Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable

Mission

Lever for Change Equality Can't Wait Finalist

Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable (MSBWR) shifts power at the voting booth and policy table. The organization is a statewide intergenerational network dedicated to advancing women’s economic security through policy advocacy, increasing civic engagement and voter participation among black women and girls, developing transformational leaders for long-term movement building, and engaging in community outreach and rapid response projects.

MSBWR works at the intersection of race, gender, and economic justice. The organization is an affiliate of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation/Black Women’s Roundtable.

MSBWR is committed to advancing women’s economic security, empowering transformational leaders, protecting civic engagement, and fighting for change from their kitchen tables to policy tables.

MSBWR is fiscally sponsored by the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP)

Lever for Change Project Description
The Equality Starts Here Collective, represents Black leaders and advocates of anti-racist progress, and seeks to build economic, social, and political equity for Black women in the South, dismantling legal, policy, and employment barriers for Black women rooted in systemic racism and sexism.

Launched in June 2020, Equality Can't Wait was a $40 million challenge to fund solutions to help expand women’s power and influence in the U.S. by 2030. The Challenge was hosted by Pivotal Ventures, Melinda French Gates’ investment and incubation company — with additional support from MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett, and Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies. Five-hundred-and-fifty (550) proposals were submitted to the competition and were evaluated using four criteria: Whether the proposals were transformative, innovative, equitable, and feasible. The Equality Can't Wait Idea Lab features top projects from all submissions, as selected by a panel of experts and peers. Five Awardees were announced in July 2021: Four received $10 million each (Ada Developers Academy; Girls Inc.; Native Women Lead; National Domestic Workers Alliance), and one received $4 million (FreeFrom).

Organization Information