Southern Communities Initiative (SCI)

Southern Communities Initiative (SCI) is a catalytic consortium to accelerate racial equity in six Southern U.S. communities home to more than half of all Black Americans. These six cities include: New Orleans, Louisiana; Birmingham, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; Houston, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Atlanta, Georgia. SCI partners with community leaders, corporations and philanthropic organizations to implement locally-led and sustainable measures to improve community resources and expand opportunity. Southern Communities Initiative concentrates its efforts across four racial equity priorities: growing minority business enterprise entrepreneurship and supplier diversity; expanding access to capital through the capillary banking system; improving HBCUs and workforce development; and bridging the digital divide.