The Cultivate Method is an anti-racist organization. We are committed to actively dismantling systemic racism through our work with small businesses and entrepreneurs. 

As an organization focused on serving this community of business owners and entrepreneurs, we acknowledge that inequality persists in entrepreneurship. Systemic racism and the racial wealth gap have limited access to capital for entrepreneurs of color, and capital is what allows a business to get off the ground, build traction and succeed. As a result of systemic challenges, large racial and ethnic gaps also persist in self-employment rates and business performance, and studies have shown that Black and Hispanic-owned firms have higher failure rates than White and Asian-owned firms. Most recently, we have seen that in times of crisis, businesses owned by people of color have faced structural inequities and that Black-owned businesses have been hit the hardest. 

Our commitment to removing these barriers and dismantling systemic racism starts with:

1. Providing 50 free copies of each The Cultivate Method kit to BIPOC entrepreneurs through our scholarship program, with preference given to Black entrepreneurs, to empower them to create more effective marketing strategies to grow their businesses
2. Regularly and publicly donating money to non-profit organizations that align with our anti-racist values 
3. Highlighting the inequities and lack of opportunities that persist for BIPOC entrepreneurs in our resources (blog posts, kits and templates) and intentionally building strategic partnerships with ther BIPOC-owned businesses and organizations to support systematic solutions
4. Ensuring that at least 50% of our blog post interviewees come from BIPOC communities
5. Allocating time and money to furthering our own anti-racism education  
   

This commitment is a work in progress and will continue to be added to, updated, revised and improved as we learn and grow.  

Thank you Kylie Gomez and Neha Arnold for reviewing and contributing to this formation of this policy. ‍

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Sources: 

Kauffman Foundation - Kauffman Compilation: Research on Race and Entrepreneurship, December 2016 ‍

Washington Post - Minority-owned firms report tougher time accessing credit than white firms, November 2017‍

Center for Responsible Lending - The Paycheck Protection Program Continues to be Disadvantageous to Smaller Businesses, Especially Businesses Owned by People of Color and the Self-Employed, April 2020

Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research - The Impact of COVID-19 on Small Business Owners: Evidence of Early-Stage Losses from the April 2020 Current Population Survey, May 2020‍

Vox - Study: Covid-19 lockdowns hit black-owned small businesses the hardest, June 2020