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About Us: Our Evolution
Since 2019, Concerned Black American Citizens, Inc. (CBAC) has been steadfast in advocating for economic justice and closing the racial wealth gap. Formally establishing ourselves as a grant administrator and fiscal sponsor, and achieving 501(c)(3) status, highlights our commitment to driving our own solutions and facilitating meaningful repair within our communities. This milestone represents a natural progression following our leadership in launching a multistate grassroots campaign to reestablish the Office of Freedmen's Affairs—an initiative that reflects our dedication to economic justice and self-determined solutions. In alignment with this progress, we have embraced the acronym CBAC, Inc. to reinforce our expanded role and long-term impact. This transformation strengthens our ability to serve as a trusted grant administrator and fiscal sponsor, equipping emerging nonprofits and community organizations with the resources and funding pathways they need for sustained success.
What This Means:
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We now administer economic justice and remediation funds on behalf of foundations, government agencies, and philanthropic partners.
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We offer fiscal sponsorship services to grassroots and emerging organizations, allowing them to access funding opportunities typically out of reach for small 501(c)(3) groups.
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We continue to advocate for policies and funding strategies that support economic justice initiatives.
[Contact Us] to learn more about our evolution and how we can support your organization.
Her Story
Dawn is an experienced executive professional with a long and successful career in the investment management field where she co-founded a 13 billion dollar investment firm. Following a merger, she went on to co-found a successful boutique commercial real estate development firm, Empress Development LLC with a long time friend and colleague. Dawn also started a technology-driven dry cleaning delivery system in luxury apartments around the Raleigh-Durham area, which she sold in 2019.
She is an experienced business and financial analyst as well as a talented political and economic strategist. She held a CFA designation from 1999 to 2012. She has extensive project management and supervisory experience.
During and since that time, Dawn remained heavily civically engaged, volunteering on various GOTV campaigns. It was in 2019 that Dawn became aware of the reparations movement and the lineage wealth gap which led to her uninterrupted advocacy for Freedmen Reparations and restorative policies to address systemic disparities in the American Freedmen community. Her own family lineage is a reflection of that heritage as a descendant combined of African, Indigenous, and European lineage and chattel enslavement in America.
She formed CBAC in 2019 to teach fellow Reparationists how to organize “empowerment blocks” in their community to advocate for their rights. Dawn has written numerous policy prescriptions and crafted demands to our representatives. In 2021, she co-founded The Reparationists Collective, a federally registered non partisan lobbying group advocating for edits to HR 40. She has written policies for COVID relief in the American Freedmen community and is committed to advocating for the end to disparities in home and farm ownership, education and financial net worth.
Dawn currently serves as the Chair of Durham, NC $2.4 million Participatory Budget Steering Committee, she is also serving as a commissioner on the One High Point Commission to study reparations for Black Americans in High Point, NC. Dawn also acts as the USDA Rural Partners Network Consultant for Historically Underserved Entities.