Pastor Jamal Bryant announced on March 11 that the yearlong “Target Fast” had come to an end, following a meeting with Target CEO Michael Fiddelke. Bloomberg reported that Bryant cited progress on several key demands, including Target’s pledge to fulfil its $2 billion commitment to Black-owned businesses and a new employee inclusion programme called “Belonging.” But the women who organised the boycott before Bryant joined it have disputed both the announcement and his authority to make it. The boycott did not start with Bryant. On February 1, 2025, Minneapolis civil rights attorney Nekima
Applications for the Morgan Stanley Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures 2026 cohort are open through March 31. Apply here. Morgan Stanley Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures (MSISV) provides early-stage innovators with access to capital and resources. During the five-month program, founders receive mentorship and networking with experienced industry leaders. The accelerator’s mission is to catalyze innovation and impact by supporting startups and nonprofits building a more inclusive and sustainable future. Meet the founders Miho Shoji, co-founder of Moodbit, developed autonomous AI agents that act as digital teammates and seamlessly integrate with enterprise
Anifa Mvuemba, founder of the fashion brand Hanifa, has announced that the brand will pause production. “I don’t want to rush just to prove resilience. I don’t want to pretend everything is fine just to keep momentum,” Mvuemba said in an interview with The Cut. “Right now, I’m reflecting. I’m protecting what matters to me in this season. And I’m allowing myself to be human in the process. I don’t know exactly what the future of Hanifa looks like at this very moment. And for the first time in 14
A British Asian man was arrested for a burglary 80 miles away from his home after facial recognition mistook him for another man from a South Asian background, The Guardian reports. In January, 26-year-old Alvi Choudhury was taken in by the police at his parents’ home in Southampton. The burglary took place in Milton Keynes, which is 80 miles (130km) away from his home. Facial recognition wrongfully arresting man of color In January, 26-year-old Alvi Choudhury was taken in by the police at his parents’ home in Southampton. The burglary
Makeup artist label Pat McGrath Labs has secured a $30 million financing package from the financial firm GDA Luma, according to Business of Fashion. The company filed for bankruptcy in a Miami court earlier this year to restructure its debts. The debt came from a loan obtained in April 2025 from GDA, according to the filings. The package was approved by a Miami, Florida bankruptcy court, which approved $10 million in new debtor-in-possession financing for the makeup brand, plus an additional $20 million in post-emergence working capital, according to a
Black-owned investment firm Fearless Fund is launching a microfinance fund in Ghana. This, after, comes the American Alliance (AAER), which sued Fearless Fund, claiming that the Strivers Grant, sponsored by Mastercard, violated the Civil Rights Act of 1866 by excluding white founders. The Fearless Fund launched a new initiative one year after settling a lawsuit with the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER). Now the venture capital firm has set its sights on Africa. It’s launching a microfinance fund in Ghana on March 21 and awarding GHS 100,000 to female entrepreneurs, according to
Sarah Bond, the first Black female president of Xbox, has stepped down. Bond was promoted to Xbos president in October 2023, shortly after Microsoft closed its $68.7 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard, according to The Verge. “Over the past four years, we’ve navigated that moment together and positioned the business for what comes next. We took on some of the biggest challenges this organization has ever faced and did it as one team,” Bond wrote in a LinkedIn post. About Sarah Bond Bond became the first Black woman to serve
Reload launched its flagship product, Epic, this week, following a $2.275 million funding round to provide a management system for autonomous AI agents within software engineering teams. Reporting from TechCrunch indicates that Reload aims to transform ad hoc developer AI usage into a governed corporate system with specific permissions and persistent oversight. This shift is significant because the entity controlling the system of record for AI agents dictates how automated labor is tracked, audited, and integrated across disparate vendor models. Organizations currently face fragmentation as different agents perform isolated tasks
NBCUniversal filed a $35.8 million lawsuit against Group Black in late 2025, alleging the media collective failed to remit guaranteed payments and advertising revenue from their Peacock streaming partnership. The litigation marks a critical fracture in the institutional effort to redirect $500 million in corporate ad spend toward Black-owned media entities. Reporting from Business Insider and AFROTECH indicates that while Group Black secured $30 million in advertising sales, the firm allegedly withheld contractually obligated splits from NBCUniversal. This fiscal dispute follows a pattern of internal instability characterized by leadership exits
Fortune 500 companies cut public disclosure of diversity and inclusion efforts by 65% in 2026, according to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s latest Corporate Equality Index data. A press release from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF), attributes the pullback to a political and regulatory environment that leaves corporate leaders unsure how to communicate DEI while meeting expectations from employees, shareholders, and consumers. The shift matters because disclosure operates as a market signal and a governance artifact. When firms reduce public reporting, workers and investors lose a standardized way to
