The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic downturn have had a disproportionate effect on Black businesses and entrepreneurs across the country. As the number of active business owners fell by 20 percent from February to April 2020 (the largest drop on record), that rate was over twice as high for Black-owned businesses, at 41 percent. Meanwhile, the federal government's Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses reached only 20 percent of eligible recipients in areas with the highest densities of Black business ownership. These figures illustrate some of the short-term problems facing Black entrepreneurs, but long-term trends also demonstrate that access to capital remains a fundamental challenge. Median white household wealth is almost eight times higher than that of Black households, while bank branches are scarcer and banking services more expensive in communities of color. What types of investment and infrastructure are required to reverse these trends? Are specific innovations or actors poised to improve financial inclusion and economic opportunity? Please join us for a discussion on investing in the future of Black banks, entrepreneurship and opportunity.