LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The civil unrest in Louisville has caused many people to spring into action, laws are being made, policies are being changed. Among civil unrest, one woman is ensuring that progress doesn’t stop when the protests stop. She’s created a first of its kind nonprofit in Kentucky to build generational wealth in the black community.
For nearly two decades, entrepreneur Tawana Bain has built herself into a community leader in Louisville. “After several experiences with being a Black female business owner that I realized there are some disparities related to access," said Bain.
Bain is the Founder of the Derby Diversity in Business Summit, which helps minorities get connected with opportunities and jobs related to the Kentucky Derby. Now, she’s created a Non profit, “It’s been two years in the making.”
In June, Bain founded GEDDI, “The Global Economic Diversity Development Initiative and our objective is to create a perpetual funding source to invest in black lead community initiatives.”
It’s the first nonprofit of this kind in Kentucky. With Covid-19, Bain had time to work on the new initiative, but it wasn’t until the protests started in the city that she sped up the timeline. ”We’ve been doing this work because we knew it was important and it went from being important to being imperative.”
While only a month old, GEDDI has been created to transcend generations and ensure the black community is not left behind once protesters stop.
“You know, right now there’s a lot of people pledging dollars to give on a one-time basis. What happens once those dollars are gone, what happens ten years from now, twenty years from now," said Bain. Going on to say the next year is imperative to building their baseline to invest and reinvest. This is a national organization started right here in the Bluegrass.
”What are you doing to ensure that our grand-baby's and their grand-baby's and those that come later, we leave them with a different world and that we didn’t just create a lot of noise without any true sustainable change," Bain said. Showing that the fight against inequality takes many forms.
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