BWSF Durham

“Durham is one of largest cities in North Carolina…the city of cities to look for prosperity of the Negroes and the greatest amount of friendly feeling between the two races of the South…Durham was a city of Negro enterprise (Independent, 1911).” - Booker T. Washington

 

Map of North Carolina with location pins on Durham, Raleigh, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, and FayettevilleAs Forward Cities embarks on an unprecedented project to understand and shift narratives around Black business ownership, Durham’s historic Black Wall Street serves as a model. Durham was selected as one of five pilot communities for Forward Cities’ Black Wall Street initiative.

 

Justin Minott

Durham Ecosystem Builder in Residence

Justin Minott is an international author, community builder, speaker, entrepreneur, and business coach who is passionate about helping world-changers launch and scale their ventures. He currently serves as the Director of Durham's Black-centric coworking community, Provident1898.

 

 

The Durham Pilots

Black Wall Street Mindset

"Black Wall Street Mindset: Black Wealth in the Modern Era” provides an interactive experience with incredible speakers and entrepreneurs in an environment conducive to connection and collaboration.

We bring together:

  • Black entrepreneurs looking to launch and scale their venture
  • People committed to advancing economic liberation in the Black community
  • Entrepreneur supporters who invest in the Black entrepreneurial ecosystem

Lively and engaging panel discussions featuring powerful local entrepreneurs and intentional networking time are designed to help you advance your mission through meaningful collaborations.

 

Diaspora House

Diaspora House is a Black-focused community hub located in the heart of Durham, NC that leverages craft coffee and cocktails to create collisions between impactors.

A space for dreamers and doers to collide over great coffee and cocktails. This is a connective networking event that showcases the power of what we can accomplish together as a community.

Discover BWSF-Durham

Connect with us

For updates and information, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @BlackWallStFwd.

 

To stay updated on The Black Wall Street Forward initiative and the various opportunities to get involved with the initiative, subscribe to the newsletter!

Pillars & Council Members

In order to catalyze this narrative change in each community and honoring past and existing efforts of Black Wall Street legacy stewardship, we will pull forward the following pillars of success from Durham’s historical Black Wall Street.

Collaborative Black leadership and innovation

 

Kenyetta Hall

Kenyetta Hall

CEO, Katalyst HQ
Matthias Payton headshot

Matthias Payton

Owner, Jasper & Gold

Culturally-rooted geographic business hub

 

Dauv Evans

Dauv Evans

Founder, The Gallus Collective

Ally investment and partnership

 

Keith Daniel

Keith Daniel

Managing Director, Resilient Ventures
John Fjeld

Jon Fjeld

Co-Director, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Duke University

Talent pipeline seeded by education

 

MaKayla Booker

Makayla Booker

Executive Director, Wall St. Juniors
Tamette Farrington

Tamette Farrington

Counselor, North Carolina Central University

Engagement with the broader Black community

 

Latoya D. Alston

Latoya Alston

Owner, Kingdom Building Mentality
Chisa Pinnix-Brown

Chisa Pennix-Brown, MBA

Owner, Give it to the People

Self-perpetuating funding engine

 

Darlene Deberry

Darlene Deberry

Business Solutions Officer, Carolina Small Business
Opaque Black Wall Street Forward logo

JaLisha Richmond

Director of Lending, Thread Capital

Partners

We're grateful for being able to partner with the following organizations to catalyze Black-centric Entrepreneurial Ecosystems:

Truist Foundation Logo
Provident1898 logo