What if you made it much easier for workers of color to become business owners, and thus build wealth much faster? What if you offered creative, revenue-based loans to underserved business owners to help them hire more workers and grow?

This year alone, The Rockefeller Foundation’s Zero Gap Fund (ZGF) has invested in two enterprises doing just that. Both are committed, in different ways, to addressing the racial wealth gap, one of the most persistent signs of inequity in American life. And both show huge potential to scale up to address needs that remain vast. ZGF was launched in partnership with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation through the Catalytic Capital Consortium (C3) as a vehicle to channel private investment toward addressing the world’s most pressing challenges.

These two investments are evidence of the Foundation’s growing commitment to advancing racial equity and economic justice in the U.S. with innovative financial tools. That commitment combines the acumen, determination, and focus of the global Innovative Finance and US Equity and Economic Opportunity teams we are honored to lead.

Based in Oakland, CA, Apis & Heritage Capital Partners (A&H) is a new minority-led impact fund formed and created to address the racial wealth gap head-on. A&H’s approach is to use the tools of big finance and employee ownership to turn workers into business owners. Using capital supplied by ZGF and other investors, A&H aims to buy out at least eight company owners in its first five years, turning at least 500 workers at those companies into owners. A&H is targeting companies where at least 40% of its workforce are workers of color.  The fund is kicking off with over $35 million committed by investors in its first close, more than doubling their initial target.

“We’re looking to have life-changing impact for a set of workers who too often reach the end of their work lives with little, or nothing saved,” said Todd Leverete, an A&H’s partner who co-founded the fund along with Philip Reeves.

Read the full article about the racial wealth gap by Maria Kozloski and Otis Rolley at The Rockefeller Foundation.