Eleventh Circuit Blocks Venture Fund’s Grants for Black Women

A venture capital foundation’s grant program for businesses run by Black women was prohibited from closing its application window Sept. 30 or picking a winner until further ordered, a split Eleventh Circuit ruled.

The American Alliance for Equal Rights has established that the Fearless Fund’s racially exclusionary program—the Fearless Strivers Grant Contest—is substantially likely to violate 42 U.S.C. § 1981, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit said in an order issued Sept. 30.

American Alliance sued Fearless Fund on behalf of three White and Asian women, arguing that the program violates § 1981, which bans racial discrimination ...