Why StitchCrew Partnered with The Anita Hill Scholarship Fund
- May 13
- 3 min read
At StitchCrew, our work has always been about systems, who they serve, who they exclude, and what it takes to change them. We believe economic opportunity is not separate from democracy, safety, or justice. They are deeply connected.
That is why partnering with The Anita Hill Scholarship Fund felt not only aligned with our mission, but necessary.
Too often, conversations about entrepreneurship focus solely on innovation, hustle, or access to capital. But behind every successful founder, every thriving business, and every healthy economy is something more foundational: safety and security.
People cannot build when they are surviving.
They cannot take risks, launch companies, create jobs, or innovate when they fear discrimination, harassment, retaliation, violence, economic instability, or the erosion of their rights. Financial security, legal protections, and personal safety are not “extras” that come after success. They are the conditions that make success possible in the first place. And yet, for many women, especially women of color, those conditions remain deeply unequal.
Women own more than 40% of businesses in the United States, yet receive less than 2% of venture capital funding, women of color less than 1%. Women remain nearly half the workforce, but continue to face disproportionate barriers to advancement, caregiving burdens, pay inequities, and workplace discrimination – particularly Black Women. Furthermore, in many parts of the country, women today face the erosion of protections and rights that previous generations fought hard to secure.
These are not isolated issues. They are structural ones.
When people lack economic stability, they become more vulnerable to exploitation. When workplaces are unsafe, talent leaves. When legal systems fail to protect individuals equally, trust in institutions erodes. And when entire groups of people are excluded from power and capital, innovation, economic growth, and democracy itself suffer.
Why Professor Anita Hill’s legacy Matters.
Professor Hill did more than tell the truth in a moment when the system discouraged it. She changed the national conversation about power, workplace harassment, gender equity, and accountability. Her courage helped expose how institutions often protect power over people and how difficult, but necessary, it is to challenge systems that were not built to serve everyone equally.
Her work reminds us that democracy is not simply about voting. Democracy depends on whether people feel safe enough to participate fully in society, in classrooms, in boardrooms, in workplaces, in courtrooms, and in entrepreneurship.
Economic participation is civic participation.
When women are financially secure, they gain more agency over their lives, families, and communities. When entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds have access to resources and networks, they create jobs, solve problems, and strengthen local economies. When future lawyers, advocates, and public servants are supported in advancing civil rights and gender equity, they help build institutions people can trust.
Why The Anita Hill Scholarship Fund Matters.
This scholarship is not only about honoring Professor Hill’s legacy. It is about investing in the next generation of leaders who are willing to strengthen democracy, expand access to justice, and build systems that are more equitable and less extractive.
It also matters that this work is beginning in Oklahoma, a place deeply connected to Professor Hill’s story and reflective of the complexity of our country itself. Real change rarely begins in the most comfortable places. It begins where people are willing to confront difficult truths and work together anyway.
The Anita Hill Scholarship Fund exists today because a group of extraordinary women decided that honoring a legacy also meant building something tangible for the future. Beverly Carmichael, Teresa Bingman, and Judge Tammy Kemp did not simply believe in this idea, they organized around it, championed it, and brought it to life.
At StitchCrew, we know that ecosystems do not change on their own. They change because people choose to invest in one another, through mentorship, funding, advocacy, education, and collective action.
That same belief drives our partnership with this scholarship fund.
We believe entrepreneurs need more than capital. They need environments where they feel protected, valued, and empowered to take risks. We believe communities thrive when women can fully participate economically and civically. And we believe that supporting future leaders committed to civil rights and democracy is not separate from economic development, it is essential to it.
Because ultimately, the future of innovation depends on whether people feel safe enough to imagine one. And the future of democracy depends on whether everyone has the opportunity to help build it.
To learn more about The Anita Hill Scholarship Fund and StitchCrew’s work to expand opportunity and advance equitable systems, visit https://www.stitchcrew.com/anita-hill-scholarship