CLLCTIVLY receives $200K from Ravens’ Calais Campbell, Rockefeller Foundation to support Black-led businesses in Baltimore

CLLCTIVLY has received $200K in donations for its work providing microgrants to Black-led businesses, thanks to pledges from Baltimore Ravens star Calais Campbell and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Founded by Jamye Wooten to connect Black-led organizations together and provide resources, CLLCTIVLY is an organization dedicated to expanding equity and economic opportunity to communities of color. In Baltimore, where there is a legacy of divestment from Black communities , CLLCTIVLY invests in the Black Butterfly with $1,000 micro-grants to businesses and organizations.

The Rockefeller Foundation provided support of $75,000, while Ravens defensive end Calais Campbell committed $125,000 through his Charles Richard Campbell Foundation. This will allow CLLCTIVLY to expand support of Black-led businesses during the pandemic.

“Unfortunately, these Black businesses have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic putting their survival at risk,” Campbell said in a news release.  “By partnering with The Rockefeller Foundation and CLLCTIVLY, it’s my hope that we can not only provide financial relief but also draw attention to and celebrate these business owners and what their institutions bring to the city of Baltimore.”

We, along with @CalaisCampbell + @RockefellerFdn are excited to share our pledge of $200k to the @CLLCTIVLY COVID-19 Baltimore Micro-Grant Fund to help Black-owned businesses impacted by the pandemic with financial assistance and strategic advising. pic.twitter.com/eSei6fBUXg

— CRC Foundation (@CRCFoundation93) December 15, 2020

Disparities are playing out in the data. An analysis of government data by Robert Fairlie of the University of California, Santa Cruz, found that 41% of Black business owners were not working in April at the beginning of the pandemic, while 17% of white small business owners were not working at that time.

The funding will allow CLLCTIVLY to provide support through microgrants, crowdfunding and a design cohort pilot that provides resources. CLLCTIVLY also runs programs like CLLCTIVGIVE to raise funds for Black-led organizations and an asset map of Black-led organizations. Along with a mention in Technical.ly’s RealLIST Startups 2020, the org got resources of its own via Johns Hopkins Social Innovation Lab this year.

Donte Kirby is a 2020-2022 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation.