At the report launch, Kevin Williams, a member of the Black Squirrel Collective in Philadelphia, spoke to the urgency of the work. “You see a lot of studies and research being done about the plight of minorities in America,” Williams observed. “But you don’t see any follow-up. Somebody writes a paper and says Black people are poor. Yeah, we know that. But has anyone done a follow-up to see what has been done to address that problem?… We need to continue to be vocal…and we have to continue to drive the point that equity has to occur.”

Inclusive Capital Collective convenes partners from across the country to take aim at systemic racism and build community wealth. Its first focus is real estate, with a case study from the newly formed Black Squirrel Collective.

Large companies in the city will track their progress in becoming more diverse through an internal system

Designed to encourage large companies to use more Black and brown-led suppliers, the Diverse Procurement Collaborative commits 100 of the region’s largest employers including the University of Pennsylvania, Comcast, and Wawa to increase the diversity of their contracting networks.