A CitiWorks Policy Briefing Reviving the 5% Solution: A Business Plan to Use the Black Dollar and Black Business to Revitalize Atlanta

Executive Summary

Atlanta’s Black community commands between $70–85 billion in annual spending power, yet most of those dollars leak out of the local economy—captured by corporations that spend over $3.5 billion each year to attract Black consumers while reinvesting little back into the community.

The 5% Solution, a key component of the original CitiWorks framework, presents a tangible strategy to reverse this trend. By redirecting just 5% of the existing Black consumer spending (equivalent to $3.5–$4.25 billion) into embedded and other Black businesses, Atlanta could potentially create tens of thousands of jobs, generate billions in new revenues, and reinvest nearly $1 billion back into the community within a five-year period.

This is not a social program or a form of entitlement. It is a business plan rooted in ownership, circulation, and growth—proof that economic power already exists within the community to fuel citywide revitalization.

1. The CitiWorks Principle: When the Black Community Works the Entire City Works

CitiWorks is built on the recognition that Black economic vitality is not separate from the city’s success—it is its foundation.

When embedded Black businesses thrive, neighborhoods stabilize, tax revenues rise, and civic health improves. Atlanta cannot claim to be a Black Mecca if the economic engine that built it is underutilized.

CitiWorks reframes economic justice as civic efficiency:

When the Black community thrives—when its dollars circulate and its businesses flourish—the entire city benefits.

2. There’s a Gold Mine in the Ghetto

• Black Atlanta households spend between $70 billion and $ 85 billion annually.

• A 5% shift = $3.5–$4.25 billion redirected each year into Black businesses.

• That is more than the annual budget of many Georgia counties—wealth already present in the community.

The issue is not scarcity but circulation. The dollars exist; they need direction.

3. The Black Business Landscape

Over 90% of Atlanta’s Black-owned firms are embedded microbusinesses, including barbershops, childcare centers, restaurants, local contractors, cafés, and service providers.

To absorb $3.5–$4.25B annually, Atlanta would need roughly 7,000–8,500 firms’ worth of new or expanded capacity each year, achievable through scaling existing businesses and cultivating new ones.

These enterprises form the civic foundation of CitiWorks: they are businesses that conform to and evolve with community values, while external firms often expect the community to conform to them.

4. The Black Market Advantage

• Corporations spend $3.5 billion annually to market to Black consumers.

• Black businesses already have that trust and cultural fluency—no ad campaign required.

• Modest growth—1,500 new embedded firms per year at $200,000 revenue each—produces $300M in new revenue and 3,000 new jobs annually.

Black culture is not a marketing niche; it is an economic engine that powers citywide consumption and innovation.

5. America’s Taboo Subject — Race

Race has too often been treated as a political subject rather than an economic one. The 5% Solution reframes race in purely business terms:

• No handouts. No charity.

• Just deliberate alignment between consumer power, ownership, and local business growth.

6. The 5% Blueprint

The plan works in three reinforcing tiers:

• Consumers: Spend 5% more with Black businesses → $3.5–$4.25B new annual revenue.

• Business-to-Business: Spend 5% more with each other → stronger contracting networks and supply chains.

• Community Giveback: 5% of revenues reinvested → $175–$212M per year for youth, culture, and corridor development.

Each tier strengthens the next, creating a continuous cycle of circulation, reinvestment, and civic return.

7. The Quantified Return

Category Annual Impact 5-Year Cumulative Impact 

• Recirculated Capital $3.5–$4.25B $17.5–$21.25B

• Jobs Created 35,000–42,500 105,000–127,500 job-years.

• Community Reinvestment $175–$212M $875M–$1.06B

This is how CitiWorks becomes tangible, turning civic principles into measurable, replicable growth.

8. Respecting the Base, Building Scale

• Small and single-operator businesses are not marginal; they form the backbone of circulation.

• Each haircut, childcare payment, or home repair is an act of economic resistance—dollars held in community orbit.

• Many scalable firms in logistics, technology, and construction start as local enterprises.

Strengthening the embedded base creates the conditions for scalable firms to emerge, generating a sustainable growth ladder that spans from the local to the regional level.

9. CITIWorks as the Inexhaustible Engine

As first declared in the original CITIWorks principle:

“When the Black community works, the entire city works.”

Each reinvested dollar strengthens Atlanta’s infrastructure, raises tax revenues, and expands regional competitiveness.

What uplifts embedded Black businesses uplifts the city itself.

10. The 5% Solution

At its core, the 5% Solution is simple, measurable, and scalable:

• 5% more consumer spending → billions in new circulation

• 5% more business-to-business trade → stronger supply chains

• 5% more giveback → nearly a billion reinvested in five years.

Start with 5%, prove the impact, then grow to 6.5%, 10%, and beyond.

Conclusion: A Black Blueprint for a Working City

The 5% Solution operationalizes CitiWorks—transforming principle into plan. It is not a subsidy or sentiment; it is an economic architecture built on intelligence, data, and discipline.

“This is our money, our businesses, and our market. The Black community can be both the producer and the consumer of its own prosperity.”

By respecting the small and single operators who hold the community together, while nurturing scalable firms that expand opportunity, CitiWorks creates a complete ecosystem—one that can make Atlanta’s Black economy not just symbolic, but structural.

When the Black community works, the entire city works.

That is CitiWorks.

BlacIntellec is a nonprofit think tank that researches and publishes intelligence on Black business and community prosperity in Atlanta. Founded by Joseph R. Hudson, it provides data, analysis, and strategy to inform civic decision-making. By treating Black businesses and churches as civic infrastructure. BlacIntellec frames the ideas and metrics that guide long-term community stability and growth.