RUNWAY Roots Celebrates First Year of The ROOTED Fund: Nearly $1M Deployed in Reparative Capital
RUNWAY Roots is celebrating a transformative milestone: the first anniversary of The ROOTED Fund, our inaugural in-house integrated capital fund dedicated to building an economy that loves Black people.
In just one year, we've deployed nearly $1 million in reparative capital to six Black-owned businesses across Chicago—from Homegirl's Hummus and Twisted Eggroll to Kesh Events and Stories of All Hemp. Every loan is current and in good standing, proving that when we redefine risk and center community, entrepreneurs thrive.
This work happened against a backdrop of increasing authoritarianism, attacks on diversity policies, and economic uncertainty. Yet we expanded.
We raised over $8 million in investable assets and grants. We built community-led investment and stewardship committees. We launched Fertile Ground LIVE, bringing entrepreneurs together for healing, strategy, and power-building. We introduced our Power Building Manifesto, making explicit what has always been true: this work is about cultivating powerful, self-determining communities.
Our approach rests on three pillars: a reparative financial home, an informed entrepreneur, and an active ecosystem committed to real-time transformation.
We're not just moving capital. We're shifting the culture of finance itself.
We also welcomed a Chief Lending Officer, a Chicago Fund Manager, and new board members including an entrepreneur alumni representative. We partnered with the State of the People Tour, showed up at the Assembly of Black Possibilities, and rebranded to RUNWAY Roots—a name that honors our past and declares our future.
As we step into 2026, we're calling on investors, funders, and partners to join us. The RUNWAY ROOTED Fund is on a path toward $50 million, expanding to five key markets. Because the antidote to extraction is community. The future is rooted. And the time is now.
