In early 2020, Founder/ CEO and small business owner, DeMilo Young reached out to friends and colleagues to find solutions for small BIPOC business owners who faced inequities during the pandemic. Young with other volunteers worked diligently to raise funds for businesses that were disproportionately shut out of funding. Data showed that Congress' major COVID relief bill was not evenly distributed amongst non BIPOC- owned businesses. In June 2020, BSF funded its first emergency grant to BIPOC-owned business, A Chef's Agent. 

 

In late 2020, BSF took on the meaning of our 􀆟title by expanding beyond solely BIPOC business support and into the field of education. In December 2020, BSF officially became a nonprofit organization. Under the direction of educator Cassiopeia Guthrie,  we hosted our first quarterly BEF Book Club event for educators in February 2021, along with providing mandatory racial bias and privilege training for our volunteers. 

 

Approximately three hundred educators from throughout Southern California and beyond attended the event. Surveys showed that they left inspired, confident, and empowered to use their new resources and tools to not only begin implementing diverse texts within their classrooms, but also to engage in brave and important conversations surrounding unconscious bias with their students, peers, and communities as well.

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In July and August, over 500 disadvantaged youth received backpacks filled with school supplies, reading books and community gifts through BSF's Backpack drive.

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Today, BSF continues to serve small businesses, youth and women in underserved communities.

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We operate by the key principle that success is interconnected. By improving the placement of adults, we improve the education of children; by improving the education of children, we improve the future of individuals and communities across the United States.

 

Our work centers around bolstering business owners, uplifting women+, and creating a K-12 educational program that depicts true and balanced history, as well as providing real-world skill training. We empower the community with tools to sustain itself via donations, resources, and mentor-ship. 

 

As a non-profit organization, we are dedicated to equal opportunities for all individuals, regardless of class, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, or ability/disability status.