Who’s coming to save Black women? Black women, of course. In the midst of a silent economic crisis that has pushed over 300,000 Black women out of the workforce, award-winning business leader Valeisha Butterfield isn’t waiting on policy to catch up. She recently launched the Global State of Women Rapid Relief Fund — because, as she puts it, Black women have “carried enough.” Now, she’s leading the charge to give Black women the relief they deserve.
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With over 25 years of leadership — including previous roles as Vice President of Global Partnerships at Google, Co-President of the Recording Academy/GRAMMYs, and Deputy Director of Public Affairs for International Trade under the Obama Administration — Butterfield says the staggering 6% unemployment rate among Black women was a wake-up call, prompting her to launch the Global State of Women Rapid Relief Fund. The fund promotes financial support that’s sure to come “fast, directly, and with dignity.”
“I knew I just had to take action, and do something,” Butterfield told The Root. “I felt not only a sense of responsibility — but I have the ability to organize quickly, because this is what I do… and what I’ve done for these [other] big companies.”
She continued: “I started hearing every single day from women that we know… like, ‘Hey, I had a six figure job, and now I’m moving back in with my mom.’ Or, ‘I was the decision maker for this big company, and now I’m driving Uber at night.’ The reality is: We are in a crisis, in a state of emergency, and it’s just not loud enough. But more importantly, we don’t need likes, comments, and reposts, we need action.”
As we’ve discussed with you all before, employment rates have remained somewhat steady for other groups of workers, except Black women. Between February and April of this year alone, we lost an estimated 304,000 jobs, despite the overall U.S. economy adding a reported 175,000 jobs during the same period, per the National Black Chamber of Commerce.
Black women don’t just hold a significant share of federal jobs — we’re disproportionately represented in the very agencies most vulnerable to budget cuts, including USAID, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Department of Education, where we make up 28% of the workforce, according to ProPublica.
“What better time than now for us to collectively provide relief?” Butterfield asked. “If not us, then who? I’m just doing my small part to make sure I’m giving Black women an opportunity to breathe, and just have a moment of joy in a really hard time.”
The relief campaign – curated by Butterfield and her company, SEED Media — has raised over $3k within just 12 hours with the ultimate goal to meet or surpass $100,000 within a month. “People want to show up, but they just don’t know how. And so this is one way to do it,” the award-winning business leader said, adding that half of the donors were Black men. “Black men that we know and trust are just quietly giving,” Butterfield confirmed.
The Global State of Women Relief Fund offers emergency cash assistance to Black women facing financial hardship from job loss, underemployment, or unexpected crises. “Whether it’s groceries, rent, childcare, or transit — we’re helping women breathe again,” the site states. For more details regarding the Global State of Women Rapid Relief Fund, click here.
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