The funding imbalance facing Black entrepreneurs is routinely reported. The racial outcomes in the criminal justice system are routinely reported. But far less attention is paid to the ways Black entrepreneurs are losing money, leverage, property, business relationships, and legal rights through the civil justice system.

Black entrepreneurs are often encouraged to start businesses, build wealth, pursue ownership, and create jobs. That message is important, but incomplete. Entrepreneurship does not exist in a vacuum. A business owner still operates inside legal systems, banking systems, lending systems, procurement systems, political systems, and community conditions that can either support or destabilize the business.

For Black entrepreneurs, the civil justice gap is especially damaging because of the racial wealth gap. Many Black business owners are undercapitalized from the start, rely heavily on personal funds, face greater difficulty accessing affordable loans, and receive a disproportionately small share of venture capital. When a Black entrepreneur is already operating with limited capital, a contract dispute, landlord issue, debt collection case, insurance claim, or court barrier can threaten the entire business.

Those legal outcomes affect real people and communities. A business loss does not stop with the business entity. It can affect the owner’s household, family stability, employees, vendors, customers, neighborhood services, and local economic activity. When Black-owned businesses are destabilized, communities are destabilized.

Black Connect’s Small Business Legal Services Program connects entrepreneurs and small business owners with legal information, referrals, and pro bono support through our network of law firm and legal partners. As demand for small business legal support continues to grow, we are expanding the program to better support entrepreneurs while also streamlining and improving the efficiency of our case referral system for participating law firms.

This expansion will strengthen our internal infrastructure around intake, triage, case summaries, document organization, contract and lease issue tracking, referral follow-up, early dispute resolution, and policy outreach. These improvements will help entrepreneurs receive more organized support, while helping law firm partners receive better-screened matters, clearer attorney-facing summaries, more complete documents, and a more efficient referral process.

We appreciate the support of our partnering law firms over the last 7 years.

Black Business Month Legal Access Giving Campaign

Legal access for entrepreneurs working to close the racial wealth gap

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