Wealth From Within invites you to journey with us as we unearth new narratives around the history of extraction in the South and recognize the vital link between creative entrepreneurship and reparative capital in building community wealth and power.

Reparative capital is more than just financial support—it's about healing, repair, and justice. We believe in supporting the whole person, not just the business. That means recognizing the unique experiences of Black entrepreneurs and providing the resources they need.

As with most things that move into motion at RUNWAY, the visual direction of The RUNWAY ROOTED Fund began with the practice of deep imagination. How do we capture what the ROOTED Fund stands for–Black community wealth and power building; a vessel of restitution; closing the racial wealth gap; etc.– and make it hella beautiful?

Introducing The RUNWAY ROOTED Fund: A National Reparative Finance Fund Empowering Black Communities

Nonprofit financial innovation firm RUNWAY commits to raising $50 million in integrated capital for Black communities across the country

The RUNWAY ROOTED Fund departs from conventional investing paradigms. It is a call to action for investors, funders, and wealth holders who understand the transformative potential of reparative capital and share our commitment to fostering collective wealth and building power in Black communities.

Our trip to Alabama last spring served as a cornerstone event for rooting our work in community, stewardship, and investing in Southern Black entrepreneurship. We shared such beautiful moments and conversations with an incredible delegation made up of local community leaders, creative entrepreneurs, artists, investors, organizers, and ecosystem partners.

Believe-in-You Money is about bringing love, repair, and money together. It’s about how we enter into love, how we work intentionally to repair racial injustice, and how we use the resource of money to transform things around us for the better.

The racial wealth gap is not merely a result of historical injustices but a manifestation of the systemic racism and economic oppression that continues to harm Black communities and communities of color. Addressing wealth disparities in a meaningful and sustainable way requires a fundamental shift in policies, practices, and culture to dismantle inequitable structures and reimagine new economic systems that work for us all.

In the pursuit of economic empowerment, Black entrepreneurs have long navigated a challenging landscape riddled with systemic racism and oppressive structures. The idea of individual wealth, while appealing on the surface, has often left many in our communities marginalized while reinforcing existing disparities. It's time for a major shift in perspective. What if we moved from the confines of individual success to the transformative power of collective wealth?

There’s no skirting around the fact that the U.S. financial system is fundamentally flawed. The financial system has been established using a complex framework of laws, regulations, institutions, and practices to support the economy and serve the people. But, when the system values profit over people or the planet, who gets left behind?

RUNWAY, a justice and equity-centered financial innovation firm with a mission to advance resiliency for Black businesses, is coming to Mobile as part of ROOTED, their 10-year initiative to invest in Southern Black entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation. They are kicking things off in Alabama, the home state of RUNWAY founder Jessica Norwood, to learn about the unique needs of local artists and entrepreneurs and understand how to best serve the community. RUNWAY’s work is focused on building community wealth by providing early-stage “friends and family” style funding and holistic business support for Black entrepreneurs. But, it’s about more than just giving money to Black businesses. It’s about giving entrepreneurs a runway for creating a strong foundation for long-term economic growth and success in the community.

Folks are often curious about what we mean when we say that we’re a “financial innovation firm,” so we decided to break it down. The way we’re looking at financial innovation is through the lens of reparative finance.

As a 100% Black and Brown-women-led organization, we can say with conviction that there is zero room for patriarchy up in here. But in reality, practicing anti-patriarchy is just that–a practice.

Black History Month can be a complicated and nuanced time. Every February, we are often guided to reflect on the resilience of Black people–on our ancestors’ (and our own) experiences being on the short end of this nation’s obsession with having power, domination, and control over Black bodies.

How do we keep Southern creatives and entrepreneurs resourced and supported so they can stay rooted where they are in community?

We’ve made significant progress over the past year, and we are proud of the hard work and dedication of our team.

There’s no better time to put your money where your mouth is and support Black-owned businesses for the holiday season and beyond.

“100 years later, and the dust has not settled in Tulsa, and it has not settled in America. We’re here today to have a sacred conversation about what it means to repair the damage done to Black businesses and Black communities.”