Friday Jan 17, the Parsons ELab’s hosted a longitudinal study workshop, “Closing The Gender Gap in Funding,” focused on identifying and addressing the systemic barriers female founders face. Female-identifying founders receive under 3% of all the funding available in the U.S. For Black, Brown, and Latina, it drops even lower. This flies in the face of all the data that shows investing in women creates better returns with less risk and lifts whole communities. This isn’t a zero-sum game or less for some and more for others, but a win/win when we invest in women.

Working with stakeholders on imagining preferred futures and reverse engineering to existing conditions opened up meaningful dialogue, ideas, and opportunities to see the various scenarios with fresh eyes, informing actionable interventions. Our engaging stakeholders’ conversations were insightful and impactful. Together, we explored key challenges such as human and cultural biases, time poverty, dream gaps, the impact of AI, and its potential to be a friend or foe in closing gender gaps in funding.

A huge thank you to the notable participants: Dina Kaplan, Dani Lopez, James B., Devon Kelley, Jacques-Philippe Piverger, Janna Meyrowitz Turner, Dexter Wilson, Celeste D. SmithAnd to the incredible facilitators: Rhea Alexander, Jody R. Weiss, Xenia Jankovich, Peter Martin, and Laura Martinez Martinez.

Huge shoutout to their partners— Chloe Capital, Parsons School of Design – The New School’, and Diversified Capital Coalition—for their support in making this vital work possible.Let’s continue to drive systemic change and ensure women founders receive the funding, recognition, and support they deserve. We are striving for 10% in 10 years! Here’s to closing the gender gap in startup funding—one startup at a time!