Black History Month is a time to celebrate the profound history, culture, struggle and progress of Black Americans. It is also a time to remember that while marches, wars, and legal battles have all confronted discrimination, segregation and slavery, the work toward “a more perfect Union” is ongoing, and the effects of our nation’s history are very much felt to this day, particularly in terms of economic inequality.

Accelerator for America’s founding mission is to address economic insecurity by working with city leaders to find and develop real-time solutions that can be shared, scaled, and replicated to create greater economic mobility. Our work inherently intersects with our nation’s history as we work daily in economic and community development to remedy discriminatory practices, strategic disinvestment, and local/state/national policies that contributed heavily to today’s racial divides. We work in cities to bring new investment to distressed neighborhoods, to support small business creation and growth, to create workforce development programs that provide family-supporting wage job opportunities, to empower communities to invest in their own future through ballot initiatives, and to provide direct support and technical assistance to local governments to ensure we can maximize this moment of new federal dollars.

Accelerator for America celebrates Black History Month and all the history-makers who brought us to this point. Most importantly, we steel ourselves for the journey ahead, unwavering in our commitment to the ideals we lift up this month and that which we strive to reflect in our work every day.

Thank you for walking with us.

Mary Ellen Wiederwohl
Aaron Thomas
Yusef Robb
Anne Bovaird Nevins
Ross van Dongen
A.J. Herrmann
Matt Horton
Gary Walton, Jr.
Samantha Deutchman

AFA Celebrates Black History Month