Why HBCUs Saw Huge Investments In 2020 And What’s Next

Plus: Meet The Man Who Inspired Nike To Develop Its First Hands-Free Sneaker

During For(bes) The Culture’s Culturally Accountable Summit last week, Taylor Culliver, founder of Brother Box, said, “No one that ever did anything worth talking about did it because they were trying to be someone else. They did it because they went out on a limb and were trying to do something that other people could not, or would not, do.”

This past week has seen no shortage of news about regular citizens who’ve gone out on a limb to make DEI inroads in the marketplace.

Take Matthew Walzer, who implored Nike to design a shoe for people with disabilities. The athletic-apparel juggernaut listened, last week unveiling its first hands-free sneaker. 

For another out-of-the-box thinker, look no further than Charlotte Japp, founder of CIRKEL, a platform aimed at increasing understanding of and learning between the generations in the workforce. See how she is turning intergenerational relationships into organizational success.

This week was also filled with notable policy actions. 

On Monday, members of the Congressional Black Caucus announced that they sent a letter to new Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, demanding that the DHS “stop all mass deportations [and] return those wrongfully deported.”

Meanwhile, U.S Senator Cory Booker and members of the U.S. House of Representatives Alma Adams and Lauren Underwood submitted the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act to better address the crisis of Black maternal death.

Quiz Yourself

How much more likely is maternal death for non-Hispanic Black women than for white women living in the U.S.?

A) Three times 

B) Four times

C) Five times

D) Six times

(Answer located at the bottom of this newsletter.)

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Up Ahead

(A) Non-Hispanic Black women are more than three times more likely to have a maternal death than white women in the U.S.