Displaying items tagged: Urban League of West Michigan

GRAND RAPIDS — Dozens of individuals and organizations in Grand Rapids have formed the Coalition for Community Owned Safety to educate residents on the city’s budget and explore new ways to direct city funding to address the root causes of crime. 

If the coalition coordinating COVID-19 vaccines in West Michigan gets judged for anything, Keith Hustak hopes it’s for how well the group equitably administers doses.

Grand Rapids City Commissioner Joe Jones recently stepped down from his full-time job as CEO of the Urban League of West Michigan to launch a consulting firm focused on diversity, equity and inclusion strategies and other social justice advocacy. Jones launched The Hekima Group LLC (named after the Swahili word for wisdom) after a decade at the Urban League where he worked closely on the ongoing inequities for people of color in West Michigan. Jones said he felt a calling to launch the consultancy following the nationwide protests after the killing of George Floyd, the COVID-19 pandemic’s disproportionate harm to communities of color, and his own personal brush with the virus in October. Jones spoke with MiBiz to discuss his new venture and recent City Commission business.

Leaders of Asian, Latino and African American business groups say their members face distinct challenges while recovering economically from the coronavirus, including a historical lack of access to capital, discrimination, immigration status and language barriers. 

GRAND RAPIDS — The Right Place Inc.’s new venture capital fund plans to target investments toward an area of the economy where capital historically has flowed the least: startups and businesses owned by racial and ethnic minorities.