WEPOWER

WEPOWER envisions a nation where WE all have power to lead change so every community prospers. The reality is that Black and LatinX people are currently overlooked and underestimated. Even though they have solutions, capacities, and expertise, Black and LatinX folks are isolated from decision-making tables and spaces where ideas are created. Decisions are done to communities instead of imagined, created, and implemented with and by them. As a result, our systems–education, health, justice, and economic–are poorly designed and harmful.  

To disrupt systemic harms, WEPOWER’s mission is to activate community power to redesign education, economic, health, and justice systems to be just and equitable for all. 

1. We engage community through monthly gatherings and partnerships that amplify resident voice and cultivate their desire to lead or create systems change.
2. We activate change makers through cohort-based capacity building, support as they take action towards policy and systems change, and placement into positions where they influence policies and systems. 
3. We accelerate creators through (1) a small business accelerator where entrepreneurs access training, connections, and capital to scale ventures in place-based communities with whom we partner; and (2) a percentage of returns from WEPOWER’s investments into ventures going towards place-based community managed funds where residents democratically vote on how to allocate towards systems change. 

Learn more about our work, team, and press coverage at www.WEPOWERstl.org.