In partnership with the Black Economic Alliance (BEA) Foundation, a team of Urban researchers conducted landscape scans in five cities (Atlanta, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; Cleveland, Ohio; Los Angeles, California; and Montgomery, Alabama) across four policy domains (housing and real estate, work and wages, business and entrepreneurship, and financial inclusion) to highlight examples of impactful public-private partnerships that address economic disparities, raise the floor for Black communities, and, in so doing, grow the local economy.

Why This Matters

Persistent racial inequities in income, wealth, housing and homeownership, access to capital, and business growth continue to constrain economic opportunity for Black individuals and families, which, in turn, limits cities’ long-term economic potential. As federal funding grows more uncertain and cities face mounting demands to meet resident needs and deliver economic growth, public-private partnerships offer a pragmatic and scalable approach to mobilizing resources and sustaining impact across policy domains.

What We Found

We found that these partnerships did not succeed by happenstance; they succeeded by intentional design and investment. While these cities differ in size, economic growth status, and geography, they share the following common conditions that allowed these partnerships to effectively achieve programmatic goals:

• strong mayoral commitment to collaboration and an institutionalization of this commitment and investment in city government
• credible initiating partners to help unlock more diversified funding and support early innovation
• diversified funding to ensure sustainability and resilience
• focused resource concentration to achieve place-based impact in priority neighborhoods
• strategic engagement of private-sector actors with a vested interest in the community’s economic growth
• thoughtful integration of strong community-based organizations to support implementation and ensure community voice
• intentional use of “big moments” aligned with an overarching strategy to scale impact

How We Did It

Between March and December 2025, Urban conducted landscape scans in Atlanta, Birmingham, Cleveland, Los Angeles, and Montgomery to identify programs or models that mirror or illustrate the interventions outlined in the BEA Foundation’s Architecture for Action framework. Each BEA Foundation city of interest has a Black population of 30 percent or more and/or has sizable Black neighborhoods and communities. We drew insights from initiatives’ own reporting and previous external evaluations and documented the roles that policymakers, the business sector, philanthropy, and community-based organizations have played in the initiatives. The research team also participated in the design and execution of the BEA Foundation’s Architects for Change Initiative, which engaged local and national changemakers to source additional initiatives and early feedback on the landscape scans in Cleveland, Birmingham, and Montgomery.