The Reconstruction

As co-convener of the Black Innovation Alliance, Kelly Burton is working to bring together small business owners and startup founders to help Black and Brown entrepreneurs level up – and change the narrative. Launched last year, the coalition of 50 organizations in two dozen U.S. cities include Aniyia Williams of Black & Brown Founders, Daniel Wright of 1863 Ventures, Luis Martinez of We Tha Plug and Jessica Norwood of Runway. The collective's ten-year goal is to recruit at least 500 organizations to support, fund, and sustain one million Black innovators.

Ashindi  Maxton and Sharon Chen of Donors of Color Network and Danielle  Deane-Ryan of Donors of Color Action join the show to discuss their   campaign to redress racial funding disparities within climate giving.

Current systems of credit are not working. Indigenous wisdom points to more promising approaches: deep local engagement and character-based lending. “Just because you're unbanked, or not banked at the moment, doesn't mean you're actually high risk. It just means the system hasn't worked for you,” Vanessa Roanhorse, CEO of Roanhorse Consulting and co-founder of Native Women Lead, says on the latest episode of The Reconstruction podcast.

Nwamaka Agbo of the San Francisco-based Kataly Foundation is re-imagining capital as a tool for justice and regenerative wealth-building to “build the type of community that we want to see.”

Stephen Nicoleau joins The Reconstruction podcast to discuss the intersection of infrastructure and climate justice at a moment where both private and public investment in climate solutions are ramping up.

With hurricane winds still blowing and rain falling, essential workers already are stepping up to bring back services and communities in Louisiana and elsewhere. No, it’s not too early to center equity, justice and worker rights as Hurricane Ida relief efforts get underway. “We have to give the workers a shot at finishing the project of repairing and resilience after disasters, because our lives truly depend on it,” Saket Soni, executive director of Resilience Force, tells host Monique Aiken.

The overhauling of mass incarceration to advance justice in criminal justice requires the leadership of people who have been directly affected by imprisonment and injustice. “We are proximate to the problem," says DeAnna Hoskins, CEO of JustLeadershipUSA, who was a mother of two young children when she was incarcerated during her struggles with addiction in the 1990s. "If our voices are not heard, we're going to continue to recycle this inequity."

Enterprise, the 40-year-old nonprofit affordable housing developer, has set out to change the structure of the real estate industry, starting with themselves. Lori Chatman, president of Enterprise’s  Community Loan Fund, joined the Reconstruction podcast to share how the Enterprise is working to dismantle America's legacy of racism in housing by changing the way the organization lends to real estate developers.

Renée Joslyn wants to restore philanthropy to the roots of the word: love of humanity. Joslyn, the founder of Philanthropy Unbound, a consultancy specializing in individual, family, and corporate philanthropy and social impact programs,  joined The Reconstruction podcast on the eve of the 10th annual Black Philanthropy Month, coming in August. “Philanthropy needs to be unbound,” she says, from this premise “that it's only mainstream, large institutions that get to give love to humankind."

Can venture capital be kind? This simple question is at the heart of the impact investing firm Kind Capital and its founder, John Duong. Duong joins Monique Aiken to share how investors can rethink venture capital by focusing on bold, long-term impact, wrap-around support for talented entrepreneurs – and authentic kindness.