Black Voices: Money and Employment News from Across the Nation
- Texas emergency rule replaced the Historically Underutilized Business program with VetHUB, stripping certification from thousands of minority and women owned businesses overnight.
- LeBron James opened Buckets at House Three Thirty, creating hospitality jobs and hands on training for local families.
- Famous Amos and U.S. Black Chambers relaunched Ingredients for Success, awarding capital to early stage Black entrepreneurs to address funding gaps.
- Howard University will offer a course studying Cardi B's album rollout to teach music business, branding, and cultural scrutiny facing Black women artists.
Welcome to Black Wealth Watch, where we round up the biggest stories in Black business and economic news each week — the wins, the setbacks, the deals getting done, and the conversations we should be having about money, power, and who actually gets a seat at the table.
This week has a little bit of everything. LeBron built something for Akron that goes beyond a menu (or rings), Simone Biles opened her first restaurant in the airport of the city that made her, Famous Amos and U.S. Black Chambers are back with $150,000 for early-stage Black founders, Howard University is teaching the business of Cardi B, and the syllabus is more rigorous than you might expect. Oh, and in Texas, more than 15,000 minority-owned businesses lost their state certifications overnight and it barely made a ripple outside of local coverage, but of course, that’s why we’re here.
LeBron James Opens Buckets in Akron
Say what you want about celebrity owned business ventures, but this one is different, and it’s because they’ve got a GOAT behind them. On April 1, LeBron James opened Buckets, a full-service comfort food restaurant inside House Three Thirty, his foundation’s community hub in Akron, with a menu built around fried and roasted chicken, mac and cheese, collard greens, and wings in ten sauce options. I PROMISE families are staffing the restaurant, gaining hands-on hospitality experience and a paycheck in the process.
Famous Amos and U.S. Black Chambers Are Back for Year Six of Ingredients for Success
Ferrero North America and U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. have relaunched the 2026 Ingredients for Success initiative, distributing $150,000 in capital awards to three early-stage Black entrepreneurs at $50,000 each. The program was built around the legacy of Wally Amos, who founded one of the most recognizable snack brands in the country while navigating every barrier Black entrepreneurs still face today. A 2026 Wells Fargo report found that Black women-owned businesses grew 18.3% between 2022 and 2025, but capital access remains the wall that most founders keep running into. Applications are open through June 1 at FamousAmosIngredientsForSuccess.com.
Howard University Is Teaching the Business of Cardi B
Only at the Mecca would this make complete sense. Starting this fall, Howard students can enroll in “The Cardi B: Am I The Drama? The Art, Production, Marketing and Cultural Impact,” a three-credit elective developed with the Warner Music Blavatnik Center for Music Business. The course uses the rollout of Cardi B’s sophomore album as a live case study, an album that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with over 200,000 first-week sales, to examine the specific scrutiny that Black women in entertainment absorb and how that intersects with branding and public storytelling. Registration is open now for fall 2026.
Over 15,000 Minority-Owned Businesses Just Lost Their Texas State Certification
In December 2025, Texas Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock used emergency rulemaking to dismantle the state’s Historically Underutilized Business program, a bipartisan initiative created in 1999 to give minority and women-owned businesses better access to state contracts, restructuring it into VetHUB, a program limited exclusively to service-disabled veterans. More than 15,000 businesses, nearly 97% of all previously certified participants, lost their standing overnight, businesses that had collectively competed for over $4 billion in state contracts in 2024 alone. In March 2026, four business owners filed suit in Travis County arguing Hancock exceeded his authority and violated the Texas Constitution. The senator who helped write the original law in 1999 was unambiguous about who actually had the authority to end it, and it was not Kelly Hancock.
Simone Biles Just Made Layovers Worth It
If you’re flying through Houston, you now have a very good reason to get to the airport early. Simone Biles opened Taste of Gold inside Terminal A of George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on March 24, built in partnership with Athlete Playmaker Group, which specializes in athlete-branded airport dining. The cafe features sandwiches, shareables, salads, and her personal signature dish, a skewer with chicken, steak, shrimp, and vegetables, with design details pulled from her career including custom artwork and gold-accented touches tied to her leotard. For someone who has spent the better part of two decades flying in and out of this airport, it was probably a long time coming.
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