Nonprofit seeks to plant seeds of wealth by coaching minority farmers

A nonprofit organization focused on finance, racial equality and climate aims to build wealth in historically excluded communities by advising American farmers on business and investing.

The Croatan Institute is seeking Black, Hispanic, Asian American and other minority farmers in North Carolina to attend monthly workshop meetings and 15 hours of coaching sessions as part of its "Financial Health Investment Project." Later this month, the Durham-based nonprofit will start the second of two pilot groups of farmers taking part in the program, which is sponsored by the 11th Hour Project of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy's Schmidt Family Foundation and a sustainable investment nonprofit organization called the Globetrotter Foundation. The organizers hope to help the farmers "engage with the capital that is better situated to work with the community," said Croatan Senior Fellow Sharlene Brown.

Some farmers bring more experience in business and personal finance, and Durham itself has been a hub of Black wealth since the late 1800s with its own "Black Wall Street" district and, later, with a nickname as the "Capital of the Black Middle Class." About three dozen farms, food and beverage companies, health and wellness firms and artisans currently sell their wares twice a month at Durham's Black Farmers' Market. 

Free financial coaching for farmers adds to Croatan's existing programs in its "Racial Equity, Economics, Finance, and Sustainability" initiative, which includes ensuring that a portfolio is invested in stocks, bonds and other assets that further racial equality. The move comes as wealth managers such as UBS, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase and others invest in historically excluded groups through their own efforts to reach out specifically to Black clients and other minority customers. Over the next eight years, financial services firms that "offer more equitable, more accessible and better products and services" aimed at Black consumers could generate as much as $225 billion in business, according to an estimate this month by consulting firm McKinsey.

For Brown, who volunteers as a financial coach to low-income people and previously worked in microlending with institutions in Africa and the Middle East, Croatan's program revolves around building trust and offering practical education for the business owners.

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"When folks feel overwhelmed, they take the first thing they're offered, which isn't always the best offer," she said. "Given the history and the legacy, the trust isn't always there. We want farmers to feel better prepared … Financial literacy in itself doesn't work. You have to coach people through that journey."

Each of the up to a half dozen participants must identify as Black, Hispanic, Native or another "person of color" and have been a farmer for at least one year, according to Croatan. The program's agenda includes developing a working budget, creating a personal or business emergency pool of money and starting to use an expanded business plan. Next February, Brown and the Croatan team will review the first two pilot cohorts to judge the effectiveness of the program, which could expand to other states. 

Jireh Family Farm, a meat, egg and herb producer founded five years ago by Valarie and Immanual Jarvis, is a 4-acre farm on the outskirts of Durham. It takes its name from the Old Testament phrase "Jehovah-Jireh," which means, "God will provide," and Immanual Jarvis said in an interview that this is the first year that he and his wife have hired full-time employees. Since the couple brought business and management backgrounds from prior careers in real estate and nursing, respectively, Jarvis said they wouldn't likely be interested in signing up for Croatan's program themselves.

He acknowledged, though, that farming is a "very daunting" business when it comes to finding capital, calculating the cost of products and assessing the risks. Some farmers may not be aware of how they could use social media to expand their base of customers or that it can be possible to make money off land without owning it, Jarvis said. With challenges like the expense of raising animals and holding meat, prospective farmers have their hands full.

"That time can be problematic if you don't have resources to cover while you're waiting to recoup your investment," Jarvis said. "In my opinion, farming is one of those industries where the more information you have, the less likely it is you're actually going to do it."

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Croatan plans to remove some of the difficulty for participants in its program by helping them locate financing through credit unions and banks, private investors, lending circles or aid available in the Inflation Reduction Act signed by President Biden last month. The coaching led by Brown could also help with other day-to-day needs.

"How do you get from A to B?" she said. "You can dump knowledge on people and walk away, but if they're not holding those concepts they're not mastering it."