COMMITTEE ON FINANCE, May 13, 2026

COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE ON FINANCE Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wednesday, May 13, 2026 10:15 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCILWOMAN KATHERINE GILMORE RICHARDSON, CHAIR COUNCILWOMAN CINDY BASS, VICE-CHAIR COUNCILWOMAN NINA AHMAD COUNCILMAN CURTIS JONES, JR. COUNCILMAN MICHAEL DRISCOLL

251034 - - -

All right. Good morning. Thank you all so much for being here. I now note that the hour has come to begin today's hearing. For our Clerk, will you please call the roll to take attendance. Members that are in attendance will please indicate that you are present when your name is called.

Councilmember Jones.

Present.

Councilmember Thomas.

Present.

Councilmember Ahmad.

Present.

Councilman Driscoll.

Present.

Vice-Chair Bass.

Present.

And, Chair Gilmore Richardson.

I am present. Thank you. A quorum of the committee is present and this hearing is now called to order. This is the public hearing of the Committee on Finance regarding Resolution No. 19 251034. Clerk, will you please read the title of the resolution. And the Chair also notes for the record the presence of Councilmember Curtis Jones, Jr.

Resolution 2 No. 251034, a resolution 3 authorizing the Committee on Finance to hold hearings on the state of the economy for Black women in Philadelphia.

Thank you. Thank you so very much. Before we call the first panel we have to testify on Resolution No. 251034, I wanted to take this opportunity, one, to thank my team for all of their hard work on this hearing. I wanted to congratulate Thailee Farmer, who is a graduate of the North Carolina A&T State University on chairing her first hearing. So let's give Thailee a round of applause. (Applause.)

And I wanted to recognize a few special guests who are here with us today. Each and every one of you are special in your own right and I appreciate your presence and for each of you being here and for the work that you all have done with us behind the scenes for this hearing, but we do have the Chair of our Philadelphia Delegation for our Pennsylvania House of Representatives, State Representative Morgan Cephas is here -- (Applause.)

-- representing the 192nd Legislative District but also the Philadelphia Delegation. We are anticipating the arrival of State Representative Darisha Parker who I spoke with yesterday as well. Frankie Darcell from WDAS is with us today. Please stand, Frankie. (Applause.)

Thank you for your commitment to Black women in Philadelphia. We certainly appreciate your presence today. And also, Andrea Lawful-Sanders, A Lawful Truth. Can you please stand? (Applause.)

I really appreciate your presence today. I thank you for being here and for all you do to pour into Black women in Philadelphia. And our Deputy Commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department is with us today, Deputy Commissioner Massey. (Applause.)

Mighty Massey, as Councilmember Bass is saying. And to the entire Center 1968, led by Jasmine Sessoms and all the fellows. If you all could just please stand from Center 1968. (Applause.)

And if you're here representing one of our African American women organizations, if you could please stand. All the community groups, thank you all so much. (Applause.)

, and all of the members of the sororities who are here, we appreciate each and every one of you. But we know that many Philadelphians are struggling financially now, and we heard that in the hearing that was held on affordability with Councilmember Thomas and their committee yesterday. But for Black women, the pressure to navigate this incredibly challenging economic environment can be even greater. And so, many of us are supporting our households, raising children and showing up for our loved ones and our communities, all while confronting persistent and historical inequities. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nationwide Black women lost 319,000 jobs in the public and private sectors between February and July of 2025, the only female demographic group to see significant job losses during this period. S. 57 for every dollar earned by a White male. Additionally, 69% of Black women are the primary earners for their families per the Center for American Progress. And I shared that yesterday at Council President Johnson's Mother's Day Lunch. We held an initial hearing on this important topic in March where we heard from economists and subject matter experts, including thee Joann Bell from Black Women's Leadership Council, who were able to speak to some of this alarming data that we've received. So I'm deeply grateful for the data, for their expertise and the insight that was shared during the first hearing. But data alone does not tell the story. And so, that's why today we are hosting Part 2, as promised, to focus on the lived experiences of women directly impacted by the current economic climate and the challenges facing families and communities across the city of Philadelphia. Black women are among the most educated and engaged groups in this country. Yet far too many of us continue to face economic challenges. So today is about creating space for Black women to speak directly about those challenges and the realities that we are navigating every single day so we can fully understand what we are facing and better support one another during this time of economic instability. I do want to recognize that many of the women here most impacted by today's topic, and many of the women overall who are impacted by this topic are not able to be with us. And why aren't they able to be with us? Because they are working, they are caregiving, they are managing other responsibilities. And so, it's not lost on me and on the members of this committee that the very people experiencing the real economic pressure often don't have the time or the flexibility to come to City Hall and to participate in these forums and to share their stories, even though they want to. And so, to those women who are unable to join us today, please know that we see you, we hear you and that this hearing is being held with you in mind to hopefully identify solutions that lead to better outcomes for Black women, for our families and communities across the City of Philadelphia. So I'm looking forward to this hearing and I want to thank each and every one of you again for being here. Very quickly, we have cards that have been shared. We're going to do something a little different today to make this hearing a little more interactive. And so, you have received cards that may say on one side someone I know and on the other side, me too. And if you don't have a card, you can pick up one at the table that's by the entrance to my left at the table to my left. And so, we will listen to today's testimony, and you may hear an experience or a challenge that may resonate with you or reflect an experience of someone you may know. And so, if that's the case, when you hear, you can hold up the card that says someone I know or me too, meaning this happened to you as well. And so, with that, we're going to get started. I'd like to recognize any members of the committee for remarks. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jones and then Dr. Ahmad.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you for convening this worthwhile and, quite frankly, historic committee and listening to what women face in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and throughout the nation. Today I offer not just as a Councilman in the 4th District, but as the Interim Chair of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, some of the things that will be discussed today are not just travesties, but they're crimes. And when it happens in the workplace, discrimination, we want to address it with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. And often, a lot of times, companies, entities don't even know that they are having this negative impact on a major part of their workforce, there is a thing called disparate impact. So you may not intentionally want to have a pay differential in your organization. But when you do, you need to address it and you need to take corrective actions. And so, I'm looking forward to hearing the testimony today and wearing two hats, one from my District but also one from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Councilman Jones. The Chair now recognizes Vice-Chair Bass and then Dr. Ahmad.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just really wanted to welcome everyone here to have this very important conversation. As someone who's been a continuous fighter for African American development and business here in the City of Philadelphia, the state of our economy really does tell a very stark tale right now. The most troubling part of it all is that what we're talking about really hasn't changed. I see Ms. Bell over there and who's been here operating in the City of Philadelphia. And for those of us who have been here for a moment, we all know that we've been fighting, working, investing, doing all the things that we need to do, that we should do really, to help bring our communities forward in a significant way. And it just has not happened and it's extremely frustrating. But I am really heartened that the conversation continues and that we will continue this fight to make the progress that we not only want to see but really deserve to see as the backbone of the City of Philadelphia, the Black women are the backbone of the City of Philadelphia. And so, I'm excited about the testimony that we're going to hear. Some of it I'll be able to hear in person, but I know some of it I'll have to leave at some point during this hearing, but certainly we'll work with Madam Chair to follow up so that we can keep our foot on the gas on this issue. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you so much, Vice-Chair Bass. And I wanted to just recognize that we know there's the unveiling of the Dr. Constance Clayton School Board Educational Center today. We did not schedule this to conflict with that, and I'm just humbly sorry that we all aren't able to be there as a result of this hearing, and I know that many of you will have to leave out as a result of that. But I just wanted to hold space for Dr. Constance Clayton, our first Black woman Superintendent, the best to ever do it in the City of Philadelphia. (Applause.)

The Chair now recognizes Dr. Ahmad.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It is such a pleasure to be here today. And I thank you for your leadership in bringing these issues to the forefront. This is the second hearing, and I was particularly interested in the last hearing in how the city can support Black entrepreneurs and small business owners. And as legislators, we have an important role in creating pathways for Black women to develop generational wealth for themselves and their families. We have to also be very creative in how we make sure we're addressing these disparities. I passed Bill 250849, and this legislation provided was for making sure that employers gave reasonable accommodations for those experiencing menopause, perimenopause or menstruation. This legislation benefits all Philadelphians who are going through these biological processes, and it also addresses racial discrepancies experienced by Black women. This bill also made sure those asking for accommodations were not discriminated against, which is why it's important to have the Chair of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission here because that's where the complaint would go if somebody asked for accommodations and they did not get it, right. So there was a study of women's health across the nation some time ago, and that investigation looked into the inequity in menopause in what is happening, and found that Black women reach menopause earlier than White, Chinese and Japanese women. They also experience certain menopausal symptoms like hot flashes much earlier than others. So when we have a workplace accommodation, we also need to have our employers understand the differences in who their employees are and what they're experiencing. So it's really critical that we understand that if you don't accommodate us in the workplace, if you don't have a friendly space where we can be our best selves and in menopause, that is the time frame when women are at their best. That is when they have achieved, they have learned and they're in leadership. That is when we want to make sure that our workplaces accommodate and give support so that you can be at your best selves and drive the economy. So it's really important we make that connection, that we as women and, particularly Black women who are experiencing slightly different ways of the same issues, get recognized, you know, in a real manner, so it's not something that you just hear about in a study, but it's put into action in our city. As was said, Black women are the base of what is happening in Philadelphia. They're driving our economy. And so, we must make sure our workplaces reflect that. So I am so excited to hear what you have to say. And again, sorry, but we might have to leave so I have my team watching this. So we'll go through the entire set of testimonies to see what we can do collectively to make sure the workplace accommodates you, and you have your path to economic success and building your generational wealth within your families and across the board. So thank you so much, Madam Chair.

Thank you so much, Dr. Ahmad. The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Thomas.

Good morning, everybody, and welcome to City Hall. I just want to take a moment to commend all of the Black women on City Council, Councilmember Bass is here, but especially our Chair. Can we give Madam Chair a round of applause? (Applause.)

This is a very important issue. And when I think about the idea of moms getting the job done, this is my colleague who coined that phrase and is always a great example of Black women juggling a lot of things. I think it's like dancing on a rope in high heels or something like that. So thank you all for being here, Madam Chair. Thank you for your leadership.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Councilmember Thomas. Councilmember Thomas did a blend of former Councilmember Blondell Reynolds Brown and our slogan Walking on a tightrope backwards with high heels on, blindfolded and trying to get it right. (Applause.)

I can't even say it right.

Okay. So seeing no 19 further members of the committee for remarks, I will now ask the Clerk to call the first panel we have to testify. And prior to doing that, I just want to level set. We do have another hearing today. This is our crunch time. So we have a Rules Committee hearing at 1:00 p.m. today. And so, we'll need an opportunity to turn the room 6 around. And so, we would ask everyone to please, if you can, abbreviate your testimony, if possible. Try to stick to two to three minutes so we have time for questions so that we have the opportunity to prepare for our Rules Committee hearing with important zoning bills across the City of Philadelphia. Okay. Clerk, will you please call the first panel we have to testify on Resolution 251034.

The Honorable Morgan Cephas, 192nd Legislative District, Chair of the Philadelphia Delegation. (Witness approached witness table.)

Thank you so much, Representative Morgan Cephas. Welcome back to your former home in Philadelphia City Council chambers. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony. STATE REPRESENTATIVE CEPHAS: Thank you so much. I am Pennsylvania State Representative Morgan Cephas, representing the 192nd Legislative District. And I will be as quick as possible regardless of how long it takes. So good morning, Majority Leader Richardson and members of the committee. My name is State Representative Morgan Cephas and I'm happy to be here with you today. Thank you for convening this much-needed conversation as part of your continued commitment to addressing a real-life concern impacting so many of our constituents across the City of Philadelphia and throughout the Commonwealth. I'm especially grateful to be here because I'm proud to be a partner in this work as State Representative of the 192nd Legislative District, as Chair of the Philadelphia House Delegation, Co-Chair of the Pennsylvania Black Maternal Health Caucus, among many other roles as a Black woman here in the City of Philadelphia. I want to start by saying clearly, Black women are not failing the economy. The economy is failing Black women, as noted during the first hearing. When Black women are losing jobs, underpaid, pushed out of industries or forced to absorb increasing economic instability, it signals deeper instability within the economy itself. In my observation, the economic justice we speak of is inseparable from reproductive justice, housing, healthcare, transportation, child care and democracy as a whole. These issues are deeply interconnected. And when we address the barriers facing Black women, we create solutions that strengthen families, communities and systems for everyone. There is a policy framework titled Black Women Best, which is an approach arguing that intentionally centering the economic and social well-being of Black women, who are often most impacted by systemic inequity, will create a more stronger equitable economy for everyone. It pivots from traditional economic models to directly address historical systemic racism and sexism, which shows up as a double financial gap in the short term and long term. There is a racial gap, a racial wealth gap and a gender wealth gap. Coined by Janelle Jones in 2019, the Black Women Best Framework contends that if Black women thrive, the economy benefits everyone. Moving from the premise that fixing the group that is disproportionately impacted by every policy decision, funding, investment, resource shift, it will solve systemwide flaws. In essence, bringing Black women from the margins to the center of policy discussions will benefit the entire economy. The data makes that clear. According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, 81% of Black mothers in Pennsylvania are breadwinners for their families. 7%, one of the sharpest one-year declines in the last years. Black women 6 also continue to carry a 7 disproportionate burden of student 8 loan debt. 7 trillion in student 11 loan debt, and Black women hold 12 more student debt than any other 13 demographic group, averaging nearly 14 38,000 in federal undergraduate 15 loans one year after completing a 16 Bachelor's degree. 8 million borrowers 22 statewide here in the Commonwealth 23 of Pennsylvania. The disparities 24 continue when we look at poverty and health outcomes in Pennsylvania. 6% of women over the age of experience poverty. 8%. According to a 7 2025 report from the National 8 Women's Law Center, more than 20% 9 of Black women in Pennsylvania live 10 in poverty, while more than 11 one-third of female-led Black 12 households experience poverty. 13 And in maternal health, 14 non-Hispanic Black women in 15 Pennsylvania continue to experience 16 pregnancy-associated mortality at 17 twice the rate of their White 18 counterparts.

At the same time, Black women remain disproportionately uninsured and undersupported within our healthcare system, with approximately 8% of Black women ages 19 to 64 lacking health insurance coverage between 2017 and 2021. In communities across our city and across Pennsylvania, we are already seeing what happens when systems are either supported or neglected in realtime. Take transportation, for example. The ongoing fight to fully fund and stabilize mass transit systems like SEPTA is not simply about buses and trains. It's about whether working mothers can have reliability to get to their jobs, child care, medical appointments and other daily necessities. It's about whether working families, including many essential transit workers themselves, can maintain economic stability. Without reliable transportation infrastructure, workforce participation becomes conditional. We see similar realities when it comes to child care. According to the Economic Policy Institute, child care costs in Pennsylvania now exceed the cost of public college tuition in many cases. For many Black women and working families, child care is not just expensive. It's one of the primary barriers to remaining in the workforce altogether. But we also know that policy solutions can work when they are intentionally designed to meet people's real need. When we are exploring policies, we have to be intentional about addressing Black women's assets, expenditures and where they show up in this economy, whether that be in the public sector, private sector or as an entrepreneur. To ensure Black women thrive, we must focus our policies based on where they show up. Here are some policies we've seen work. The Philadelphia Joint Bank, which is a guaranteed income pilot program, has demonstrated the impact of direct, unrestricted economic support for mothers during pregnancy and postpartum periods, which is an automatic stabilizer. Early indicators from the program showed many families using these resources to stabilize housing, pay for food, cover transportation costs and reduce financial stress within the household. These investments did not create dependency. They created stability, which is something we should continue to consider. There is recent policy getting renewed attention, and that is baby bonds, which are publicly funded income-dependent trust accounts created for children at birth, designed to grow until adulthood, to close the racial wealth gap. These funds provide startup capital for wealth- generating assets like higher education, homeownership or entrepreneurship, effectively breaking intergenerational poverty. In the Pennsylvania General Assembly, we have already begun advancing policies that recognize these realities. Just last month, the House advanced paid leave legislation rooted in understanding that workers should not have to choose between their income, their health and caring for their families. We also passed an employer child care tax credit, aimed at helping businesses support working families while recognizing child care as a central economic infrastructure, the Working Pennsylvania Tax Credit, championed by Speaker Joanna McClinton, which is a new state-level earned income tax credit providing $193 million in relief to nearly 940,000 workers, the student loan interest deduction, which allows for student loan interest payments to be deducted on state tax returns. 5 percentage point drop. We've also provided $20 million to small, disadvantaged businesses, cut business wait times from eight weeks to two weeks. We've created a Small Business First fund, which provides low-income loans to small businesses under 100 employees. Additionally, in the General Assembly we passed policies targeting professions where Black women show up. For example, the Pennsylvania Student Teacher Support Program offers $10,000 stipends for the 2026-2027 academic year to eligible student teachers aiming to alleviate financial burdens.

There is the Grow PA Scholarship Grant Program, which is up to $5,000. The PA Nurse Shortage Assistance Program, which provides tuition assistance and loan repayment and potential student loan relief up to $7,500. Lastly, in April 2026 we are providing one-time $450 retention and recruitment bonuses to eligible Pennsylvania child care staff funded by last year's budget. Each industry, Black women are present. I know we are an eds, meds and beds city, but we have to reimagine what other high-wage industries we can attract so we can truly build pathways out of poverty. For example, at the Community College of Philadelphia we created a program with Google, which is a six-week certificate program in various industries that create jobs here in our region, where the starting salary is $75,000 a year. Additionally, we are becoming a destination at the Navy Yard with the maritime industry, which is a vital global sector we should take advantage of giving the pathways into creates. These examples show that when policy and investment and programming is aligned with the lived experience of working families, particularly Black women, we can create systems that support sustainability, mobility and long- term opportunity. For far too long, our communities have not only acknowledged but praised the strength of resilience of Black women. But policy must move beyond resilience language. Black women should not have to survive systems that were never designed with them in mind. We cannot continue asking Black women to hold communities together while simultaneously denying them investment, rest, fair wages and opportunity. So the question before us now is: How do we continue to invest, support and create opportunities for Black women, not simply to survive but to truly thrive. So I want to close with three next steps: First, align economic policy with care infrastructure. We must treat child care, paid leave, maternal health and transportation not as optional social supports, but as core economic infrastructure. Without these systems in place, women cannot fully participate in the workforce, families cannot stabilize and communities cannot thrive. Second, invest directly in Black women's economic mobility. We must scale what we already know works. That includes building on guaranteed income models like Philly Joy Bank, homeownership programs, strengthening wage equity enforcement, expanding debt relief pathways that increase, decrease their tax burden, not restrict, but again create additional economic mobility and opportunity. Third, we must embed accountability across systems, not just programs. We must align state and city investments with the lived experiences and realities of Black women breadwinners. If Black women are the primary economic support in most households, then every policy, every investment decision related to transportation, housing, child care, labor and healthcare must be designed with that reality at the center, not as an afterthought, but as a baseline for consideration. Now, the question is whether our policy response will finally match the scale of what we know to be true. Thank you so much. )

Thank you, thank you, thank you to our State Rep Morgan Cephas, the Chair of our Philadelphia Delegation. We thank you not only for your testimony but leaving us with action steps. And I was taking copious notes as you were speaking, but I will just ask my team for a written copy of your testimony so that we can certainly follow up on the three next steps that you stated around aligning economic policy and ensuring that we are supporting economic infrastructure and investing in Black women's economic mobility and the continued work that we all have to do together. So we thank you for the work that you have done, for being a model for talking about Black maternal health before anybody was talking about Black maternal health and for centering that work in the State House. We appreciate everything that you are doing and we look forward to continuing to work with you on legislative policy solutions together. So thank you very, very much. Any questions for this witness? The Chair recognizes Councilmember Driscoll.

Thank you, Madam Chair. No questions. I just want to thank you, Chairwoman. You're a leader not only on the issues you talked about today, but on so many other ones in Harrisburg. Now that you're in the majority, so I just want to say for the record keep up the great work. (Applause.) STATE REPRESENTATIVE CEPHAS: I appreciate you. Thank you.

Thank you. The Chair now recognizes Dr. Ahmad.

Just to say that I really thank you for the work you did to make sure that there was Medicaid reimbursement for doulas. We talked about it many, many years ago and you brought this to fruition, so that's critical, right. And now, I thank you. And Vice-President Kamala Harris when she was Senator really put out a whole plan for addressing all of this and you've taken parts of it, and I think we need to continue doing that. That was a comprehensive plan to address that. So I thank you so very much for making sure that happened in Pennsylvania. STATE REPRESENTATIVE CEPHAS: Absolutely. I want to thank you all for the work that you all are doing. Know that a number of us are watching your hearings, see what you are introducing here locally because we firmly believe that we do not have to reinvent the wheel, particularly around your issue with menopause, perimenopause and ensuring that workplace accommodations are a real thing with businesses in Philadelphia, particularly across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as well. Because again, when we are going through those experiences, that is, when we are in our career, prime time in our career, making the most money and you see different areas of discrimination pushing older women out of the workforce because of those experiences. So I just want to say thank you all for what you all are doing as well.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Dr. Ahmad. Seeing no further questions for this witness and for this panel, will the Clerk please call the next panel to testify.

Jasmine Sessoms, President of the 1968 Collective. (Witness approached witness table.)

Thank you all so much for being here. And I'll ask the Clerk as Jasmine approaches the witness table to please alert the next panel so that they are ready.

And then Andrea Lawful Sanders. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

Thank you. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.

My name is Jasmine Sessoms, and I am the President of Center 1968. Chair and members of Council, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. As stated, my name is Jasmine Sessoms, and I work every day with Black women who are building businesses, creating jobs and anchoring neighborhoods across Philadelphia. I'm here to talk about Black women entrepreneurs because I feel uniquely qualified as I run a business Firm 1968, and it's not really a niche group Black women entrepreneurs, but it's a core engine of the city's economy. Black women are starting businesses at some of the fastest rates in the country and Philadelphia is no 15 exception. We are opening storefronts, launching consulting firms, building tech ventures and sustaining family-owned enterprises. Yet in spite of this growth, Black women-owned businesses consistently generate less revenue and have less access to capital than almost any other segment of entrepreneurs. If there is a Black woman entrepreneur in here, I'm sure they could back me up on that. We carry the responsibility of being primary breadwinners and community anchors, but we are doing it with fewer resources and thinner safety nets. National data shows that over a recent five-year period, Black women-owned businesses grew at roughly twice the rate of women- owned businesses overall. At the same time, the average Black woman- owned firm brings in only a fraction of the revenue of the average woman-owned business. So if a woman-owned business I'll give you a stat that I just read. If a woman-owned business makes $142,900, a Black woman-owned business makes $24,000. That is how big the gap is. It is serious and it is something that we cannot ignore. But that gap is not about effort or talent, because quite frankly we are magical, as you all know. That gap is about structural barriers to capital contracts and networks. Black women founders are far more likely to self-fund their ventures, to deny traditional loans and to face higher interest rates when they are improved. And less than 1% of all venture capital in this country reaches women of color, including Black women. If you haven't seen it, there's a woman on Instagram. She's a Black woman and she is founding a brand. And every day, she posts a story begging Mackenzie Scott to give her $1 million so that she can fund 1000 Black women business. So it is that serious that we are going to the streets, we are going to Instagram and any other social media to be funded like our White counterparts. You can see this effort really clearly here in Philadelphia. We have a really vibrant ecosystem of Black women- owned businesses. We have restaurants, boutiques, wellness spaces, creative agencies, professional services and so much more. Entire platforms and directories have emerged just to make these businesses visible. Community-based organizations like Shout Out to Mom Your Business, the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Center 1968, and I can go on and go on and go on, have sprung up because the need is just so great for Black women entrepreneurs. They are helping Black and Brown women founders find capital, build capacity and connect to investors and mentors. But these efforts are operating with limited resources and they are trying to fill gaps that policy and system have created over a decade. I will skip through because Representative Cephas was so eloquent in the stats, and you've heard them. So I do want to urge Council that you guys have the power to change the story. First, you can require that small businesses and contracting data be disaggregated by race and by gender together. That way, we can really identify what Black women are doing within our city. Right now they're just lumped. We cannot fix what we refuse to see. Second, you can set clear public targets for contracts, grants and procurement dollars going specifically to Black women- owned businesses. Now, I know that is not popular in this environment.

I know we are moonwalking as quickly as we can from Black and Brown and women and everything else. But I urge you, the economy needs to acknowledge us. They need to see our color and our gender. Third, you can streamline certification and vendor onboarding so that very small Black women-owned firms can realistically get certified in our city and bid for work in the city. Fourth, you can invest directly in the ecosystem that already exists, partner with organizations that are trusted by Black women entrepreneurs and seed a dedicated Black women's entrepreneur fund that blends low-interest capital grants and technical assistance. Shout-out to Jamar Sessoms for that bullet point. Pair that with the requirements for prime contractors on large city projects to identify and subcontract with Black women- owned firms, and to report those relationships publicly and proudly. Right now I feel like we're hiding. We don't want to say that we are partnering with Black women. So today I urge you to see Black women entrepreneurs clearly, to measure our access and our outcomes, and to design policies that matches our ambition and our contributions. If we remove the barriers in front of Black women business owners in Philadelphia, we will unlock a powerful engine for shared prosperity across the city. But I also want to thank you, Councilwoman Gilmore Richardson. You have always been on the front lines for Black women consistently. So I thank you for having me. And that is all I have. Thank you. )

Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Jasmine Sessoms and the 1968 Collective. Thank you for your work to center Black women in the City of Philadelphia, and not just with the 1968 Collective, but the work you've done all throughout our city with a variety of organizations, but including She Can Win. I'm going to add that one on the record.

Shout-out to She Can Win.

Shout-out to She Can Win. Thank you very, very much. We truly appreciate your presence here today. And I want to say for the record we are working with the Barbara Jordan Fellows of the 1968 Collective to produce a comprehensive report as a result, not only of this hearing, but Part and Part of the hearings. So thank you very much. Any questions for this witness? The Chair recognizes Dr. Ahmad.

Good morning. Thank you so much for your testimony. A quick question related. She mentioned it, She Can Win. Similar to this business arena, Black women and women of color entering the political space have similar burdens in terms of fundraising. And so, that's like a small business, you're doing a startup. And I just wanted to know what your thoughts were on how those parallel because we can't be legislators unless we can get funded to run for these offices? So that's the number one question. And number two, I just wanted to inform you what you said about micro businesses becoming small businesses, we just are introducing a resolution to hold a hearing on that. What are the barriers to doing that, that's going to be introduced tomorrow and we'll let you know when the actual hearing happens to really talk about that micro businesses are the big businesses of tomorrow. And so, how are we creating a pathway for that. So that's just a point of information for you. So if you would address that first question.

Councilwoman Ahmad, I'm a woman of a certain age and my memory ain't what it used to be. Repeat that first question.

So the first was about the parallel issue of Black women and women of color running for office and how the investment space is the same. So that's what I wanted you to kind of reflect on because you have expertise in that.

Yeah. No, thank you for that question. Black women generally have a much harder time fundraising for their political campaigns. If I can -- these aren't my readers, but we have Councilwoman Bass, Councilwoman Gilmore Richardson, and we have Rep Cephas here today -- oh, and Rep Parker. They can tell you, and I've had the pleasure of working with just about all of you on fundraising, they can tell you how hard it is to fundraise. And I want to be so very clear, finances should never play a part when there are qualified candidates ready to run, especially Black women candidates. But let me tell you something, Councilmember. You give Black women a multi- million dollar contract, you make it a little bit easier for us to reach where our White counterparts go, we'll invest in Black women candidates all day. We do -- (Applause.)

We do a lot with quite a little bit. You heard that stat? $142,900 to our White women counterparts, $24,000 for Black ladies. And we will give our last dollar to very qualified Black women candidates. You give us more money, you ain't gonna have that issue. It's not a popular answer, but it's my answer.

Well, that is a great answer because wealth-building becomes so critical in how we make investments. So thank you for putting this in the public realm.

It's my pleasure.

We needed to hear about this because people don't understand why people can't compete. It is an extremely uneven playing field. So thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Kathy, why you let them give me this mic on Black ladies.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Dr. Ahmad. Any additional questions for this witness? Dropping mics, okay. (No response.)

Seeing none, we thank you, Jasmine Sessoms, in the 1968 Collective, so much for being here. Will the Clerk please call the next panel to testify. We're going to start ramping it up because we're down to about an hour and three minutes.

The Honorable Darisha Parker, 198th Legislative District. Following her is Andrea Lawful-Sanders; Nyesha Chapman, President, National Coalition of 100 Black Women; Jennifer Powell-Folks, National Coalition of 100 Black Women; and Aissia Richardson, Deputy Chief of Staff, Senator Sharif Street. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

Thank you so much, Representative, for your presence today. I'm so glad you were able to join us. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony. STATE REPRESENTATIVE PARKER: Sure. Good morning. I'm State Representative Darisha Parker of the 198th District, and it is an honor to be here. But actually, a sad occasion that we're here. But thank you for having me. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for allowing me to speak today. But more importantly, thank you to everyone who was telling their stories. We can't talk about numbers and statistics by hearing personal stories and how they are affected by workplace disparities, weight gaps and a lack of representation in leadership roles and more valuable than spreadsheets. I want you to know we hear you and I feel you. Black women workers do not lack work ethics. We are not helpless or victims. We are hit hardest and fastest during times of economic hardships. Now, we have another obstacle to climb: National attacks on DEI stemming from our own government during the recent mass firings and layoffs in federal government. 30% of Black women federal employees lost their jobs across the nation. 1% for men. In Philadelphia, Black women are deeply represented in education, health care, and nonprofit organizations. Any rollback in federal funding or public investing can cause Black women to lose their job security or have trouble obtaining jobs. DEI rollbacks aren't just talking points or identity politics. It has long-term, real- life consequences that keep us from creating generational wealth for our families. So when you attack a Black woman, that is attacking our base of taxes and revenue that can help this Commonwealth, this city and this region. And today, I stand not just as a representative, but I am a Black mother, a wife, a sister, and an aunt. But it's just disheartening that we have to have these kinds of conversations. So I'm here today to support you, Councilwoman, and your leadership, and I thank you for this. And I'm here to say I'm a part of the solution lane because we need to make sure that any woman that is going through this disparity by the egregiousness of what we called a government no 1 longer needs to know that they are alone. They need to know that we are here and they need to know that the support that they need, tell us. But what I have found is the pride that Black women have. They don't want to say the help that really is desired. So I'm counting on the organization Center 1968. I am asking the members of the D9, I'm asking for women of Black Women's Leadership, I'm asking for women of the National Coalition Pennsylvania Chapter, I'm asking for those women who have family, who have friends, who are in these trying times to let us know. We can only help and put pressure on individuals if we are helping. But I think they are hurting in situations and we don't know. And also, because of the egregiousness that they were let go, now they're in the job market and they're trying to get placement and they're having difficulties there. So we need to make sure that we uplift these women, let them know we are here and we are not going anywhere. But we got to put them back in a society to make sure that this no longer happens again. And I know I got to keep it non-political, but I got to say it to y'all. We're encouraging everybody, this is what happens when you don't vote and when you vote for criminals. Because this is what happens and they're doing things to constantly, constantly keep attacking the most popular voting base of this country, of this region, of this lifetime. Black women do too much for all of us, for any of us, to make this happen to them. And we need to let them know we are not going to tolerate this and neither am I. And I am not going to be silent. I need those people to understand it, that I am going to continue to fight.

I love my sisters and I'm going to be fighting with them to the end. Thank you. )

Thank you. Thank you, thank you, Representative Darisha Park -- STATE REPRESENTATIVE PARKER: Be proud of me. I didn't cuss. I didn't cuss. I wanted to but I --

She did well today. She did well today. STATE REPRESENTATIVE PARKER: All right. All right.

We appreciate you, Representative Parker, not only for you being here today, but for the fight and for the work that you do in Harrisburg. And I will tell you I was so impressed, Representative Parker was seeking to pass legislation in Harrisburg and she made a day for each day. So Tuesday was -- it was Menstrual Monday, Tampon Tuesday and it was just so -- STATE REPRESENTATIVE PARKER: Thank God for Tampon Thursday and Flow Friday. That's right.

It was so effective in the advocacy around the legislation. And so, I just appreciate and uplift the work that you do and for always showing up for us and fighting on our behalf. So we appreciate the work. We'll continue to do it together. But thank you, thank you for being here. Thank you. Any questions for this witness? (No response.)

Okay. Seeing none will the Clerk please call the next panel.

Andrea Lawful-Sanders; Nyesha Chapman, President, National Coalition of 100 Black Women; Jennifer Powell- Folks, National Coalition of 100 Black Women; Aissia Richardson, Deputy Chief of Staff, Senator Sharif Street. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

Thank you all so much for being here. You could state your names for the record and then you proceed with your testimony.

Good morning. My name is Andrea Lawful-Sanders. I am a mother, a wife and an entrepreneur. I think I only worked one year for somebody. I just couldn't do it. And so, I started -- no, seriously it's a situation. And so, I started my entrepreneurial journey started because of the inequities that I saw happening, particularly to Black boys. And as a mother of two young Black men, went and got trained by the Department of Justice in Montgomery County, and you're all about to learn something that you did not know until today. I have been working with police officers around the country for decades. And it isn't just about doing diversity, equity and training. It's about creating narratives and decent relationships, not just with the cops themselves, who are finding themselves completing the act of suicide because of what they have to deal with, but how they work within the community and then we change policy. So the A Lawful Truth podcast that you see is just an aside. I love what I do because I love talking to people and creating solutions for what goes on. But let me tell you how this business, when it started, was on just -- I have not borrowed a dime from anyone. Every single time I wanted to get something done, I saved the money. I made the money instead of spending the money on stuff. I saved the money so that I could go buy the equipment, go buy the thing that needs to be done, to get the plane fare, make sure I had the village intact for my children, who are now 30 and 34 years old so they could get to where they are. The pay inequities are obscene. And so, I have to tell you that -- I never advertised this so this is the first time you're all hearing this. But it was men who would step up and say to me, White men in particular who would say, you deserve to be paid better than what they're paying you, so let's pay you well. I'm sorry I'm stepping on toes, but let's just handle it. But it was other people who said to me, well, you know, can you prove, did you do, are you able to. And so, we have to get better at this in all levels, shape and form. I'm literally sitting here though because there's a couple of things happening. I've spoken to so many women who have lost their jobs, who went to school, got their PhDs, working for the federal government or working for other jobs, and all of a sudden those jobs were no longer there. As an entrepreneur, I'm paying over $1,000 a month for my health insurance. But even more distinct is that in September of 2023, when my daughter-in-law gave birth to their third child, my son and her third child, within a month she was laid off, let me tell you. And I said this on my radio show this morning: For months, my 17 husband, my ex-husband and myself 18 helped to carry them so that they 19 would not be out of their house so that their mortgage wouldn't go into foreclosure. The child care was over $5,000 a month for the twins alone. I need us to talk about this and stop acting like it's some one-off. I'm being vulnerable in this space so that you can understand. And so, all the money my husband and I saved to make sure that we would be able to retire and be okay, may the Lord rest and bless because it went to my children. And so, when we show up and we're here for the work, please, please, please don't question who we are or what value we bring to the table. It is important that you understand that we are here. We've been doing the work. We've been carrying all kinds of people and we have carried mediocrity for far too long, only to be told that we're -- I see the signs going up, I'm sorry. Only to be told we're not qualified to do what we do. And so, we're tired, do you hear me. I had to shut down for eight weeks because the cortisol levels in my blood was so high and my blood pressure was 200/100-and-something. I almost died trying to get you all to understand what is necessary.

So the time has long since passed for us to talk about it and not have -- Morgan Cephas, I said to her, how can I get 100 or 200 Black women to give you $20 a month for two, three, four years before you even start to run for something. Why do we wait? The misogynistic behaviors towards us is unconscionable. We need to be supported and strengthened by our partners, and that's not happening in alarming rates. So I did not intend to testify today. But after watching all of what was going on and you look at me and you say, oh, she's out here doing her thing, I have not borrowed a dime from a bank, built my credit on nothing less than Jesus, hope and pricelessness. I don't know how I did it right to get where we needed to get. And on top of that, have been mentoring young Black women in their 20s and 30s and 40s for decades quietly, and opening doors for them that wouldn't otherwise be open for them. So let's also talk about the fact that we get into position and then we forget the people that are coming right behind us or beside us. And that's all I want to say today. Thank you for giving me the space. I think this is probably the second time I've talked to City Council. I'm not showing up, y'all. I'm watching you online, but I'm just not coming. And Councilmember Driscoll, I had to ask who you were. I'm so glad to see you. I've heard your name, but this is my first time seeing you. Nice to meet you, sir. All right, I'm done. )

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Andrea Lawful-Sanders. I'm so glad that you were able to make the hearing today, and just want to uplift and appreciate your mentorship to Black women throughout the years. That's how I first came to really know you, and just thank you for how you've poured into so many of us over the years. And we appreciate your work on A Lawful Truth. And we're always listening and tuning in, so we appreciate that work. Thank you --

You're welcome.

-- for being a part of this today. Any quick questions for this witness?

Yes. Thank you so much for that passionate testimony. We needed to hear that. I wanted to just pick out on something you said, what is called weathering, the impact of all the stress and strain that it has on your physiology. It is real. That costs us something, because your health care becomes a problem and you don't have insurance and it gets even worse. So I just want to underscore that when we are talking about all this, there's a real physiological impact on your bodies that are making you even more vulnerable. So we need to add that to the economic conversation, that you cannot forget that that variable is going to make life even harder. So we need our policymakers and everybody to understand every time there's a barrier in your path, your weathering goes up, which means your physiology is impacted. So thank you for mentioning that. I just wanted to make a point of that. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Dr. Ahmad. And thank you again. We will proceed with the additional witnesses. And what we'll need to do, because we have 50 minutes to hear from 30 witnesses, so we're going to ask everybody to do a 90-second abbreviated version of your testimony, if possible. We wanted to do longer. But because we are in crunch time with budget, this is the only time that we can have hearings. Okay. And so, we have to have a Rules Committee hearing shortly after this hearing. So please abbreviate your testimony. We will keep our questions and comments to a minimum and we'll just say thank you so that we can get in as many witnesses as possible, because we need this for the record for the report that's being produced. Okay. Thank you so much. Please proceed with your testimony. State your name for the record. Thank you, Madam President.

Good morning, Councilwoman Gilmore Richardson, Councilwoman Bass, Councilwoman Landau just walked away, and Councilmember Driscoll. So my name is Nyesha Chapman, and I speak today as the President of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Pennsylvania Chapter. We are an organization with a 40-year legacy of advocating on social, political and economic empowerment of Black women and girls in the city and the Commonwealth. We come here before you today, not to oppose taxation, but to understand that a functioning city requires revenue. We come today to name a truth that the data confirms and that our community feels every single day when policy changes land, but do not land equally. So I've already provided written testimony so I won't go through the written testimony. But what I will do is just go through the ask of the National Coalition of 100 Black women and to take specific actions of City Council. One of them being create a BIRT micro business relief fund. We ask that City Council establish a targeted relief fund for micro businesses, those earning under $50,000 in gross annual revenue, with priority outreach and eligibility for businesses owned by Black women. The 38.5 million allocated in last year's budget for business support is a start. We need to ensure that money reaches the businesses that need it the most and not the ones with accountants and lawyers who know how to find it. We also ask that you direct the Commerce Department to conduct targeted in-community outreach, free tax prep assistance and accounting matching assist, but awareness in Black business communities is uneven at best. We ask that the Commerce Department be directed to partner with Black-led chambers, faith institutions and community organizations, organizations like ours to ensure that every eligible small business owner knows what help is available and how to access it before the April filing deadline. And third, we ask that a commission of disparities study focus specifically on Black women business owners. You cannot solve what you have not measured. Philadelphia has not -- that's -- I'm sorry, has not disaggregated its economic data in ways that make Black women businesses' realities visible. We're asking for a study that looks specifically at revenue gaps, capital access barriers, contracting disparities and tax burden impact as they affect Black women-owned businesses in the city. What gets measured gets addressed. And in closing today, the women we represent, the hair salon owners, the home health aides who launch their own agencies, the caterers, the child care providers, the therapists, the consultants, they are the backbone of Philadelphia's neighborhood economies. They survived the pandemic. They are surviving inflation and we're also asking that you help ensure they survive this too. As the President of the National Coalition, our members stand ready to work with the Council, the Commerce Department and the Revenue Department to ensure that economic empowerment is not a talking point, it is a policy outcome. And I'm not a Black business owner, but I do want to say that we support all Black women business owners. And it's one of the things of our advocacy priorities, is that we increase entrepreneurship for Black women, and we ask that the Council continue to support this effort. (Applause.)

Thank you. Thank you so much, Madam President, and thank you for the work of the Coalition. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I am only here in support of my President, she was very clear -- I'm sorry. My name is Jennifer Powell-Folks and I am a Black woman, and I am here in support of my President, but also the number of organizations by which I also am a part of. I'm here to testify about the displacement, marginalization and attempted destruction and spirit of the fortitude of women and girls of color, most especially Black women and Black women entrepreneurs nationwide, and more to the point, this region. It is with great sadness that I am here today to give witness to all that I have seen, heard and experienced about how we are treated not just by corporations, institutions, communities, but by the government itself, the federal government. It is a longstanding fact that women of color, especially Black women, are the most educated, experienced, skilled and seasoned in so many industries and functioning of our country. I will also yield to the statistics already stated, so we'll not repeat them. But today I am here to say that I am part of a number of illustrious organizations, great organizations, standing on the shoulders of so many women of color, here to highlight and testify, including the Coalition of Cultural Competence, the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Black Women's Leadership Council, the Frankford Neighborhood Advisory Council, the great and historic 210-year-old Campbell African Methodist Church, and finally the organization I founded years 16 ago, the Frankford Coalition of 17 Neighbors, which was founded due to 18 the changing demographics and 19 stigmatization of folks of color in 20 the Frankford community. 21 In my lifetime, I have 22 found myself the only woman of 23 color in so many boardrooms, 24 business forums, at a PDAC and even in educational settings. It's a travesty that we are ones who hold up so many organizations throughout the nation to ensure their success and prosperity, but are deterred and blatantly not allowed, and to be frank, purposefully disenfranchised from asserting the fruits of our labor. Today, I wish to thank Councilwoman Katherine Gilmore Richardson and this committee for giving us the opportunity to put on the record the outright dismantling of our families, our schools, where we find sisterhood, mentorship, a way of earning an income, resulting in Black women and girls who bear the brunt of any and every destruction and discrimination of our nation. Today we find ourselves with the highest maternal morbidity rate. I will skip all those because those are highlights. But I do want to say that it's a time and time again we find ourselves terminated and fired, leading that unemployment rate, which completely dismantles our ability to build wealth. I could go on here saying that these needs should be coordinated and -- these things that are coordinated and targeted movements to change these outcomes eliminate the attempts to quiet our voice, diminish our girls, their self-esteem and their educational opportunities. Black women have borne the world's pain and suffering. Women are responsible for the literal birth of this nation, and it continues its existence regardless of what our nation's federal government tries to tell you. And as long as I and so many of my sisters in this room 2 live, there is no mountain high or wide enough to keep us from rising and rising again to change these statistics. Thank you so much. (Applause.)

Thank you. Thank you so much for your service to the community and for your work with the Coalition and all the organizations you represent. Thank you very much for being here. And thank you, Madam President. Any questions for this panel? (No response.)

Seeing none, we will now call the next panel. Thank you.

Amber Harris, Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, Philadelphia Office; Lucinda Hudson, Parkside Association; Carla Hill, GPS Career and Business Strategies; Ajee Cook and Chelsea Cox. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

Okay. Please approach the witness table. You can state your names for the record and proceed with your testimony. I just wanted to notate for the record we did call Aissia Richardson, Deputy Chief of Staff for Senator Sharif Street, and also Regina Hairston, President and CEO of African American Chamber of Commerce. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony, Madam Chair of Public Policy.

Good morning, good morning, Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson and the additional members of Council. My name is Amber J.E. Harris, and I serve as the Regional Director of the Philadelphia Office of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. For those that are unaware, we are the Commonwealth's civil rights enforcement agency charged with enforcing discrimination laws in the Commonwealth. We began with remarks from our Chair, Councilmember Jones, who acknowledged that many of the practices that we are discussing today are not only harmful, but in many instances they are also illegal. It's important to name that clearly because too often these experiences are minimalized, normalized or treated as isolated incidents rather than systematic challenges. But more importantly, I join y'all today as a Black woman who has spent years navigating and serving within systems that too often expect Black women to carry extraordinary burdens with limited support. One thing I believe we must acknowledge is that many Black women in Philadelphia are doing everything right and we are still struggling to achieve economic stability. We are educated, we are working, we are leading households, organizations, nonprofits and communities, and yet many Black women are still navigating wage inequities, rising housing costs, child care challenges, burnout, student loan debt and workplaces where we often feel undervalued despite being overly relied upon. In both my professional and community work, I have seen how economic inability impacts every part of a person's life: employment, housing, transportation, caregiving responsibilities and access to opportunity. All of these things are connected. If we truly want economic stability for Black women in Philadelphia, then we must create systems that recognize the full scope of what Black women contribute to the city, while removing unnecessary barriers to advancement and stability. And we must move beyond symbolic inclusion and move towards structural investment. That means investing in leadership pipelines and mentorship opportunities for Black women and girls. It means expanding access to affordable child care and workforce supports -- I'm wrapping it up. It means ensuring equitable procurement opportunities for Black women business owners. It means strengthening workplace protections and accountability measures. And it means creating pathways to economic mobility that are sustainable and not just temporary. It also means acknowledging that many women are not just struggling financially, they are struggling administratively, navigating systems that are fragmented, difficult to access and often not designed with working families in mind. Black women aren't asking you for charity. What we're asking you for are systems designed to recognize our value, invest in our leadership and support our long-term economic security. Thank you for the opportunity to testify this morning. (Applause.)

Thank you. Thank you so much for your testimony, and thank you for being here and for all the work you do. We request that each individual here to testify today please, if you have not done so already, submit a written copy of your testimony. Because believe it or not, I do go back and read all of the testimony and I rewatch the hearings as well. So thank you very, very much for being here and for the next steps and the action items. All right. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.

To the honorable members of the Committee on Finance, my name is Carla Hill. I'm a long-term Philadelphia resident who retired from the City of Philadelphia in late 2024, after 35 years of municipal leadership. My tenure allowed me to see the full breadth of our city's workforce, as I had the privilege of serving as a Portfolio Manager for Central HR, providing strategic staffing services to a collection of city agencies and leading citywide performance excellence training. I also served as the HR Manager for several key departments, including Public Health, Behavioral Health, and Intellectual Disability Services, Fleet Management, before ultimately retiring as a Deputy Director for Planning and Development. I loved working for the city because there is not an occupation that does not exist within it. However, throughout those decades, I observed a consistent tragedy. 90% of career exits are not due to a lack of skill, but a lack of alignment. Today I serve as the co-founder and Chief Navigation Officer of GPS Career and Business Strategies. My mission is to champion a multi- pronged economic approach that balances the needs of our youth with the support required by all Black women, whether they are in the trade, service industries or professional roles. My perspective is informed by my current leadership in professional organizations, where I serve educational committees and volunteer my expertise to support workforce development in high-demand industries. First, we must engage students much earlier than we currently do. We need a curriculum designed to cultivate student learning based on their unique individual design. Through my leadership in these professional associations, I advocate long-term wraparound support that begins in the classroom. We cannot wait until a woman is already facing economic instability to offer a life raft. We must provide specialized resources and assessment tools while she is still a student to identify her specific design. This allows us to pivot individuals into existing vacancies through intentional retraining, especially in high-growth sectors like construction, AI quantum computing and clinical research, where we must build intentional pathways to women to enter technical and leadership roles. Second, we must address the two-way players of our economy: Black women who must play offense in their careers while playing defense against economic hurdles and family responsibilities simultaneously. Our talent is increasingly looking outside the United States because they lack the succession planning and peer mentorship necessary to thrive here. Whether it's a scientist in a lab, a technician in the trades or a woman running a local restaurant, we are losing talent to international markets that offer better bridges. To address these challenges, we must invest in a follow-up model, cultivating first- generation businesses, supporting neighborhood restaurants with peer mentors, and building bridges of employee separation that lead to pivots, not poverty. I urge this committee to support policy that treats career pathways across all demand-high industries as long-term investment, ensuring our youth and all our women have a written career blueprint and the specialized knowledge to thrive. Thank you for your time and your commitment to this mission. (Applause.)

Thank you. Thank you so much for your testimony. We will take the testimony of all the witnesses prior to asking for questions. So please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Right. Good morning. I am Ajee Cook, CEO and founder of Done and Done, also known as Chief "Get It Done" Officer. As a Black woman and small business owner based in Philadelphia, I know firsthand what it takes to build something from the ground up. I got started as an entrepreneur because I was laid off. After searching for a year and applying for jobs, even positions I was overqualified for, the rejection letters kept coming. So I decided to use my own skills of organization and structure and created Done and Done. I am a mother, one-month postpartum, a wife and a business owner. Black women show up every day, just like myself, after just being up today since 4 o'clock a.m. And just like we showed up today in this room, we should be seen. Five years in, and I'm proud to say, we are still here, still growing, still serving and still getting it done. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today, for not just us at Done and Done, but for women in business looking to thrive who are set back by funding. We work the hardest, but are the least funded, and that leads me to one of the biggest challenges we face: Funding itself. There are a lot of programs out there that say they're for small businesses. There's money out there. There are opportunities. But when you read the fine print, the requirements are not actually built for small businesses. They ask for five years of audited financials. They want you to have 10 full-time W-2 employees. They want six-figure revenue before they'll consider you. That's not small business. That's established business. Real small businesses are teams of one to five, we're bootstrapping. We're building credit, we're wearing every hat, and too often we're locked out of the very funding that claims to help us. That's why spaces like this matter. That's why Done and Done exists. We help founders get operational ready, strong systems, real admin support. So when the right opportunities do come, you're not disqualified on a technicality. Five years ago, I started this company with a laptop and a mission. Today we're a six-figure, 100% remote, serving clients nationwide. We beat the odds. Today we are testifying and asking how can Philadelphia help small businesses, because we want Philadelphia small businesses to survive the systems that had -- we want to -- sorry. We want Philadelphia small businesses to survive. The systems have to meet us where we are. (Applause.)

Thank you. Thank you so much for being here today. One month postpartum?

Yes, I am.

My goodness.

I'm tired, y'all, but I showed up.

Thank you for being here. But I'm going to say take good care of yourself. I'm going to add that part in there. Okay. So please take good care of yourself and rest when necessary. But we certainly appreciate you being here. But I had to notate that for the record.

Thank you.

Thank you again. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Good morning to the honorable members of the Committee on Finance. My name is Chelsea Cox, founder of C2 Consulting. My company lives at the intersection of data strategy, civic engagement and storytelling. I'm a Black woman entrepreneur and a mother building a business here in Philadelphia. Before becoming a full- time entrepreneur, I worked in Corporate America, earning over six figures a year, not including a five-figure performance bonus. I left because I did not feel fully valued or fulfilled. I had ideas that were being used but not properly compensated. I had skills that were growing but not being developed and I had a vision I believed could better serve my community and the clients directly. But through building my business, I have also seen some real gaps. Philadelphia's small business support system has not fully caught up to the way many Black women are building businesses today. I am not a traditional storefront business. I am a service-based, digital and largely virtual business. I create value through strategy, data, communications, content and consulting. But many grant opportunities are still designed around physical locations, storefront improvements or more traditional business models. Cities like Chicago have created micro business grants models that provide funding to businesses like C2 without requiring to repay them like a loan, and that leaves out many. And these types of organizations or these types of opportunities provide for many entrepreneurs who are building lean, innovative businesses online from home or through professional services. The loss of the $100,000 BIRT exemption has also added more burden to four small businesses, freelancers and self-employed people. And business certifications, while important, take away a lot of time and money to secure to renew them, even when we have access to the opportunities. Philadelphia has an opportunity to modernize how we support small businesses, and that means recognizing digital service- based and micro businesses, not just storefronts. Lastly, I would ask Council to explore a formal way to evaluate how every economic development and finance policy impacts Black women so we are not at the forefront of the policy conversation, but we are also at -- excuse me. I would -- lastly, I would ask Council to explore a formal way to evaluate how economic development and finance policies impact Black women, so we are at the forefront of the policy conversation, not added in decisions afterwards. (Applause.)

Thank you. Thank you so much for being here and for calling our attention to more non-traditional business models and the work that we have to do from a city perspective to support you all. Thank you for your great work. And I will say if you're not following Chelsea on social media, she's fantastic and fabulous and shares wonderful information, easily digestible information for the masses. So thank you very much for your work.

Madam Chair --

The Chair recognizes Dr. Ahmad.

Thank you. I just wanted to add that everybody knows you're an actorial.

Yes.

I don't know if enough people know, because we would love to showcase you to say what does that mean and what did you do with that. And, you know, those are wealth-building career options. So thank you for what you do. We appreciate you.

Thanks.

She's great. Thank you. Thank you all for being here. We will ask the Clerk to please call the next panel.

Daniyah Richardson, Barbara Jordan Fellow; Christina Faith, founder and CEO of Grindhouse; Kimberly Nelson, 1001 Face; and Sherri Darden, Scoop USA Media. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

And then if you could just pre-alert the next panel so that they are ready.

Eboni Zamani, Pearl's Girl Production; Armani Nickens; and Darnette Arce, Lower North Philadelphia CDC.

Okay. And you all can be prepared to step to the witness table next. So please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Hi. Good morning. My name is Daniyah Richardson --

Can you pull the mic up?

Yes.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Restate your name for the record.

Good morning. My name is Daniyah Richardson. And for some background on me, I am a Philly native, born and raised. I grew up in the Northeast section of Philadelphia. I went to Girls' High for high school and then I graduated from Penn State with a double major in psychology and criminology and a minor in sociology. So one quick question I really had was, do you guys know what adultification bias is?

I apologize. I couldn't really hear what you said.

Adultification bias.

Adultification bias?

Mm-hmm, in children. And if not, I just wanted to give a personal statement on what it looked like for me as a child. So at 9 years old, I had to walk me and my little brother to school every day. My brother was 5 and I was 9. And every day walking us to school and back, expected to have us ready and in bed by 8:00 p.m., we had to eat, I had to clean us. We had to make sure we were together every day for school. And it is different because since childhood, there are many roles that are played on young Black girls. We have to be adults, but also still kind of be children. We're expected to be mature. And that's something that I feel like isn't really looked at. It's something that we don't really think about, that we have to first look at the child before we look at the adult. So looking at the experiences that a child goes through, a Black child goes through, and expanding that onto adulthood, so making sure, especially when it comes to that mental health, making sure that those resources are available for them and starting those policies to make it available for all Black children to have those resources, so that in adulthood those barriers that we are stuck with, they can be limited as we continue to grow. Thank you. (Applause.)

Thank you very much for being here and for your testimony. Another Girls' High girl-changer in the world. What's your class number?

264.

245. Thank you for being here. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Hello. How are you doing? My name is Christina Faith. Thank you to Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson and members of the Philadelphia City Council. I am the founder and CEO of the Grindhouse, a Philadelphia-based production company and event company. We produce commercials, digital series, documentaries, narrative features, corporate content and live events with a team of talented creatives rooted here in the City of Philadelphia. I'm grateful for this opportunity at this hearing because what you are examining today is not abstract. It is my life. It is the life of nearly every Black woman I know who dared to build something on their own. The reality for Black women entrepreneurs is this: We are the fastest-growing group of business founders in the country, among the least supported. I started the Grindhouse because I had a vision, a skill and an unshakable drive. What I did not have access to is capital contracts in the rooms in which the decisions are made. I have built my network from scratch, proven my credibility twice over and operate a fraction of the resources my counterparts take for granted. This is not unique to me. Nationally, Black women- owned businesses generate the lowest average revenue of any group, not because we lack talent, but because of the system that fails us. Less than 1% of venture capital goes to Black women. Black-owned businesses are consistently denied loans at higher rates than White-owned businesses. And here in Philadelphia, despite Black residents making up 40% of the population, Black-owned businesses represent a fraction of employer firms in this city. The gap is not a coincidence. It is a compounded result of decades of exclusion from banking contracts, networks and institutional investment. What I am asking this Council to do is simple: Use your power to close the gap. Specifically, I urge the Council to prioritize three things: First, expand access to capital for Black women-owned businesses. That means pushing more city-backed loan programs, grants, partnerships with the CDFI that are designed to reach us, not programs that require the kind of existing infrastructure that systemic exclusion has prevented us from. Second, direct city contracts to Black women-owned businesses. Third, invest in the creative and cultural economy of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. Companies like the Grindhouse are not just producing content, we are creating jobs, training young people and telling Philadelphia stories the way that the world has never seen. And since 2024, I have contracted over 300 people. I am a little bit different when it comes to business. Our revenue is over $1 million, which means we're mid-sized, but we're immediately pushed out of what's available because it's considered mid-size, right. And so, one of the things that I'm asking is that you reconsider not using our revenue but using our profits as the way that you are doing how you are providing loans and grants and access to capital. So I want to thank you all for this opportunity. We are not asking for charity. We are asking for the conditions that allow us to do what we are already doing exceptionally and at scale in this city. Thank you. (Applause.)

Thank you. Thank you so much for your testimony. And while you were testifying, I just I had a few thoughts and I'm just taking little notes. But I'm obviously the Chair of Council's Committee on Finance, so we have to work with a number of financial and banking institutions relative to our payroll depository and some of the other work, so I think that's a good opportunity as Chair of Finance to figure out how we get small women, small Black women business owners in the rooms with some of these institutions. And so, that thought process just came to my head because we're thinking about the next Committee on Finance hearing, which we'll have to have before the end of the term, in order to ensure that we continue the payroll deposits for the city. And so, that's an opportunity. So I appreciate the testimony that you shared specifically because that'll help us on the back-end. We will have follow-up activities as a result of this hearing.

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Good morning. My name is Kimberly Nelson, and I'm here this morning to testify on behalf of being a Black business owner. After -- okay, I'm sorry. After I had my daughter, I decided to open up a business -- start a business for my daughter because I needed to teach her how to do math and how to be able to communicate out in the public as well as being a part of the political party, being a committee woman as well to teach my daughter how to advocate. So now, it's her spill. What's the name of your business, Kennedy?

My name is Kennedy Nelson. So my business card is -- so my business and some money.

Okay. Now, my turn. So she sells graphic T-shirts and children accessories as well as jewelry. And I want to make sure that City Council knows that she's not only Black, she's a female and she's disabled, to help to create more funding. My daughter is one of the youngest youth entrepreneurs in the City of Philadelphia, and she does pop-ups around the city. And I want to make sure that she knows how to read, literacy, math and how to socialize. Those are the things that they are learning inside of schools. And I decided that we're going to start advocating more to make sure we have more accessibility inside of our city. So I just want to make sure that you guys hold some funding aside for disabled children, Black business owners as well. Thank you so much. Have a blessed day. (Applause.)

Thank you and thank you, Kimberly, for being here. And let's thank Kennedy. I love Kennedy, y'all. Give Kennedy a round of applause. (Applause.)

Can I say one thing please.

You want to share one thing. Go ahead, sweetheart.

Close your eyes please. My grandpa, my dad, so please go to him. And my dad and grandpop. People of the community, so my grandpop, my dad, my grandpa. So see my business. So my mom and dad get married. (Applause.)

Thank you. She's so sweet. Thank you, Kennedy. We appreciate you being here, sweetheart. Thank you, Kimberly, so much for being here. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Good morning, Kathy. I'm going to ask if Andrea can sit here with me because she's speaking on behalf -- well, with me if you can.

Yes. And then please if you could just pull the mic up so we can hear you for the stenographer. Just state your name for the record and then proceed.

Good morning. My name is Sherri Darden. I'm the owner and publisher of Scoop USA Newspaper. And I asked Andrea to sit behind me because my discussion is not just about news and me and Black women. It's about Black women in media. And some of the things that we struggle through that many people don't realize are happening. I think that we all show up and we show up bright and bubbly, and nobody knows what's going on, on the inside or that because our people show up to represent and share our stories and resources for us, no one realizes what goes on in the back room. And in those rooms, the back room that nobody knows exists, we have to figure out how to publish, how to pay, how to make sure our staff is paid, how to carry the institution so that then we can show up and do what we do at no cost for other people. I think that it is a very unfortunate and bad balance. And I think that because we need to show up, we often don't talk about it. That is one of the bad things that Black women do. We carry the weight and we don't talk. As a Black woman who owns an entity that has been owned for 57 years by a Black man prior to, I often find it hard or disheartening that I walk into a room and someone will say they support me because of the Black man who's now been gone for years or 5 10 years. They don't support 6 because we're needed. They don't 7 support because we have to be here 8 for our communities. They support because a Black man owned it. I think that I find that way too often people are in the room and they don't recognize what it is or who we are or what goes into being the product that we put out consistently. We consistently work on behalf of our communities and it's not recognized. And I think that it's just something that I wanted to share, that we are here. We are Black women in these rooms. There are several times over the past four years Christmas comes, I haven't been able to pay my staff because the money doesn't move. Can you imagine Christmas Day you wake up and you have people that you haven't been able to pay and they have kids? But at the same time, the paper is out. The work is done. It's pristine. The communities that we represent don't know the heartache that goes into that. So it's very important that I just share that. I don't think that anyone from the media ever shares what we go through. I'm the only full owner and Kathy is the only other full owner of a media entity. Andrea now owns her own media entity. But I think that there are struggles that people would never even imagine exist. (Applause.)

Well, thank you, thank you so much for being here today for the work that you do with the Scoop. And I think it's incumbent upon us to understand that we also have to support Black women in media.

I think that we have to save ourselves. I think that Black women and women will save ourselves. We have to make that first step.

Received. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. Will the Clerk please call the next panel.

Eboni Zamani, Pearl's Girl Productions; Armani Nickens; Darnette Arce, Lower North Philadelphia CDC. Following them will be Felicia Shanken, Philadelphia Women's Network Collection LLC; Danielle McLane, Diamond Beauty Academy; Desarrie McDuffie, Philly Real Estate Diva; and Alia Sutton-Bay, A Sutton Bay LLC.

Okay. Are any of those witnesses present? Okay. Please approach the witness table and state your name for the record, and then you can proceed with your testimony. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

I see two, so we will call the next four as well. Call the next four.

Good morning. Is it still morning?

Still morning.

Good morning, Chairperson Richardson and members of the committee. My name is Felicia Shanken. I'm the founder and the CEO of the Philadelphia Women's Network Connection, PWNC Foundation and PWNC Digital Futures. For years, I have worked closely with women across Philadelphia who are trying to survive, rebuild and create economic stability for themselves and their families. What I see every single day is that Black women are carrying the weight of entire households, businesses, children, aging parents and communities, while still being underpaid, overlooked and unfunded. Many of the women I serve are educated, skilled and hardworking. Yet they are still living paycheck to paycheck. Some are forced to choose between paying rent, child care, transportation or investing in the businesses they are trying desperately to build. Others are leaving corporate jobs because they are burnt out, unsupported or stuck in workplaces where they are expected to work twice as hard just to be seen as equal. As a Black woman entrepreneur myself, I know firsthand how difficult it is to access capital, secure contracts, apply for grants with thousands of other businesses and scale a business without generational wealth or strong financial backing. Black women are one of the fastest-growing groups of entrepreneurs in this country and have been for years. Yet we continue to receive the smallest percentage of business funding and investment. Why is that? I also want to speak to the emotional and mental toll this creates. So many Black women are operating in survival mode every single day, including myself. We are expected to be resilient while navigating inflation, rising housing costs, health care challenges, caregiving responsibilities and economic uncertainty. Resilience should not be the requirement for survival; opportunities should be. We need policies that create real access to funding, affordable child care, equitable wages, housing stability, business education, mental health support and pathways to ownership and wealth creation for Black women and their families. When Black women rise economically, families rise, communities rise and Philadelphia rises. Thank you for allowing my voice and the voices of the women I serve to be heard today. And also, let us not forget about those women that are 50 and over that are leaving the corporate world or who have lost their jobs. What are we going to do with them? Where are they going to go? Where are they going to get the support? We need to help them. My name is Felicia Shanken. Thank you. (Applause.)

Thank you. Thank you so much for your testimony and notating that sort of 50 to 65 before you can officially retire, but you still got to work. Yes, received. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony. Ms. McDUFFIE: Hello. My name is Desarrie McDuffie. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for the opportunity to participate in the Black Women in Economy hearing. Again, my name is Desarrie McDuffie. I'm a Philadelphia realtor with over 5 years of experience. And before 6 real estate, I spent over a decade 7 working within social services. 8 Through both careers, I 9 have witnessed firsthand the 10 economic burden Black women 11 continue to carry in our 12 communities. Black women are often 13 doing everything right. We are 14 earning degrees, raising children, 15 caring for parents, building 16 businesses and working multiple 17 jobs, yet still struggling to 18 survive in an economy that grows 19 more expensive by the day. 20 The numbers tell the story. The Black homeownership rate in America is only about 44 percent, compared to nearly 74 percent for White households. Black women remain one of the fastest-growing groups of homebuyers in this country. That means, despite the barriers, Black women are still fighting to build stability and generational wealth for their families. But the reality is heartbreaking. I speak with hardworking women every day who have good jobs, pay their bills on times and still cannot afford to buy a home because housing costs, inflation and interest rates have pushed stability out of reach. I also hear from senior women on fixed incomes who are choosing between rent, medication, food and utilities. Supporting Black women economically requires intentional investment, affordable housing, access to capital, caregiver support, child care support, protections for seniors and real pathways to homeownership and wealth creation. Because when Black women are financially stable, families are stronger, communities are safer and economies grow. And the City of Philadelphia cannot continue calling itself the City of Brotherly Love, while the sisters holding the brothers and everyone else down are struggling just to survive.

Thank you. Thank you so much. You can just conclude your testimony. I know you were trying to wrap it up. MS. McDUFFIE: I concluded my testimony. (Applause.)

Okay. Thank you. And listen, I want to thank you so much for being here and thank you for your work. Another great social media presence in the real estate industry in Philadelphia. Thank you, thank you, thank you. All right. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Good morning. My name is Alia Sutton- Bey, and I'm the founder of Essence of Ujima, a leadership development program for Black women navigating spaces that were not created with us in mind. Good morning, Councilwoman Gilmore Richardson, members, and thank you for creating the space. I've seen firsthand the impact of being both Black and a woman on access to sustainable economic mobility. Even when we are highly educated, deeply experienced and carrying the weight of organizations on our back, our economic mobility remains stifled. One of the things that I want to bring forward today is that we cannot have a serious conversation about economic mobility of Black women without also talking about what is happening to Black women in the workplace. And to be clear, I am grateful to live in a city where we see Black women in visible positions of leadership and power. That representation matters. But the presence of highly visible Black women in leadership does not negate the realities that many Black women are still navigating every single day in the workplace across the city. We cannot confuse optics with outcome. I know what it feels like to be highly capable, deeply committed and still overlooked for advancement while being expected to carry organizations both emotionally and operationally. Economic mobility is not just about helping Black women get jobs or access to money. It is also about ensuring access to opportunity and advancements once in the workplace. So my ask today is that the City of Philadelphia become an early adopter of the Workplace Psychological Safety Act, its standards and practices within city government and across workplaces. The Workplace Psychological Safety Act is not about ordinary workplace conflict. The legislation is designed to address severe, repeated psychological harm such as bullying, intimidation, humiliation, retaliation, sabotage and abusive conduct that current laws often fail to cover. Current discrimination laws leave major gaps. If a Black woman experiences sustained workplace harm but cannot explicitly prove discrimination tied to her protected class, many harmful behaviors remain legally actionable only through resignation and internal HR practices, because when Black women can advance through support, retention, promotion and equitable pay, Philadelphia advances. Thank you for your time. (Applause.)

Thank you. Thank you very much for your testimony. I wanted to ask, and we'll make sure the team follows up with you, if you could work with us to review some of the laws that are on the books that are enforced by the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission around protected classes. I know Dr. Ahmad briefly talked about that and touched on it earlier in the hearing, but I was just taking a few quick notes on your testimony. If you could just follow up with us, and we'll kind of go through that with you to see if there's legislative opportunity there as well. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate you being here. Will the Clerk please call the next panel.

Frankie Darcell; Tonya D. Hinton-Green, Magical Whispers and Charming Wishes LLC; Mercedes S. Bonilla, Leverage Economic Solutions; Marvetta Coleman; Delisa Roman, Tyra Wright Johnson; Khamyia Johnson; and Melanie Serato Ramos.

Okay. If your name was called, please approach the witness table. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

Thank you so much for being here. The Frankie Darcell from WDAS here in Philadelphia. Please state your name for the record and then proceed with your testimony.

My name is Frankie Darcell, WDAS Radio. I am excited to be in this space. And for as much as this panel is on the challenges of Black women, I would choose to be nothing but a Black woman in this day and in this time. Although I did not have prepared statements, I will say this to you: The challenges that African American women face on a regular basis in media, in business, personally, socially, the stories that I heard today are so empowering. I will say to each woman who has spoken in this room and every other room, though we have tripped, we've not fallen. Though we may have been bent, we are not broken. We are and always have been extremely resilient at the causes before us. I will say to you as an eight-and-a-half-year breast cancer survivor, where 1996 my mother was diagnosed, one of the most challenging disparities in our health care is making sure that research is available on every level, and we've come an extremely long way. years with the Sista 18 Strut, and I'm proud to say that we 19 are now here in Philadelphia on our 20 ninth year. When mammograms and 21 self-breast examinations personally 22 are done, where we take 23 responsibility and advocate for our 24 health, the outcomes are much better whether we're talking about menopause or breast cancer or other health care disparities. But in this time when health care is one of the greatest challenges, we're going to find that when other communities get a cold, Black folk get the flu. Health care and the lack of health care are killing people within our community by merely not being able to go to a doctor. So when we talk about being able to show up in work, we have to be physically fit to be able to do so. So I say to Black women in particular, we take care of everybody else, but to remember as well to take care of yourself. I'll close with this as well as a small business owner. First, to each one, teach one. And with my theater production company that I'm so proud of and I'm entering my 15th year, that for as much as the funding has 110% been my own, it was two African American women who said, Frankie, what is it that we can do. We make it our business first to do business with each other. And for as much as there has been a challenge to find traditional funding to be able to put to make a dollar out of $0.15, I funded it on my own. Therefore, I can make decisions on my own and things have turned out to be well. But I can tell you some of the greatest challenges, as we talk about doing business and Black women in business, some of the greatest challenges have come from Black women. We cannot fix what we don't acknowledge. So with that, I would only say that before I sign any contract with anyone, I specifically look to do business with other African American women, be it catering, makeup and backstage costumes or whatever the case might be. It is so important to talk the talk and to walk the walk. I'll close with this: I thank you, Madam Chair, for being the brilliant light you are. We can have challenges, but without a forum like this for others to be able to be empowered. My daughter, who I'm so proud of, I walk this walk because I want to leave her better off than my great- grandmother, my mother left me. She graduated with her Doctorate degree, and I did not know that this weekend on her scroll she wrote and read it at her capping ceremony, and this is just an abbreviation. And when she read it, my sisters and I, who were in the audience, just cried. And she said, For my great-grandmother and my grandmother and to my mother, I bring the gifts that my ancestors gave. I am the dream and the hope of the slave. She said, Mom, I rise, and to every Black woman out there on her grind, rise. Thank you, Madam Chair. (Applause.)

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Frankie Darcell. Thank you for all that you do here in the City of Philadelphia. But not only the contributions you give via media, but the work that you do with your production company, with Sista Strut, ensuring that we are taking care of ourselves and always supporting other Black women. I'll never forget when you arrived here in Philadelphia. I was a staffer for former Councilmember Blondell Reynolds Brown, and the two of you connected. And I will just never forget the community that you created. And I took that with me for the remainder and the rest of my staff career and now as a member of Philadelphia City Council. So thank you, thank you, thank you, Frankie Darcell. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Thank you for that.

Good morning. My name is Khamyia Jackson, and I'm -- Councilwoman, that was so powerful. So my name is Khamyia Jackson, known to my community of service as Maya the Doula or Myia or Big Sis. I also represent the PA Doula Commission as being on the Board. I serve as a Black Indigenous doula in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where I was born and raised. Throughout my support to Black mothers, birthing people and families who are often carrying more than pregnancy, they are carrying the weight of rising rent, low wages, unstable employment, food insecurities, child care barriers and the emotional stress of trying to survive while preparing to bring life into the world. And so, Ms. Darcell, that just really touched me because I am carrying everybody and I didn't -- as a Black woman and community-based doula, I have firsthand seen how economic challenges impact maternal health. I have supported families who have to choose between paying for transportation to prenatal appointments or buying groceries. I have worked with members who wanted to rest during pregnancy but could not afford to miss a shift. I have seen families struggle to find safe housing while also trying to prepare for labor, postpartum healing and newborn care. For Black women, financial instability is not just about money. It affects our health, our choices, our access to care and our ability to feel safe and supported. Many Black women are working hard, building businesses, raising families and serving their communities, yet still face wage gaps, limited access to funding and systems that do not value fully our leadership of labor. So as a doula, I also see entrepreneurship as both a pathway and a challenge. Both Black women and our counterparts are creating solutions in our own communities, but we need fair funding, fair pay, child care support, affordable housing and real investment in our work. When Black women are economically supported, families are stronger, babies are healthier and communities thrive. Supporting Black women is not a charity; it is a justice, it is prevention and it is an investment in the future of Philadelphia. Thank you. (Applause.)

Thank you and thank you so much for being here, and thank you for your work as a doula and working in the Black maternal health space. And I will tell you that one thing that you mentioned in your testimony that we've heard throughout this hearing is relative to child care. And Council President Johnson has just started a committee to study child care and early childhood education. And I will tell you that Eliza, who's a new mom on my team, has been talking to me about this for some months and has a proposal for me to review. And so, we hear you, we thank you, we appreciate you and uplift you being here. And it was just serendipitous for the two of you to be on this panel. So thank you both so much for being here. Thank you, thank you. Please approach the witness table and state your name for the record and then you can proceed with your testimony. I'll ask the Clerk to call the remaining witnesses.

Angela Brown-Vann; Bonita Cummings, Strawberry Mansion Community Concern and RCO. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

I'll ask that those witnesses please approach the witness table. And I wanted to state for the record that we did receive written testimony from the Honorable Ronnie Green from the 190th Legislative District. She was unable to be here today, but she did submit written testimony. And also Good as Gold Foundation, they submitted written testimony. And I also wanted to recognize the presence again of Josie Jones from Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Beta Delta Zeta Chapter, serving as their first Vice-President. Will you be giving testimony, Soror Jones or you're here?

(Shaking head).

Received. Okay. Thank you so much. I just wanted to make sure that acknowledgement happened. So please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Good morning. My name is Tonya Hinton- Green. Good morning, Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson and the committee for creating a space to hear directly from Black women in Philadelphia. Again, my name is Tonya Hinton-Green, and I am a woman entrepreneur, advocate, creative strategist and business owner here in Philadelphia. I stand before you today not only for myself but for so many Black women who are highly educated, highly capable, deeply resilient and still struggling to achieve economic stability in a system that often overlooks us. Many Black women are carrying multiple responsibilities at once. We are caregivers, we are entrepreneurs, we are advocates, we are mothers, daughters, community leaders and often the emotional and financial backbone of our families and communities. Yet despite all of this, many of us are still underfunded, underpaid, overlooked for opportunities and forced to work twice as hard for visibility and sustainability. As a business owner myself, I can personally speak to the challenges of accessing funding and capital, building visibility without major resources, navigating technology and AI shifts without institutional support, balancing health challenges while trying to remain economically productive and trying to create generational stability in an economy that often feels designed for us to survive instead of thrive. One of the biggest issues I see is that Black women are often expected to already figure it out because we appear strong and resourceful. But resilience should not be mistaken as unlimited capacity. We need greater access to grants and business funding specifically for Black women entrepreneurs, more city-supported education around AI, digital business growth and emerging technology, easier access to procurement opportunities and city contracts, better support systems for women living with chronic illnesses or disabilities who still want to contribute economically and more investment in mentorship, visibility, and sustainable wealth-building programs. Black women are innovators. We are creators, problem-solvers, culture drivers. But too often we are building without the same safety nets and support system that others receive. I also emphasize that representation matters. Many Black women-owned businesses are creating culturally relevant products, services, educational and solutions that directly impact our community. Supporting us is not charity. It is economic development. Philadelphia has an opportunity to become a model city for how Black women are supported, funded, protected and empowered economically. I thank you again for listening, for creating this hearing and for recognizing the voices of Black women who deserve not only acknowledgement, but action. Thank you. (Applause.)

Thank you and thank you so much for sharing again. I just wanted to notate for the record in your testimony you talked about AI and emerging technological advances and ensuring that we're investing in that work as well. And I think that's been a trend throughout this hearing also. So thank you, thank you very much for being here and for your work and for your testimony. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony. And you can approach the witness table. Thank you. (Witnesses approached witness table.)

Thank you. My name is Bonita Cummings and I am the Director of Strawberry Mansion Community Concern and the Vice-Chair of the 28th Ward. I just want to thank you, Councilwoman Gilmore Richardson and the members of Council. I really want to say to you how much I appreciate these beautiful placards you put together. Someone I know and Me Too, so I'm on both sides of this beautiful expression that is being displayed with these placards. As someone who has spent decades working in Philadelphia government and community advocacy, I have watched a troubling economic shift happening in many Black neighborhoods, particularly in communities like Strawberry Mansion. When we talk about Black women and the economy, we often focus on jobs, wages and entrepreneurship. But I know we also need to talk about economic loss through the loss of land, property and neighborhood economic infrastructure. I have witnessed families lose homes, inherited property and access to land over generations. I have watched demolition policies and redevelopment patterns transfer property into systems that are often more accessible to developers than to the children and relatives of longtime residents. At the same time, many of our educated young people come home from college or training programs and find fewer pathways to ownership in their own communities. Commercial corridors that once created opportunities for small businesses, storefronts, salons, offices and family entrepreneurship are increasingly disappearing into residential development from basement to roof. So the issue is not only employment. The issue is whether Black women and Black families can retain economic roots in the communities they help sustain. For many Black women, economic stability has historically come through holding families together through homeownership, caregiving, entrepreneurship and community networks. But when ownership disappears, inheritance disappears and neighborhood economic space disappears. Long-term wealth building becomes harder with each generation. I hope this hearing also considers, one, policies around land retention, two, family property preservation, three, protection of neighborhood commercial corridors and pathways to ownership for younger generations. And I say that we must know that if we do not express or have some type of training for our younger generation, that they too will lose their parents' homes because we've not taught them succession. We've not given them the ability to know how to not lose land, which doesn't depreciate. So I ask that you all take a look at that as we speed toward, you know, all of this development because that development is at the expense, and some of your own children are at risk of losing what you all presently own. So thank you. (Applause.)

Thank you. And I want to thank you for being the first person to bring that up today around generational wealth and preservation of land, property and parcels. I know you've been on the front line of that work in Strawberry Mansion for a long time, and it's work that we are continuing to fund and work on legislative and policy initiatives to address in Council. And you know that I have a personal shared story on tangled titles, in that we have introduced legislation as a result of that, and then through the NPI Initiative, made a 7.6 million dollar investment for the resolution of tangled titles and deeds, but also in the new H.O.M.E. Plan, ensuring that it's a provision there that folks have to get a will. Okay. Because once you own anything, you should have a will. And so, I thank you for being the first person to address generational wealth also in this hearing. Thank you.

Can I just say quickly that generational wealth, particularly for the 28th Ward, is real assets. Because our parents, which were our grandmothers and great-grandmothers who were wives, they weren't concubines or mistresses, they were married to our grandfathers. They didn't have mortgages. So that wealth that we're losing is a real asset. So it's a difference between having a property that's mortgaged and having one that's not. So our loss is great and we're shifting wealth in a way that we will never, never, ever get it back.

Received. And thank you, thank you for your work. We appreciate you. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Yes, yes. Good morning, good morning, Councilwoman Gilmore Richardson. I'm Angela Brown Vann, and I'm the Pastor of Alleyne Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church in West Philadelphia. In my corporate days, I worked as a mortgage lender and financial planner and I saw something that still breaks my heart today. Many people in our community were not living sustainably. They were surviving, and there's a difference. Survival is paying one bill late so another can stay on. Survival is choosing between medicine and groceries. Survival is being smart enough to dream bigger, but never being given the tools, training or opportunity to compete. And Black women carry so much of that weight. And as Pastor now, I see it every week through our food ministry and church work. I see hardworking women raising children with special needs, caring for parents, trying to hold families together while the economy keeps moving faster around them and policies keep changing underneath them. One is fighting hard to pass her GED, but can't quite get there and she's at her wits' end with it. Others don't read well or comprehend well. Speaking with them about resources takes time because they may not understand the rules when the rules are stated. If you give them pages with many rules, what will or what can they do with them. Read them, perhaps. Understand them, maybe. I went to grade school and college in Philadelphia. And when I got to college, I realized I was behind. I thought I was brilliant when I walked in until I sat beside students who had access to resources and an education I never had. I had to catch up. That taught me something important. Many people are not failing because they lack intelligence. They're starting behind. And after No Child Left Behind, they're extremely behind. Years ago in college, I read Reinventing Government. One idea stayed with me: Communities must empower people, not just rescue them. That's why faith institutions and faith-based initiatives matter. For example, the Black Church has always been more than worship. We taught people to read, organized communities, built businesses and created hope where systems created barriers. Mosques, Black Panthers, they did it. And we must do it again. Faith-based initiatives can help churches teach financial literacy, entrepreneurship, technology, child care and survival skills, because prayer and preparation belong together. Our people do not lack desire, but hope is being deferred. They lack access, education and resources. And when we invest in Black women and Black children, we help entire generations. That's my testimony. (Applause.)

Thank you. Thank you so much for being here and for your work at the A.M.E. Zion Church. Tell me the full name because I was trying to write it down.

Alleyne, A-l-l-e-y-n-e, Memorial.

Yep, A.M.E. --

Memorial.

Memorial.

Alleyne Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church.

Received. Thank you so much for being here and for being one of the first witnesses to testify regarding adult literacy and the importance of adult literacy in education and access. So thank you very, very much for being here. We'll be certain to follow up with you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any further witnesses that I did not call? Are there any witnesses to give public comment whose name has not been called? Please approach the witness table. I saw two hands, three. Okay. Are there any further witnesses whose names have not been called or any witnesses who wish to give public comment today? (No response.)

Okay. All right. Please state your name for the record and then proceed with your testimony. It's good to see you. Thank you for hanging out with us all morning.

Good afternoon. My name is Nefertiti Rayner. I'm a community organizer and a Philadelphia resident. Thank you for this hearing on the State of the Economy for Black women in Philadelphia. It is a critical conversation that reflects real conditions affecting women across the city. Last time I was here, I spoke about the salon where I worked and the owner, a Black woman, and her experience trying to access support through the Catalyst Fund Grant program. I'm returning because that experience reflects a broader economic reality for Black women-owned businesses across Philadelphia. Black women are not only workers but also business owners and key contributors to neighborhoods. They operate essential small businesses like salons and service-based shops that create jobs, support families and sustain commercial corridors. Despite that role, access to capital remains uneven, especially for micro businesses without institutional or grant writing support. This gap between economic contribution and access to funding defines the current conditions facing Black women entrepreneurs in this city. This can be strengthened through targeted funding set aside for Black women-owned businesses with existing small business programs. It also requires simplified and standardized grant access, along with technical assistance with micro businesses without institutional support, and it will also include mandatory public reporting on who is applying for and receiving funding so equity and access can be measured and accountability can be ensured. If we cannot measure who is receiving funding, then we cannot claim the system is equitable. Thank you. (Applause.)

Thank you, and thank you so much for being here again. And I'm hopeful that you all were able to connect with the Commerce Department since the last time that you were here. I know we had them meet with you all on the spot.

We were, and I advised my boss, the owner of the salon, to reach out to Councilmember Curtis Jones because he is her Councilmember in that District. But we were told that she had an LLC before and she changed her name. She connected both of them on the application. They did not review both of them, so they denied her for the grant.

Oh, okay. Received. So that's why the technical assistance on the back end that you mentioned in your testimony is important, which is something that we have been seeking to fund, even through the work that we've done recently on the H.O.M.E. Plan. I think it will be advantageous for you all to again meet with Commerce and/or Revenue to ensure that whatever happened on the back end doesn't happen potentially in the future for additional opportunities. So I'll make sure we take your information, okay, and then make sure we do the connection with Councilman Jones' office, Revenue and also with the Commerce Department. Okay.

Thank you so much.

Because I remember you from last time. Your hair was different last time, but I didn't forget you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Yes. Thank you for having us. I'm --

Please pull the mic up so the stenographer can hear you and just restate your name for the record.

I'm Folami Irvine. I wasn't going to speak, but I had kind of, you know, the young people encouraged me to come today, so I'm glad I did come. I was being a little stubborn because I was kind of through with politics. I'm just a straight- faced person to speak honestly. So one of the biggest things I'm seeing is I'm very passionate about the work I do. I didn't just talk about community. I invested in it. I purchased a home to create a space for maternal health, education, culture preservation, youth programs, storytelling, herbal education and community gathering. Many women over 50 are carrying projects like this with very limited funding and resources. We're still doing the work because the community needs it, but we need stronger support systems, partnerships, investments, so these spaces can survive and grow. Another thing I also wanted to add to it is that I've been fully funded to do a program in the school district. I reached out to over 30 schools. Only one principal returned my call, and that was Overbrook High School. So I also brought other women who are quilters, sewers, that we can bring activities in schools for children. Unfortunately, there are a lot of times -- as the young lady here was saying, sometimes gatekeepers. They won't let us in the schools. The children want us in here. The last time I was able to come into school, it took me five years. And that was because of my Councilman Curtis Jones and Mr. Overton. I worked with five girls. I was supposed to get $500 per workshop. I got nothing. I got nothing because the counselor threw to me all the young ladies who were a problem. So the funders have -- we had funding here in Philadelphia where all of us in here today can be getting paid. But if that principal does not want that program in her or his school, that program cannot go in there and it's sad. It's an atrocity. And I speak because my daughter will be starting medical school in two weeks. And I give all praises. And I know it's the work that I gave back to other people. And these schools do not have a lot of programs. I'm a veteran and I've been a mentor and I've been giving back in the communities. Like she said, I come from the bootstrap. I don't get -- I brought a house in Strawberry Mansion. I pay $2,000 every month. I don't get nothing back from it. So it's just really unfortunate. We need programs in these schools. It's not just about my daughter being successful. If I win and nobody else wins, it doesn't mean nothing. It means nothing to me, you know. And I also thank you very much. My sister was killed. But before my sister was killed, you reached out and called our home. You had your staff call because my sister was unhoused and was mentally ill. And you reached out to my family. I will never forget you. You reached out and my sister was killed. But before she was killed, you reached out and you tried to get her help along with the police officer in Lower Merion. Unfortunately, they put her in the streets and she was killed. Two weeks after y'all helped her get into a place, the social worker was very nasty, put my sister on the street, put her out in the cold rain and she was later killed two weeks later. But I remember you reaching out to me.

My -- I remember you --

Yes, your daughter walked by and saw my sister and she was frightened. Your office called my home up. And I was caring for my mom who just passed. Yeah.

Oh, I'm so sorry for your loss.

I'll never forget you. So you about the only person that I really kind of -- two other ones, y'all do the work. Because everybody don't do no 12 work --

Thank you. I'm so sorry for your loss. I will never -- I thank you for saying that because I still remember the day that my daughter and I -- I think at that time my daughter may have been 6 or 7 years old, and we saw your sister on the side of the road. And we stopped and we asked her if she needed help. And I don't know how we figured out how to find you all with no information or anything. I think your sister may have given us a telephone number.

She gave -- my sister sent you to me because I was caring for my mom at the time.

Yes. I called you from the side of the road, trying to get her help to ensure she could be somewhere safe in housing. I will never forget that day. I remember exactly where we were. But I'm so sorry for your loss and thank you for the work that you do.

Thank you.

But I also wanted to say that I'm excited to hear about Overbrook High School. But I wanted to connect you with Dr. Robin Cooper from CASA. That's the administrator over all of the principal union, and she works with all the different principals. So we want to connect you with Dr. Robin Cooper. So I'll ask my team to do that so that maybe she can help make the soft introduction with all of the other principals. I know Principal Graham is doing a great job at Overbrook and always looking for resources for his students. But we want to make sure we make the connection with Dr. Robin Cooper. Thank you for saying that because I never forgot your sister.

Thank you for looking out for my sister.

Thank you. Please state your name for the record and proceed with your testimony.

Good afternoon. My name is Alicia Gillespie. I'm a mother, a change advocate, a mover and a shaker and a thriver. I'm here to give insight on my experiences and to share solid solutions to empower and strengthen the Black women of Philadelphia. As a sole provider, my life has been full of ups and downs, victories, losses and wins. From sicknesses, dealing with systems of many kinds, my number one policy will be to create a safety net to help women invest, build, and grow and have financial stability, which can promote steady mental health, savings, asset building and homeownership. With this policy in place, everyone can benefit from this generation and the generations to come. A bill only designed for Black women to thrive called the Thrive Bill. This city, country, world was built on the backs of our ancestors. Yet we are constantly being overlooked. Why not start with us, the experts, the ones with the lived experience. Many times I dreamed of this opportunity to share about the darkest times I endured in my life and just needed a push to assist with rent, bills, so I can escape the shelter system, abusive relationships with no strings attached. Why not partner together with such organizations as Women's Way to help change the narrative of women in Philadelphia? We are not incapable. We need a source to create resources. Thank you. (Applause.)

Thank you and thank you for being here again. I remember you at our last hearing and I appreciate the work that you've been doing. So thank you so much for hanging in there with us and continuing to support the work. We want to continue to support the work you're doing.

Thank you. I appreciate you.

Thank you so much. Are there any additional witnesses here to testify? (No response.)

Any panels or names who have not been called, wishing to testify or who were called and are unable to testify? (No response.)

Okay. Seeing none, we thank you all so much for being here. I want to thank all my colleagues who were here. We have two hearings today and several other events, but they were all here today in support of this resolution. There being no further bills or resolutions on the agenda, this will conclude the business before the Committee on Finance today. Thank you very much for your attendance and for your participation. Thank you, thank you, thank you. (Applause.) - - - (Committee on Finance concluded at 12:33 p.m.) - - - C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. _______________________________ TANEHA CARROLL