Speaker 1: Check me out at the annual Black Effect Podcast Festival,
Speaker 1: happening Saturday, April twenty seventh in Atlanta. Live podcasts are
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Speaker 1: Black Tech, Green Money, and also some of the best
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Speaker 1: and Carefully Reckless. Atlanta is one of my favorite cities
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Speaker 1: not having any limits on our potential largely was shaped
Speaker 1: by Atlanta. So to be there with you doing this
Speaker 1: podcast talking about how we build or leverage technology to
Speaker 1: bill wealth. Come on, man, doesn't get better. I want
Speaker 1: to see you there. Get your tickets today at Black
Speaker 1: Effect dot comback Slash Podcast Festival. I'm with Lucas and
Speaker 1: this is Black Tech, Green Money. Jay Biron is the
Speaker 1: lead develop brad Woodlong Central, a nine hundred million dollar
Speaker 1: economic development project on Chicago's South Side. The massive project
Speaker 1: will include a boutique hotel, call center, data center, residential buildings, theater,
Speaker 1: urban farm, and micro grid, and there are plans to
Speaker 1: integrate technology. A lot of technology like ai AR and
Speaker 1: VR to assist with the community, health, safety, education, and
Speaker 1: tourism aspects of the project in the developing with the community,
Speaker 1: not in spite of it. This project focuses on economic
Speaker 1: development without displacement. There's this pervasive South Side of Chicago
Speaker 1: narrative that exists focusing on how rough it can be
Speaker 1: in the stereotype echoes out of many majority black or
Speaker 1: minority communities. But Jay Byron and his partners then just
Speaker 1: let that perspective continue, but are actively working to change
Speaker 1: it with entrepreneurial efforts. So what was the catalyst that
Speaker 1: joven to engage?
Speaker 2: The media does a terrible job at representing the Chicago
Speaker 2: go in.
Speaker 3: Its true form.
Speaker 2: It's not even the top ten and most dangerous cities
Speaker 2: if you look at statistics. But being that this is
Speaker 2: a church driven project and the church has been there
Speaker 2: for ninety years, both my grandfather and my father are
Speaker 2: community activist, and my grandfather did about seventeen developments within Woodlawn.
Speaker 2: Woodland is probably one of the most organized Black communities.
Speaker 2: It really functions on four major pillars economic development, health, education,
Speaker 2: and safety.
Speaker 3: And so in regards to your question about safety, you.
Speaker 2: Have to make sure that you are highlighting the positive
Speaker 2: sides of.
Speaker 3: What can be within the community, and.
Speaker 2: It comes from a private development space or a private
Speaker 2: investment space. And so the more people from the community
Speaker 2: invest in the community, the safer it becomes. So when
Speaker 2: you have high economic development and safety, then you have
Speaker 2: low needs for health and lower needs or higher needs
Speaker 2: for education. And so you know it. In the media,
Speaker 2: they don't do a very good job, but we feel
Speaker 2: that when you invest privately into the community, it is
Speaker 2: it is eminent that the economics become better for everyone.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about that. For the people who are
Speaker 1: not very familiar with Woodlawn Central, can you explain what
Speaker 1: this project is?
Speaker 2: Sure, Woodlawn Central is a catalyst development from a much
Speaker 2: larger full community plan that we did in.
Speaker 3: Pre pandemic, and we coined that.
Speaker 2: As a twenty sixty planet And so it's about bringing
Speaker 2: culture and identifiable culture to what we understand is the
Speaker 2: black community. And so when you look around and you
Speaker 2: see Chinatown and Ukrainian Village and Little Italy and Retown,
Speaker 2: there's an ethnic centric sustainability that we have not yet
Speaker 2: been able.
Speaker 3: To benefit from.
Speaker 2: And we haven't seen this kind of complete community in
Speaker 2: over one hundred years since Greenwood, but Woodland Central is
Speaker 2: that future understanding of that future manifestation of if Greenwood
Speaker 2: had never happened from.
Speaker 3: The devastation of it.
Speaker 2: So we're looking at house not just housing, but also
Speaker 2: commercial space. So with non Central is about eight hundred
Speaker 2: and seventy mixed use sorry mixed.
Speaker 3: Income housing, affordable to market.
Speaker 2: Rate and some luxury, so two hundred and fifteen thousand
Speaker 2: grow square feet of commercial space.
Speaker 3: We have a.
Speaker 2: Business center which is consist of a data center and
Speaker 2: a digital resource center that's focused.
Speaker 3: On aiar VR for the training and development for the
Speaker 3: youth and adults.
Speaker 2: We have a one hundred and fifty four key hotel,
Speaker 2: a new headhouse for our transit.
Speaker 3: We have a micro grid.
Speaker 2: It's about eleven thousand square for microgrid that powers the
Speaker 2: entire campus itself. In some of the community, we have
Speaker 2: five hundred and thirty thousand cubic feet of vertical farming
Speaker 2: space which renders about three tons of produce annually.
Speaker 3: So we can source for the community.
Speaker 2: As well as a distribution model. In Illinois, every grocer
Speaker 2: has to source locally, so it's a really good model
Speaker 2: for the community to not just benefit from food resourcing
Speaker 2: but it's also a good economic opportunity as well. We're
Speaker 2: going to replace the parking since the project is on.
Speaker 3: The church parking facility. It's about eight acres of parking.
Speaker 2: That doctor Brazier, after some coaxing, said, Okay, yeah, that
Speaker 2: sounds good. I like the sustainability model. And so it's
Speaker 2: it's a it's a it's a really large project, about
Speaker 2: eight hundred and ninety five million dollars uh, and we're
Speaker 2: real close to groundbreaking.
Speaker 1: And so when you think about you mentioned the micro
Speaker 1: grid and other things, when you think about what's different
Speaker 1: about this project versus many other you know, economic development
Speaker 1: community development projects with your focus on integrating technology and sustainability, Like,
Speaker 1: how are you hoping to change the outcomes for our
Speaker 1: people in these communities when you rely on those sorts
Speaker 1: of assets and features.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question. One of the one of
Speaker 2: the things that in our in our musing about the
Speaker 2: development itself is we have to kind of leap frog
Speaker 2: one hundred years of the lack of social and economic
Speaker 2: sustains ability and then leap frog another thirty years into
Speaker 2: the future.
Speaker 3: Of which is you know, eminence of AI being.
Speaker 2: Completely integrated within the next ten years, and so we're
Speaker 2: going to focus on making sure that those who have
Speaker 2: the ability to learn new skills and technology that they
Speaker 2: benefit from that in a in a career startup, or
Speaker 2: even a jobs process.
Speaker 3: This also brings social sustainability. As we're looking.
Speaker 2: At creating Woodland Central as a community innovation district, we're
Speaker 2: looking at making sure that there's a digital master plan
Speaker 2: that goes along with the physical master plan, which is your.
Speaker 3: Plumbing and electrical and what have you.
Speaker 2: So we want to make sure that we're setting up
Speaker 2: the community to be an arm of a smart city.
Speaker 2: So you have a smart city, but then you also
Speaker 2: have a smart community that can access us all of
Speaker 2: the information and make.
Speaker 3: Sure that we are as up to date on.
Speaker 2: All of our technology, which really will help exponentially in
Speaker 2: economic development and education.
Speaker 1: And so I found this quote from you in a
Speaker 1: different story where you said technology is a tool and
Speaker 1: it should be used as a tool and not a solution.
Speaker 1: It should be humanity over technology as opposed to technology
Speaker 1: over humanity. Can you say more about that?
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I think everybody is really afraid of AI taking
Speaker 2: their jobs and taking over and making decisions for us.
Speaker 3: And I think that if we allow.
Speaker 2: Technology to become the solution, then I think those things
Speaker 2: will happen.
Speaker 3: So it's really up to us to.
Speaker 2: Make sure that we are being thoughtful about the social
Speaker 2: and economic approach that that looks at the immediate need,
Speaker 2: the future need, and the extreme forecast to make sure
Speaker 2: that these new technologies are that are coming up actually
Speaker 2: fit into a model of our own sustainability where humanity
Speaker 2: is always at the forefront of everything that we do.
Speaker 3: And I feel like though we.
Speaker 2: Are building buildings, we need to also build people, and
Speaker 2: in building people, we must have a humanitarian approach to it.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 1: I love it. So as a tool, how do you
Speaker 1: see these technologies enhancing both the resident experience and the
Speaker 1: overall you know, economic ecosystem for the community?
Speaker 2: Sure, the educator, I mean communications is probably I think
Speaker 2: one of the greatest opportunities that create us to use
Speaker 2: technology as a tool are smart buildings, being able to
Speaker 2: access information as quickly as possible. Information is so fast
Speaker 2: and it's going to become even faster, and to be
Speaker 2: able to access information at the rate of which it
Speaker 2: is coming out, and having the technology being able to accommodate.
Speaker 3: For anything that we need to be ready for whether.
Speaker 2: It's a blackout or another pandemic or you know, or
Speaker 2: even an event, being able to use that technology also
Speaker 2: to stay up on our bills, to stay up on
Speaker 2: our utilities, knowing how much we're using and how much
Speaker 2: we can say. And so it's it comes down to
Speaker 2: mitigating the risk for the for the investors as well
Speaker 2: as the developers and especially the residents.
Speaker 1: Right that, I was looking at your website and there's
Speaker 1: this phrase in there, you know, development without displacement, which
Speaker 1: I really thought was cool. And and you mentioned this
Speaker 1: a little bit when you're talking about you know, building
Speaker 1: on parking lines versus you know, taking over other housing.
Speaker 1: And so can you elaborate on like the strategies maybe
Speaker 1: initiatives that are in place to achieve this without you know,
Speaker 1: the negative sort of gentrification that has happened in other places.
Speaker 2: Right absolutely, the the my background in urban planning, one
Speaker 2: of the things that happens a lot is especially within
Speaker 2: our community, is people.
Speaker 3: From the urban planning side are don't look like us.
Speaker 2: And so they're coming in and they're really kind of
Speaker 2: checking the box and they're saying, okay, talk to the community.
Speaker 3: Check right, the community.
Speaker 2: Is in favor check and really are absent of the
Speaker 2: lived experience for us and for our community, and so
Speaker 2: it's almost impossible for them to develop our community and
Speaker 2: somehow it not affect us in a negative way. So
Speaker 2: the idea of development without displacement is based on the
Speaker 2: fact that it's development from the inside out. It's coming
Speaker 2: from the community that says, here's what we understand is
Speaker 2: our needs. Here are the things that we understand as
Speaker 2: a process to uh plan development or urban development and designed.
Speaker 3: Here are the things.
Speaker 2: That we know that will need our children's children's children will.
Speaker 3: Need within this process.
Speaker 2: And and that that helps mitigate again the risk of displacement.
Speaker 2: And because also that this is a church driven project.
Speaker 3: And I want to say this.
Speaker 2: That that I know, I know lately churches have been
Speaker 2: kind of a complex conversation. But the church is the
Speaker 2: only and longest standing organization within the Black community and
Speaker 2: is also the only organization and that can do projects
Speaker 2: at this level, and so it takes the church. Let
Speaker 2: me say that the survival of our community squarely lies
Speaker 2: on the shoulders of the church. And I've gotten doctor
Speaker 2: Brazier to understand that in many different ways. And one
Speaker 2: of the things that he has publicly announced is that
Speaker 2: he's going to take ten percent of the profit of
Speaker 2: Woodland Central and recirculated into the community as a CDFI.
Speaker 2: So that way, when taxes and things do raise, just based.
Speaker 3: Upon the.
Speaker 2: Natural development process, that there will be grants and sponsorships,
Speaker 2: scholarships for residents, current residents who.
Speaker 3: Will be able to stay in their homes. So, I know,
Speaker 3: I kind of you know, it's a little bit.
Speaker 2: Of a longer story, but I think that we have
Speaker 2: to thread the idea of displacement or development without displacement
Speaker 2: really comes from the inside out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was reading up on this and you talk
Speaker 1: a lot about like sustainability, particularly in regards to energy generation.
Speaker 1: Can you talk about you know, you mentioned micro grids
Speaker 1: a little bit, but can you talk about what you're
Speaker 1: doing with micro grid and and other efforts that you
Speaker 1: might be working on here.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, the microgrid is is really important and probably would
Speaker 2: be one of the first things that go in. Even
Speaker 2: though it's not one of those kind of like sexy,
Speaker 2: you know buildings and you know, architectural type of aspects
Speaker 2: to the project, it really is kind of the cornerstone
Speaker 2: of the energy sustainability. As a data center, really takes
Speaker 2: up a lot of power, and.
Speaker 3: So to make make the data center.
Speaker 2: And and the overall digital infrastructure makes sense, the microgrid
Speaker 2: in and of itself is is really important.
Speaker 3: UH.
Speaker 2: And one of the things that I like about where
Speaker 2: the direction we're going in is we're actually creating a
Speaker 2: command center that that uses uh the power and calculates
Speaker 2: and analyzes how much power is going to uh the
Speaker 2: vertical farm, how much is going to the residents, how
Speaker 2: much is going to and and it's it's an opportunity
Speaker 2: to do waste management and utility management.
Speaker 3: And without the microgrid, we.
Speaker 2: Wouldn't be able to actually use those those kind of
Speaker 2: technological tools without without having that level without.
Speaker 1: So I we talk a lot about home ownership, and
Speaker 1: home ownership has been largely, you know, preached as a
Speaker 1: way to build wealth, you know, generationally, and I think about, well,
Speaker 1: I guess my question is how does Woodlawn consider facilitating
Speaker 1: home ownership or encouraging home ownership, Like, how does this
Speaker 1: opportunity play out so that the residents and people who
Speaker 1: are taking advantage of what you're building, they're able to
Speaker 1: build that generational wealth.
Speaker 3: Yeah, home ownership is really important to us.
Speaker 4: Affordable home ownership is really important to us. As a
Speaker 4: district development, We're not doing any single family homes, but
Speaker 4: this development will catalyze additional development which will bring more
Speaker 4: single family homes. But to your point of generational wealth,
Speaker 4: I think I would be remiss to not talk about.
Speaker 2: The generational practices that lead to generational wealth and commit
Speaker 2: and woodland Central because it's based in a culture over commerce, ideology,
Speaker 2: or philosophy. One of the things that we want to do,
Speaker 2: just intrinsically is make sure that we are creating processes
Speaker 2: and procedures on how we operate one to another and
Speaker 2: how do we buy trades, cell give, borrow, live, learn.
Speaker 3: All of these things come to play when we're talking
Speaker 3: about generational wealth.
Speaker 2: Uh and and so when you look at other ethnic groups,
Speaker 2: they have antiquitous culture that they get.
Speaker 3: To rely on, which which which comes out in what
Speaker 3: they call customers.
Speaker 2: Right. So this customary way on how their kids raise
Speaker 2: their kids and so forth and so on, and then
Speaker 2: how they take care of their grandparents and.
Speaker 3: How they take care of each other.
Speaker 2: I want to be able to utilize this as an
Speaker 2: opportunity to begin to look at how we re emerge
Speaker 2: into a holistic community that then at the end of
Speaker 2: it becomes generational wealth and a self determination.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so I try not to position questions about,
Speaker 1: you know, being a black real estate developer, how do
Speaker 1: you work when is mostly white real estate developers around you?
Speaker 1: But like, how do you how do you navigate this?
Speaker 1: Obviously successfully and in the city as big as Chicago.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So nationally there's about one hundred and twelve thousand developers,
Speaker 2: and eleven hundred thousand them are not black, So we
Speaker 2: are a very small.
Speaker 3: Population within the industry.
Speaker 2: And so it is it is not for you know,
Speaker 2: the fate of heart, you know, this process of development,
Speaker 2: because you're dealing with with a number of different industries,
Speaker 2: from the financial industry to the construction industry to the
Speaker 2: community itself. And so I find it very interesting because
Speaker 2: I get to deploy a lot of the international education
Speaker 2: that I have, you know, from from you know, kind
Speaker 2: of doing independent studies overseas and saying this is how
Speaker 2: culture is built. So I kind kind of get to
Speaker 2: start in a space, in a blank space that says
Speaker 2: you don't know how to create valuation for the black community,
Speaker 2: So let me show you how it's done.
Speaker 3: And I'm not making anything up.
Speaker 2: What I'm doing is just mirroring all of the all
Speaker 2: of the other cultures.
Speaker 5: That that that have a of having a purview of
Speaker 5: a higher valuation, but utilizing that and doing it in
Speaker 5: a way that is industry industry industry standard, and and
Speaker 5: in in terms that these specific industries can can can understand.
Speaker 2: So I make no small plans. And I think that's
Speaker 2: the biggest that's the biggest thing to do because you've
Speaker 2: got people, you know, they don't want to talk to
Speaker 2: you unless you're talking about something, you know, above fifty
Speaker 2: million dollars. So so you got to you know, aim
Speaker 2: as high as you can in that space. And and
Speaker 2: I think that's what really tracks investors and being a
Speaker 2: to navigate.
Speaker 3: Through some of the processes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to talk about what you just mentioned
Speaker 1: right there, because you know, people don't want to talk
Speaker 1: about little bitty projects. And you know what holds up
Speaker 1: so many black entrepreneurs or would be black entrepreneurs is
Speaker 1: they see what it might take them to get started,
Speaker 1: and you see these stickers of you know, it's going
Speaker 1: to take one hundred thousand dollars to do this thing.
Speaker 1: It's going to take a million dollars to do this thing,
Speaker 1: and you got a nine hundred million dollar project here,
Speaker 1: and it's kind of like, you know, or how do
Speaker 1: you eat an elephant one by at a time? Like
Speaker 1: when you see this nine hundred million dollar project that
Speaker 1: you're embarking on, that doesn't mean you have nine hundred
Speaker 1: million dollars in the bank, and so so how do
Speaker 1: you so how do you put together the strategy as
Speaker 1: somebody who doesn't have nine hundred million dollars in the
Speaker 1: bank to say, you know what, this is what we're
Speaker 1: going to do. These are the steps to doing it.
Speaker 2: First and foremost, you have to have a vision, right,
Speaker 2: you have to you have to know exactly what you
Speaker 2: want to do.
Speaker 3: Our community is very is unique.
Speaker 2: In the approach because there's a there's a bit of
Speaker 2: a lack of infrastructure that that other communities have.
Speaker 3: So when we're looking at at how to.
Speaker 2: Do other smaller projects that are black owned and driven,
Speaker 2: they have to be catalyzed through.
Speaker 3: Larger projects like with mon cential.
Speaker 2: So so so there's something referential that says this worked
Speaker 2: over here, so therefore it can work over here. Because
Speaker 2: when you look at it as a whole, it's the
Speaker 2: condition that's the same.
Speaker 3: The location may be different, but we in.
Speaker 2: Our community need specific things in order for for us
Speaker 2: to be sustainable. And even if you do it one
Speaker 2: piece at a time, it's okay. At the at the
Speaker 2: onset of this where we're at right now, district development
Speaker 2: is is really important because it doesn't just change the characteristics.
Speaker 3: Of the community, it actually changes the condition. So if
Speaker 3: I was a.
Speaker 2: Smaller developer and I saw a project like ULN Central,
Speaker 2: I would actually reach out to that developer and say, hey,
Speaker 2: you know, where can I fit into this? Because I
Speaker 2: know that if I'm a part of this, then I
Speaker 2: can continue to grow.
Speaker 3: And do things, you know, as big as what you're doing.
Speaker 2: So somebody's got to step out and do a nine
Speaker 2: hundred million dollars project. So that way, we're setting the
Speaker 2: precedents and we're setting the pathway for other developers, other
Speaker 2: black developers to actually enter into the industry.
Speaker 1: You had mentioned we're talking about generational wealth that you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes it's not about just home ownership, which is a
Speaker 1: piece of it or could be a piece of generational wealth.
Speaker 1: You said, sometimes it's like the activities and behaviors of
Speaker 1: generational wealth. Can you talk more about that.
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: You know, one of the things that when you know,
Speaker 2: being being an age was really.
Speaker 3: Kind of the thing that that sparked me about how.
Speaker 2: How they see each other, one to one to one
Speaker 2: to the other, and the things that they do and
Speaker 2: the practices.
Speaker 3: That they do.
Speaker 2: You know, I found that, you know, it was very
Speaker 2: fascinating to me because being you know, from Chicago and
Speaker 2: watching you know, this kind of homogenized group of people
Speaker 2: be able to create such beautiful cities and create such beautiful.
Speaker 3: Cultural aspects.
Speaker 2: So it's about language, it's about food, it's about garb,
Speaker 2: it's about dress. How do we how do we do
Speaker 2: those things? And so I myself cannot create something that says, well,
Speaker 2: here's what we're going to do, right, we all have
Speaker 2: to say, here's a practice that we understand that is
Speaker 2: contributive to the survival of our generational bloodlines from across
Speaker 2: the board. And these are the things. Though we may
Speaker 2: not agree, our agreement is not as important as our
Speaker 2: contribution to the sustainability. And so there's a there's an
Speaker 2: incentivization process within this critical mass that should be created
Speaker 2: for us to understand that at the end of this
Speaker 2: at the at the end of our.
Speaker 3: Our agreement one to another.
Speaker 2: There is sustainability both socially and economically that we can
Speaker 2: always rely. I can leave this world knowing that my
Speaker 2: children are going to be okay, and and and and
Speaker 2: having to you know, mind my own business. You know,
Speaker 2: I'm okay with that, and and and contributing my gifts
Speaker 2: and talents. I'm okay with that too. And so so
Speaker 2: there has to be a spark, you know that that
Speaker 2: that begins to get us to start thinking, you know,
Speaker 2: in this way.
Speaker 1: How do you hold this what becomes a model across
Speaker 1: the country and not just in Chicago.
Speaker 2: It's all almost like if I had a crystal ball,
Speaker 2: I'd be able to answer that question so much.
Speaker 1: Do you know, I mean, this is your wish, you
Speaker 1: get to build it. You get to build a crystal
Speaker 1: ball on this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, great, So I would I would hope that,
Speaker 2: you know, with all of the different pro cultural programs
Speaker 2: that we're doing in Woodland Central, you can always be
Speaker 2: referenced and can always be used as representation to the
Speaker 2: possibilities of what we are capable of doing for ourselves.
Speaker 2: And one of the one of the one of the
Speaker 2: things that I find really interesting when I'm talking to
Speaker 2: certain people, they stay, well, where has.
Speaker 3: This been done before?
Speaker 2: And so there's no modern, you know, representation of this
Speaker 2: since nineteen twenty one. So this is the beginning of
Speaker 2: what a model could look like. And I'm always very
Speaker 2: hesitant to say here's a model, you know, and use
Speaker 2: this model because they think everybody is going to approach
Speaker 2: what they do differently.
Speaker 3: But if you are using.
Speaker 2: The framework that we're doing, I designed it so that
Speaker 2: each community can self discover on their basic needings.
Speaker 1: And so I've gotten into some economic development in my
Speaker 1: hometown Tweet, Ohio, and we're going to go on to
Speaker 1: a renaissance of sorts. And I was before downtown was
Speaker 1: that renaissance started, the one that we're in now. A
Speaker 1: lot of corporations started to turn their attention to downtown,
Speaker 1: and residents started getting excited and saying, Okay, look, something's
Speaker 1: finally going to happen, right, And so I was frustrated
Speaker 1: might be the wrong word, but hoping that we wouldn't
Speaker 1: just stand back and watch the show, but that we
Speaker 1: would find opportunity to get in because real estate valuations
Speaker 1: were going to go up because corporations were starting to
Speaker 1: turn their head. And so my question is, how do
Speaker 1: you not just be your representation, but how can you
Speaker 1: provide opportunity even but also be representation to those people
Speaker 1: who are going to be positively impacted by your work
Speaker 1: so that they're just not watching the Jay Byron Show,
Speaker 1: but they see opportunity for them to be part of
Speaker 1: something bigger.
Speaker 2: Well, first, I would I would want to render myself
Speaker 2: available to those who are looking to achieve what we've
Speaker 2: achieved here at what Mon Central.
Speaker 3: The information is free, right, and I'm always.
Speaker 2: Willing to talk with developers and new people in real
Speaker 2: estate to kind of give them and give them an
Speaker 2: aspect of how I approached what I do. This is
Speaker 2: certainly not my show. There are several.
Speaker 3: Other people who you know, who are involved in making
Speaker 3: all of these things happen.
Speaker 2: But you know, you have to know a lot about
Speaker 2: a lot of different things when it comes to real
Speaker 2: estate development, and you have to and it's almost the
Speaker 2: industry itself is almost a red line as well.
Speaker 3: Right, if we did not.
Speaker 2: Own our own land, I don't think we would be
Speaker 2: having this conversation because land is equity, right, And that's
Speaker 2: why we never got our forty acres, because they knew
Speaker 2: that if they gave us those forty acres we would
Speaker 2: have our own equity, and then they also knew we
Speaker 2: were capable of self determination and self sustainability as well.
Speaker 2: So it's not that we don't have the ability or
Speaker 2: we don't have the understanding.
Speaker 3: A lot of it has.
Speaker 2: To do with access and to be able to create
Speaker 2: access through private and public partnerships with the state and
Speaker 2: the city. The only thing that moves governance is visibility
Speaker 2: and a critical mass.
Speaker 3: So this is where, this is where the.
Speaker 2: Where the customary way on how we deal one to
Speaker 2: another in the contributive community. How how important that is
Speaker 2: because once a governor or a mayor or accounting president
Speaker 2: sees all of these people galvanized not just from a
Speaker 2: reactive sense, but from a proactive sense that says, we
Speaker 2: have a plan, right, we will work with said developer
Speaker 2: because they are what they are part of the one
Speaker 2: percent who actually get capital, right, and we'll work with them,
Speaker 2: but they're going to do what we want them to do,
Speaker 2: not what they're going to tell us we're going to get,
Speaker 2: because ultimately that's going to displace us anyway, right, So
Speaker 2: we have to be very proactive in understanding the industry
Speaker 2: and understanding you know how investment works.
Speaker 1: And I think finally, so when you look at where
Speaker 1: you live and this is for this is your example,
Speaker 1: but when other folks who are listening to this start
Speaker 1: to think about what opportunities and resources governments provide, you know,
Speaker 1: I think about where I'm at, State of Ohio. It's
Speaker 1: a lot of resources for entrepreneurs and how do you
Speaker 1: how do you tap in though, because that's kind of
Speaker 1: sometimes the trip up is like we don't know where
Speaker 1: that first phone call needs to be made or do
Speaker 1: you have to be somebody to get the attention?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 1: So can you speak on that?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: You know that's very layered. I mean you you want to.
Speaker 2: It's about partnership, right, and it's it's about a culmination
Speaker 2: of different talents, and it's about having that unified understanding
Speaker 2: that you know, we're all leaders but but but here
Speaker 2: is the.
Speaker 3: Vision that we all share and we are all talking
Speaker 3: about the same things.
Speaker 2: We all want the same things, but we're talking about
Speaker 2: them in our silos. Right, We've got to come out
Speaker 2: of the silo. We've got an actual to become a
Speaker 2: true network of economic development, health, safety, education, tourism, local entertainment,
Speaker 2: international integration, diversity of management.
Speaker 3: Legal accounting.
Speaker 2: We've got to put our we've got to put all
Speaker 2: of our talents into the pot and then connect with
Speaker 2: that that that advocate within governance, that says I will
Speaker 2: advocate for you guys, but you but having the full
Speaker 2: vision is really important, and having a big vision is
Speaker 2: really important. And you know, I'm a I'm a I'm
Speaker 2: a spiritual guy. You know, I'm a PK. So I
Speaker 2: come from from that God sense. And so one of
Speaker 2: the things that spoke to me in my spirit one
Speaker 2: day as I was driving was you don't need permission
Speaker 2: to share the vision.
Speaker 3: And so if we're waiting for permission to share our vision,
Speaker 3: then we are.
Speaker 2: Going to miss the window in which that vision was
Speaker 2: given for us to share. And we're always really scared
Speaker 2: to go out there on our own because nobody wants
Speaker 2: to fall on their own sword. But if somebody is
Speaker 2: not brave enough to say, look, here is something very
Speaker 2: big that I've been thinking of.
Speaker 3: Here's how I think it could be put together. You know,
Speaker 3: who who's with me? Right? This there Jerry Maguire moments
Speaker 3: like who's coming with me? Because this is big?
Speaker 2: Right and this is gonna and this is transformational, right.
Speaker 2: We don't need transaction anymore. We need transformation. So for
Speaker 2: the people who are wondering like how do I do this,
Speaker 2: come together with the smartest people that you know and say, look,
Speaker 2: I've got some ideas. I know you've got some ideas.
Speaker 2: Let's foltron this thing together. Share it with the governor,
Speaker 2: share it with the mayor, share it with you know,
Speaker 2: our local reps. We started with our local state rep
Speaker 2: who wrote letters for us on our behalf.
Speaker 3: But I had to show him something, you know, in order.
Speaker 2: In order to get him to get him, i want
Speaker 2: to say, bought in, but to get him excited and
Speaker 2: motivated about what the possibilities were, because nobody in development
Speaker 2: was talking about micro grids and digital infrastructure and communications
Speaker 2: and we weren't talking about that.
Speaker 3: We were just talking about building buildings and grocery stores
Speaker 3: and affordable housing.
Speaker 2: Just really being able to understand the landscape of our
Speaker 2: community and the needs.
Speaker 3: And necessities of it.
Speaker 2: You know, that's that's really kind of you know, in
Speaker 2: the in a few minutes that I have that, I
Speaker 2: would say that that's what's going.
Speaker 3: To be done.
Speaker 1: Black tech, Green money is a production of Blavity afro
Speaker 1: Tech on the Black Effect podcast Network in Nheart Media.
Speaker 1: Is produced by Morgan Debond and me Well Lucas. The
Speaker 1: additional production support by Sarah Ergin in Love Beach. Special
Speaker 1: thank you to Michael Davis and Kay McDonald. Learn more
Speaker 1: about my guests and other tech disruptors and innovators at
Speaker 1: afrotech dot com. Enjoy your Black Tech, Green Money, Share
Speaker 1: this with somebody, go get your money, peace and love.
Speaker 1: Check me out at the annual Black Effect Podcast Festival,
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