without restrictions
53. Create a Black Economic Alliance focused on Black women
54. Invest in citizenship programs for Black women immigrants
55. Raise $1M for every Black woman in politics
56. Invest in funds for Black women in technology and entrepreneurship
57. Create universal childcare for Black women
58. Create free accreditation process for Black women to become Superintendents
59. There are no government grants or corporate contracts to organizations without Black women in C-suite with true decision-making roles, not in DEI or fundraising roles
60. Invest in a “Break Fund” — paid sabbaticals for Black women
61. Health insurance companies pay for mental health services for all
62. Black women have full autonomy over their health
63. Medical trials include Black women
64. Increase funding for research on diseases disproportionately impacting Black women
65. Invest in, celebrate and amplify empathy
66. Shift power: white men leave the room, send the elevator up
67. Cash to Black women
68. Invest in Quality and affordable health
69. Guaranteed income
70. Pay equity
71. Invest in Youth cash transfer / investments
72. Mailbox money and legacy money
73. Invest in ownership and education
74. Have opportunities for Black women everywhere — and, where they want to be
75. Adjust access to basic needs, so leaders are not struggling to afford
76. Recognizing work, valuing all work
77. Workplaces were women’s greatness shines
78. Representation and influence on boards of top companies
79. Path to leadership its not limited by childcare needs, etc.
80. Women are leaders and then can pass down/on power, money and policy
81. Policies to hold corporations accountable
82. White men leaving the room and power
83. Invest in mentoring and exposure
84. Re-imagine workplaces / places of influence
85. Re-imagine education
86. Systems change in care economy: education, housing, finance
87. Invest not in “affordable” housing, but access and ownership
88. Invest in cash transfer / UBI to women and a social network of supports
89. Invest in access
90. Invest in the playbook of strategy and intentionality
91. Teach Black men how to co-power with Black women in corporate spaces
92. Help growth equity in supporting Black women
93. Help micro-businesses take advantage of technical assistance
94. Help Black women access banking relationships
95. Invest in increasing Black women leading organizations — HBCUs, legacy civil rights organizations
96. Amplify Black women!
97. Recognize Black women!
98. Re-distribute wealth
99. Reform global taxes
100. Invest in senior care
101. Invest in childcare
102. Create provisions on down payments
103. Create tiny home and other ownership assistance programs
104. Invest in financial literacy
105. Ban predatory lending
106. Invest in cooperative land ownership
107. Energy and real estate retrofits for health and self-sufficiency
108. Role model different definitions of beauty
109. Increase visibility of Black women on traditional public platforms — statues, currency
110. Expanded healthcare
111. Expand flexible work options
112. Create a new network of funders
113. Normalize where Black people are traditionally not seen as essential and central
114. Change narrative at systemic players/ecosystems to ready them for Black workforce
115. Exposure/training — Rock the Street — craft and confidence
116. Push policy for culturally sensitive / disruptive engagement with financial systems / “literacy”
117. Protect voting rights
118. Narrative / storytelling that emphasizes what Black people are especially incredible at because of our history
119. Narrative change: Black people are innovators
120. Decentralized power over where funding goes
121. Everyone has a therapist
122. Everyone is taught truth and reconciliation
123. Everyone is taught the history of colonization
124. Guaranteed income and baby bonds for young people
125. Free universal maternal care
126. Free health insurance
127. Investment in storytelling about Black joy, beauty, and belonging
128. Invest in sponsors and mentors
129. There are consistent and growing pathways to Board representation
130. There are consistent and growing pathways to ownership