ImpactAlpha, March 11 — The Souls Grown Deep Foundation is providing a $600,000 convertible note to Paskho, a Black-owned eco-friendly apparel company.
Souls Grown Deep holds one of the largest collections of art by African American artists in the U.S. south. Paskho will open a makers pod in Boykin, AL as part of a new strategy to move all its clothing manufacturing to underserved U.S. communities. More than 100 artists in Souls Grown Deep’s collections have lived and worked in Boykin for four generations (see, “Souls Grown Deep Foundation to invest $1 million in artists’ hometowns”).
Paskho “offers new opportunities for fair wages through high-quality jobs for a community that has faced historic discrimination and barriers to access for decades,” said Soul Grown Deep’s Maxwell Anderson. Paskho’s Patrick Robinson says the company can help “disrupt poverty and inequality by empowering makers and following sustainable practices.”
The investment is part of an impact investing strategy created with Upstart Co-Lab to promote racial and social justice and economic opportunity. Souls Grown Deep says market-access strategies have helped create $500,000 in direct income for more than 50 quilters in the past six months.
Separately, the foundation partnered with N.Y.-based nonprofit Nest to help quilters promote and sell products.
