FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 19, 2024
Rapid City, SD – Last week, the Fearless Fund – the nation’s first venture-capital firm run by women of color that invests exclusively in women of color owned tech and consumer-goods companies – reached a settlement deal with the American Alliance for Equal Rights, who had filed a lawsuit claiming a Fearless Fund program meant to serve Black women was racially discriminatory.
The Fearless Fund uplifted the settlement as a win, as the legal battle being over now means their work can continue – and while the settlement resulted in one small grant program being discontinued, their new debt fund program will touch over 3,000 under-resourced entrepreneurs.
In response to the Fearless Fund’s settlement deal, NDN Collective released the following statements:
“NDN Collective is in solidarity with the Fearless Fund, and supports the self-determination of Black women leaders to invest into the entrepreneurs catalyzing change and creating opportunities for their communities,” shared Nick Tilsen, NDN Collective President and CEO. “They are on the right side of history, and their work will continue to create a ripple effect of lasting change for underserved communities everywhere.”
“Just as it is discriminatory to treat similarly situated people differently, it is just as discriminatory to treat differently situated people the same”, shared Tina Kuckkahn, J.D., (Ojibwe), Managing Director of NDN Collective’s Foundation. “We stand in solidarity with the Fearless Fund, rematriating wealth back to the people from whom it was taken through centuries of resource extraction via the forced removal of our people, and the stolen labor of Black and brown people. Together, we can begin to address the impact of historic injustices through grantmaking.”
“We see Fearless Fund acting as a source of trusted capital for Black women, and wholeheartedly support their work,” stated Kim Pate, J.D., Managing Director of NDN Collective’s Fund. “NDN Collective provides similar resources for Indigenous communities – increasing access to capital in the form of grants, credit, and financial services. Lack of access to capital as a result of colonization and underinvestment is a key barrier to economic development in Indigenous and Black communities alike. Philanthropic and grantmaking efforts will only be meaningful if looked at through a racial justice lens – we must band together to defend our collective work.”
To learn more about the Fearless Fund visit their webpage at,
https://www.fearless.fund/
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NDN Collective is an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building Indigenous power. Through organizing, activism, philanthropy, grantmaking, capacity-building, and narrative change, we are creating sustainable solutions on Indigenous terms.