Two years after the formation of the Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ), a national affiliation of four independent Asian American civil rights groups, Paul Lee, who spent his professional career as a corporate attorney and stayed active in social justice issues, was still wondering how to strengthen the affiliation. Lee led the creation of AAAJ to be a national civil rights voice for Asian Americans. However, the affiliation still struggled to act as a unified group without a formal governance structure to resolve disagreements between the affiliates. Lee felt that the common goal of creating a national civil rights voice for Asian Americans was very important. But sustainably advancing towards that goal was a difficult task to master for AAAJ given that affiliates had differing priorities, boards, and working methods.

In May 2015 prominent leaders in St. Louis were celebrating the launch of the Contractor Loan Fund (CLF), a $10 million revolving loan fund meant to help area minority and women-owned construction contractors grow their businesses. John Dubinsky, the leader behind the advancement of this project, aimed to decrease the region's longstanding economic and social inequalities. Despite successfully scoping out the project, recruiting a team, fundraising, and launching the fund, Dubinsky was still worried about the process by which they would cultivate the growth of minority and women-owned construction contractors.