Since our founding in 2005, Next Street has committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion both internally and through the work we do. In 2019, we officially launched our Inclusive Impact Committee (IIC) to focus those efforts; in the wake of events in 2020, we intensified our commitment to long-lasting change as an anti-racist institution; and in 2022, we named anti-racism as one of our core values. As of the end of 2023, we are a majority-minority firm – 87% BIPOC and/or women.
An Update on Our Progress
At the beginning of the year, the IIC centered around four strategic pillars–People, Community, Impact, and Accountability–to help identify annual objectives and goals, measure and track progress, and ensure that our work continues to build upon itself. As 2023 comes to an end, we reflect on the progress that the IIC has made in its vision and mission.
We continued to push ourselves to ensure that our core value of anti-racism is at the center of everything we do. This year, we have:
- Improved our communication efforts both internally and externally to keep ourselves and our partners accountable in advancing equity
- Externally, we have made our stance on equity and anti-racism clear, standing firmly behind our mission and values – Read here Co-CEO Sam Berg’s statement on how we are united in our support of small businesses owned by people of color post-Fearless Fund decision
- Internally, we have increased firm-wide presence through recurring newsletters and resources
- Completed firmwide anti-racist training for all staff to better institutionalize anti-racist best practices
- In collaboration with Crossroads, continued to provide all staff with a multi-week workshop series that gave participants the opportunity to apply frameworks and have intentional conversations together in cohorts that build the foundation for anti-racist institutional transformation
- Launched the third and largest grant program in Next Street history, providing grants to eight BIPOC-owned small businesses in Philadelphia, PA
- Learn more about the small business owners that received grants in 2023 here – ranging from a youth arts education center to modern juice bars
- You can also check out our 2021 and 2022 rounds of grant recipients in Cincinnati, OH and Cook County, IL
Other achievements and updates include:
- Advocated and represented IIC on a number of internal initiatives, including creating career pathways and analyzing equity in headcount, compensation, and promotions
- Designed and deployed a suite of business development tools that integrate our anti-racist values into sales and partnership processes
- Hosted lunch and learns to recognize and celebrate heritage months, including AAPI and Hispanic Heritage Months
- Collected input from staff through engagement surveys to be used as an annual tool to track progress and keep us accountable to our goals and strategic pillars
As we head into 2024, our priorities continue to center our core firm value of anti-racism. We hope to continue to build on the foundation that we have built, maximizing impact and centering equity in all that we do.
We recognize there is still so much more to be done. We hope you’ll join us.