What else can you do? More...

I see you and I appreciate your efforts. We have so much work to do. So here's a thing you can do today and a way to think about tomorrow.

tl;dr, I'm going to invite you to join me for 60 minutes at 6pm today to see something AWESOME. The BUILD NYC family is hosting a Virtual Pitch event featuring shark-tank style pitches from top teams in the program.

1. it'll be fun and blow your mind

2. you'll want to hire these kids onto your management team

3. these kids are the future.

So let's talk about the future for a second.

To maintain the momentum of this moment, we will collectively need a few things: stamina, resolve, accountability, and boldness.

Keep that same energy

This is a marathon. This moment is 401 years in the making. So it will take more than a few news cycles to build the kind of inclusive future that we all want for our kids. And it will take more than a few news cycles to dismantle (and REPLACE) the pieces of our system, social fabric, policies, and institutions that reinforce injustice.

Maintain your resolve

You are helping. Commit to doing more. I see you helping. I promise not to be satisfied with half measures. That means that even if we have a democratic president, we're not done. Even if police reform takes hold, we're not done. Even if we stop disenfranchising the black vote, or underfunding schools in black and brown neighborhoods...we're. not. done. We have to be as creative and expansive in our pursuit of justice as the architects of our current system were at sowing discord and inequity into every part of our society. Oh, and it'll be uncomfortable sometimes. We'll get some of it wrong. Stop and listen. Then. Keep. Going.

Be accountable

Go on the record. Then open up your books, business practices and databases and be ready to be judged. Relish the fact that we're, all of us together, watching, tracking, and ready to move past performative gestures. Where have you invested? Divested? Doubled down? How have you supported businesses, professionals, talent development, access to capital/networks/mentorship, policy change? Who've you pulled into the room to move the needle on changing perspectives and ultimately org charts?

Be BOLD

#blackLivesmatter doesn't end with making sure cops don't kill black people. That's just one aspect of what we're working for. Likewise, changing a profile pic, marching, knocking on doors, fundraising, hiring, funding, mentoring, donating, lobbying, and more are all needed to foment change. If investing your time, energy and resources into dismantling injustice is important to you, then think of your effort as a portfolio. No one thing you do will be perfect in returning all the change we need. Push forward. Be bold, especially in the places and spaces in which a person of color might feel at risk doing the same. Use your title, your money, your access, your privilege if you've got it. Ask your CEO how they plan to weave inclusivity and action into the fabric of the operation. Suggest to your boss that the team can do more than just "build a pipeline." Remind every colleague, neighbor or high school crush that whether it be in the workplace, the community, the law, the health or education system, fixing America requires us all to take action...and then MORE, BOLDER action.

You have to challenge your assumptions about what's enough. You have to proactively promote, resource, support, and amplify initiatives that build fairness, build awareness, build equity, build wealth, build joy, build community, build health, build access, build optionality, build justice and build futures for black and brown people. All of these things matter in addition to our lives.

So REGISTER NOW. Take 60 minutes today. Make the time to glimpse and support the diverse, vibrant future that you're already committed to making a reality. And get to know a little bit more about Build NYC, an incredible organization I'm proud to be a part of.