The RUNWAY Story

Runway was founded on the belief that justice-centered financial innovation and self determination are key levers to economic resilience for Black people. We are 100% Black and Brown-women led.  Our work helps  build Black community  wealth through early-stage funding,  holistic business support and innovative financial products and partnerships. We also advance equity-centered practices within  financial and philanthropic  institutions looking to serve black entrepreneurs and black led-organizations. 

We are where restorative capital meets community. 

In 2016, social entrepreneur and financial activist Jessica Norwood identified the need for “Friends & Family” style capital in response to the racialized  economic disparities she witnessed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast. Jessica studied and tested creative, equity-centered solutions during fellowships at the Nathan Cummings Foundation, RSF Social Finance and the Center for Economic Democracy. In her work, it became clear that the lack of capital for Black businesses was a significant impediment to the recovery and resiliency of the community’s impacted. 

In 2017, Jessica joined forces with Oakland entrepreneurship ecosystem leaders, Konda Mason the co-founder of Hub Oakland and Rani Croager-Langer of Uptima Entrepreneur Cooperative and together they launched the RUNWAY pilot program in partnership with Self Help Federal Credit Union in Oakland, CA. The pilot began with a modest $500,000 and has since grown to many millions in dollars available for Black businesses and the communities they serve. In 2019, the Boston chapter of The Runway Project opened with continued plans to expand nationally.