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0:40

I'm with Lucas and this is Black Tech, Green

0:42

Money. Jay

0:44

Biron is the lead develop brad Woodlong Central,

0:47

a nine hundred million dollar economic

0:49

development project on Chicago's South

0:51

Side. The massive

0:53

project will include a boutique hotel,

0:56

call center, data center, residential

0:58

buildings, theater, urban farm,

1:00

and micro grid, and there

1:02

are plans to integrate technology. A lot

1:04

of technology like ai AR and

1:07

VR to assist with the community, health,

1:09

safety, education, and tourism aspects

1:12

of the project in the developing

1:14

with the community, not in spite of it. This

1:17

project focuses on economic development

1:19

without displacement. There's

1:22

this pervasive South Side of Chicago

1:24

narrative that exists focusing on how rough

1:26

it can be in the stereotype

1:29

echoes out of many majority black or minority

1:31

communities. But Jay Byron and his

1:33

partners then just let that perspective continue,

1:36

but are actively working to change it with entrepreneurial

1:39

efforts. So what was the catalyst

1:41

that joven to engage?

1:43

The media does a terrible job at

1:46

representing the Chicago go in.

1:48

Its true form.

1:51

It's not even the top ten and most dangerous

1:54

cities if you look at statistics.

1:56

But being that this

1:58

is a church driven project

2:03

and the church has been there for

2:05

ninety years, both my grandfather

2:07

and my father are community

2:10

activist, and my grandfather did

2:12

about seventeen developments within Woodlawn.

2:15

Woodland is probably one of the

2:17

most organized Black communities.

2:19

It really functions on four major pillars

2:22

economic development, health, education,

2:25

and safety.

2:26

And so in regards to your question about

2:28

safety, you.

2:30

Have to make sure that you are highlighting

2:33

the positive sides of.

2:35

What can be within the community,

2:38

and.

2:38

It comes from a private development

2:41

space or a private investment space.

2:44

And so the more people from the

2:46

community invest in the community,

2:48

the safer it becomes. So when you have high

2:51

economic development and

2:54

safety, then you have low

2:56

needs for health and

2:59

lower needs or

3:02

higher needs for education. And so

3:04

you know it. In

3:06

the media, they don't do a very good job, but

3:09

we feel that when you invest

3:11

privately into the community, it

3:14

is it is eminent that the economics

3:17

become better for everyone.

3:18

So let's talk about that. For the people who

3:20

are not very familiar with Woodlawn

3:23

Central, can you explain what this project

3:26

is?

3:27

Sure, Woodlawn Central is a

3:30

catalyst development from

3:32

a much larger full community

3:35

plan that we did in.

3:36

Pre pandemic, and we coined that.

3:38

As a twenty sixty planet And

3:40

so it's about bringing culture

3:43

and identifiable culture to

3:46

what we understand is the black

3:49

community. And so when you look around and you see

3:51

Chinatown and Ukrainian Village

3:53

and Little Italy and Retown, there's an ethnic

3:56

centric sustainability

3:59

that we have not yet been

4:01

able.

4:02

To benefit

4:05

from.

4:06

And we haven't seen this kind of complete community

4:08

in over one hundred years since Greenwood, but

4:11

Woodland Central is that future

4:15

understanding of that future manifestation

4:19

of if Greenwood had never

4:21

happened from.

4:22

The devastation of it.

4:24

So we're looking at house not just

4:27

housing, but also commercial space. So with

4:29

non Central is about eight hundred and seventy mixed

4:32

use sorry mixed.

4:34

Income housing, affordable

4:37

to market.

4:37

Rate and some luxury, so two

4:39

hundred and fifteen thousand grow square feet

4:42

of commercial space.

4:43

We have a.

4:45

Business center which is consist

4:47

of a data center and a digital resource

4:49

center that's focused.

4:51

On aiar VR

4:54

for the training and

4:58

development for the

5:00

youth and adults.

5:01

We have a one hundred and fifty four key hotel, a

5:06

new headhouse for our transit.

5:08

We have a micro grid.

5:10

It's about eleven thousand square for microgrid

5:12

that powers the entire campus

5:15

itself. In some of the community, we

5:17

have five hundred and thirty thousand cubic

5:19

feet of vertical farming space

5:22

which renders about three tons of produce annually.

5:25

So we can source for the community.

5:27

As well as a distribution model.

5:30

In Illinois, every grocer has to source

5:32

locally, so it's a really good model for the

5:34

community to not just benefit from

5:36

food resourcing but it's also a good

5:38

economic opportunity as well. We're

5:41

going to replace

5:43

the parking since the

5:46

project is on.

5:49

The church parking facility. It's

5:52

about eight acres of parking.

5:54

That doctor Brazier, after

5:58

some coaxing, said,

6:00

Okay, yeah, that sounds good. I like

6:03

the sustainability model. And so

6:05

it's it's a it's a it's a really large

6:08

project, about eight hundred and ninety five million

6:10

dollars uh, and we're

6:13

real close to groundbreaking.

6:15

And so when you think about you mentioned

6:17

the micro grid and other things, when you think about

6:20

what's different about this project versus

6:22

many other you know, economic development

6:25

community development projects with

6:28

your focus on integrating technology

6:30

and sustainability, Like, how

6:33

are you hoping to change the outcomes

6:35

for our people in these communities

6:38

when you rely on those sorts of assets

6:41

and features.

6:43

Yeah, that's a great question. One of the

6:45

one of the things that in our in

6:47

our musing about the development itself

6:50

is we

6:53

have to kind of leap frog one

6:55

hundred years of

6:58

the lack of social and economic sustains ability

7:00

and then leap frog another thirty years

7:02

into the future.

7:04

Of which is you know, eminence

7:07

of AI being.

7:08

Completely integrated within the next ten

7:10

years, and so we're

7:12

going to focus on making sure

7:14

that those who have

7:17

the ability to learn new

7:19

skills and technology that they

7:21

benefit from that in

7:24

a in a career startup,

7:26

or even a jobs process.

7:30

This also brings social sustainability.

7:33

As we're looking.

7:34

At creating Woodland Central

7:36

as a community innovation district,

7:39

we're looking at making sure that there's a digital

7:41

master plan that goes along with

7:43

the physical master plan, which is your.

7:45

Plumbing and electrical and what

7:47

have you.

7:48

So we want to make sure that we're setting

7:50

up the community to be an

7:52

arm of a smart

7:54

city. So you have a smart city,

7:56

but then you also have a smart community that

7:59

can access us all of the information

8:01

and make.

8:02

Sure that we are as

8:05

up to date on.

8:06

All of our

8:08

technology, which really will

8:10

help exponentially in

8:13

economic development and education.

8:16

And so I found this quote

8:18

from you in a different story where

8:20

you said technology is a tool

8:23

and it should be used as a tool and not a solution.

8:26

It should be humanity over technology

8:28

as opposed to technology over humanity.

8:31

Can you say more about that?

8:34

Absolutely, I think everybody is really

8:36

afraid of AI taking

8:38

their jobs and taking over and

8:41

making decisions for us.

8:43

And I think that if we allow.

8:48

Technology to become the solution, then

8:50

I think those things will happen.

8:52

So it's really up to us to.

8:54

Make sure that we are being thoughtful about

8:57

the social and economic approach that that

9:00

looks at the immediate need, the future

9:02

need, and the extreme forecast to

9:04

make sure that these new

9:07

technologies are that are coming up

9:09

actually fit into a model of our

9:11

own sustainability where humanity

9:14

is always at the forefront

9:17

of everything that we do.

9:18

And I feel like though we.

9:20

Are building buildings, we need to

9:23

also build people, and

9:25

in building people, we must have

9:27

a humanitarian approach

9:29

to it. I love that.

9:31

I love it. So as a tool, how

9:35

do you see these technologies

9:38

enhancing both the resident experience and the

9:40

overall you know, economic ecosystem

9:42

for the community?

9:45

Sure, the educator, I mean communications

9:48

is probably I think one of the greatest opportunities

9:52

that create us to

9:54

use technology as a tool are

9:56

smart buildings, being

9:58

able to access information

10:01

as quickly as possible. Information

10:04

is so fast and it's going to become

10:07

even faster, and to be able to

10:09

access information at the

10:11

rate of which it is coming out, and having

10:13

the technology being able to accommodate.

10:16

For anything that we need to be

10:19

ready for whether.

10:20

It's a blackout or

10:22

another pandemic or you know, or

10:24

even an event, being

10:27

able to use that technology also

10:29

to stay up on our

10:33

bills, to stay up on our

10:35

utilities, knowing how much

10:38

we're using and how much we

10:40

can say. And so it's

10:43

it comes down to mitigating

10:46

the risk for the

10:49

for the investors as well as

10:51

the developers and especially the residents.

10:54

Right that, I was looking at your website

10:57

and there's this phrase in there, you know, development

10:59

without displacement, which I really thought was

11:01

cool. And and you mentioned this a little

11:03

bit when you're talking about you know, building on parking

11:06

lines versus you know, taking over other

11:09

housing. And so can you elaborate on

11:12

like the strategies maybe initiatives

11:14

that are in place to achieve this

11:16

without you know, the negative

11:18

sort of gentrification that has happened in

11:20

other places.

11:22

Right absolutely, the the my

11:25

background in urban planning, one

11:27

of the things that happens a lot is

11:29

especially within our community, is people.

11:31

From the urban planning side are

11:34

don't look like us.

11:36

And so they're coming in and they're really kind

11:38

of checking the box and they're saying, okay, talk

11:40

to the community.

11:41

Check right, the

11:43

community.

11:44

Is in favor check and really

11:47

are absent of the lived

11:49

experience for

11:52

us and for our community, and

11:54

so it's almost impossible for them

11:57

to develop our community and

11:59

somehow it not affect

12:01

us in a negative way. So the

12:03

idea of development without displacement

12:06

is based on the fact that it's

12:08

development from the inside out. It's coming

12:10

from the community that says, here's

12:13

what we understand is our needs. Here

12:15

are the things that we understand as

12:17

a process to uh plan

12:20

development or urban development and designed.

12:22

Here are the things.

12:23

That we know that will need our children's

12:26

children's children will.

12:27

Need within this process.

12:30

And and that that helps

12:32

mitigate again the risk of

12:35

displacement. And because also

12:39

that this is a church

12:41

driven project.

12:43

And I want to say this.

12:44

That that I know, I know lately

12:47

churches have been kind of a complex

12:50

conversation. But the

12:52

church is the only and longest standing organization

12:55

within the Black community and is

12:58

also the only organization and that can do projects

13:01

at this level, and so it

13:03

takes the church. Let

13:08

me say that the survival

13:10

of our community squarely lies on

13:12

the shoulders of the church. And

13:15

I've gotten doctor Brazier to understand

13:18

that in many different ways.

13:20

And one of the things that he has publicly announced

13:22

is that he's going to take ten percent of

13:25

the profit of Woodland Central and

13:28

recirculated into the community as

13:30

a CDFI. So that way, when

13:33

taxes and things do raise, just

13:36

based.

13:36

Upon the.

13:38

Natural development process,

13:41

that there will be grants

13:43

and sponsorships, scholarships for

13:46

residents, current residents who.

13:48

Will be able to stay in their homes. So,

13:50

I know, I kind of you know, it's

13:53

a little bit.

13:53

Of a longer story,

13:55

but I think that we have to thread

13:58

the idea of displacement

14:01

or development without displacement really

14:03

comes from the inside out.

14:04

Yeah, I was reading up

14:07

on this and you talk a lot about like

14:09

sustainability, particularly in regards

14:11

to energy generation. Can

14:14

you talk about you know, you mentioned micro grids

14:16

a little bit, but can you talk about what you're doing with micro

14:18

grid and and other efforts that you might

14:20

be working on here.

14:22

Absolutely, the microgrid is is really

14:24

important and probably would be one of the first

14:26

things that go in. Even

14:28

though it's not one of those kind of like sexy,

14:31

you know buildings and you know, architectural

14:33

type of aspects to

14:36

the project, it really is kind

14:38

of the cornerstone of the energy

14:40

sustainability. As a data center,

14:43

really takes up a lot of power, and.

14:46

So to make make

14:49

the data center.

14:50

And and the

14:53

overall digital infrastructure makes

14:56

sense, the microgrid in

14:58

and of itself is is really important.

15:00

UH.

15:01

And one

15:03

of the things that I like about

15:06

where the direction we're going in is we're actually

15:08

creating a command center that

15:11

that uses uh the

15:13

power and calculates and

15:15

analyzes how much power is going to

15:18

uh the vertical farm, how much

15:20

is going to the residents, how

15:23

much is going to and and it's it's an

15:25

opportunity to do waste management

15:27

and utility management.

15:29

And without the microgrid, we.

15:31

Wouldn't be able to actually use those

15:34

those kind of technological tools

15:38

without without having that level without.

15:41

So I we talk a lot about

15:43

home ownership, and home ownership has

15:46

been largely, you

15:48

know, preached as a way to build

15:50

wealth, you know, generationally, and

15:53

I think about, well, I

15:55

guess my question is how does Woodlawn consider

15:59

facilitating home ownership or encouraging

16:02

home ownership, Like, how does this opportunity play

16:04

out so that the residents and people who are taking

16:06

advantage of what you're building, they're

16:10

able to build that generational wealth.

16:13

Yeah, home ownership is really

16:15

important to us.

16:17

Affordable home ownership is really

16:19

important to us. As a district development,

16:22

We're not doing any single

16:24

family homes, but this development

16:27

will catalyze additional development

16:30

which will bring more

16:32

single family homes. But to your

16:34

point of generational wealth, I

16:36

think I would be remiss to not

16:39

talk about.

16:39

The generational practices that

16:41

lead to generational wealth and commit

16:44

and woodland Central because

16:46

it's based in a

16:49

culture over commerce, ideology,

16:52

or philosophy.

16:55

One of the things that we want to do, just

16:57

intrinsically is make sure that we are

17:00

creating processes and procedures

17:02

on how we operate one to another

17:05

and how do we buy trades, cell give,

17:07

borrow, live, learn.

17:09

All of these things come to play when

17:11

we're talking about generational wealth.

17:13

Uh and and so when you look

17:16

at other ethnic groups, they have antiquitous

17:19

culture that they get.

17:20

To rely on, which which which comes

17:22

out in what they call customers.

17:24

Right. So this customary way on how their

17:26

kids raise their kids and so forth and so on,

17:28

and then how they take care of their grandparents and.

17:31

How they take care of each other.

17:33

I want to be able to utilize

17:35

this as an opportunity to

17:38

begin to look at how we re emerge

17:40

into a holistic

17:42

community that then at

17:45

the end of it becomes generational

17:47

wealth and a self determination.

17:50

Yeah, and so I

17:52

try not to position questions about, you know,

17:55

being a black real estate developer, how do you work

17:57

when is mostly white real estate developers

17:59

around you? But like, how do you how do you

18:01

navigate this? Obviously successfully

18:04

and in the city as big as Chicago.

18:07

Yeah, So nationally there's about one

18:10

hundred and twelve thousand developers,

18:13

and eleven

18:16

hundred thousand them are not black, So

18:20

we are a very small.

18:23

Population within the industry.

18:26

And so it is it

18:29

is not for you know, the fate

18:31

of heart, you know, this process of development,

18:33

because you're dealing with with a number

18:35

of different industries, from the financial industry

18:37

to the construction industry to

18:40

the community itself. And

18:43

so I find it very interesting

18:46

because I get to deploy

18:48

a lot of the international education

18:51

that I have, you know, from from you

18:53

know, kind of doing independent studies

18:55

overseas and saying this is how

18:57

culture is built. So I kind

19:00

kind of get to start in a space,

19:02

in a blank space that says you

19:04

don't know how to create valuation for

19:06

the black community, So let me show

19:08

you how it's done.

19:10

And I'm not making anything up.

19:12

What I'm doing is just mirroring all

19:15

of the all of the other cultures.

19:17

That that that have a of

19:19

having a purview of

19:21

a higher valuation, but utilizing

19:24

that and doing it in a way that

19:27

is industry industry industry standard,

19:30

and and in in terms that these

19:33

specific industries can can can

19:35

understand.

19:36

So I make

19:38

no small plans. And I think that's the

19:40

biggest that's the biggest thing to do

19:42

because you've got people, you know, they don't want

19:45

to talk to you unless you're talking about something,

19:47

you know, above fifty million dollars. So

19:50

so you got to you know, aim as high as

19:53

you can in that space. And and I

19:55

think that's what really tracks investors

19:59

and being a to navigate.

20:00

Through some of the processes.

20:04

Yeah, I want to talk about what

20:06

you just mentioned right there, because you know, people

20:09

don't want to talk about little bitty projects.

20:11

And you know what holds

20:13

up so many black entrepreneurs

20:16

or would be black entrepreneurs is they see

20:18

what it might take them to get started, and you

20:20

see these stickers of you know, it's

20:22

going to take one hundred thousand dollars to do this thing. It's

20:25

going to take a million dollars to do this thing, and you got

20:27

a nine hundred million dollar project here,

20:29

and it's kind of like, you know, or how do you

20:31

eat an elephant one by at a time? Like

20:34

when you see this nine hundred million dollar

20:36

project that you're embarking on, that

20:38

doesn't mean you have nine hundred million dollars in the

20:40

bank, and so so how do you so

20:43

how do you put together

20:46

the strategy as

20:48

somebody who doesn't have nine hundred million dollars

20:50

in the bank to say, you know what, this is what we're going

20:52

to do. These are the steps to doing

20:55

it.

20:58

First and foremost, you have to have a

21:00

vision, right, you have to you have to

21:02

know exactly what you want to do.

21:05

Our community is very is unique.

21:09

In the approach because

21:12

there's a there's a bit of a lack of infrastructure

21:14

that that other communities have.

21:17

So when we're looking at at

21:20

how to.

21:20

Do other smaller projects that

21:23

are black owned and driven, they

21:25

have to be catalyzed through.

21:26

Larger projects like with mon cential.

21:29

So so so there's something referential

21:31

that says this worked over here,

21:34

so therefore it can work over here. Because

21:36

when you look at it as a whole, it's

21:39

the condition that's the same.

21:41

The location may be different, but we

21:43

in.

21:43

Our community need specific things

21:46

in order for for us to be sustainable.

21:48

And even if you do it one piece at a time,

21:51

it's okay. At the at

21:53

the onset of this where we're at right

21:55

now, district development is is

21:57

really important because it

22:00

doesn't just change the characteristics.

22:02

Of the community, it actually changes

22:04

the condition. So if I was a.

22:06

Smaller developer and I saw a

22:08

project like ULN Central, I

22:10

would actually reach out to that developer

22:12

and say, hey, you know, where

22:14

can I fit into this? Because I know that

22:17

if I'm a part of this, then I can continue

22:19

to grow.

22:20

And do things, you know, as

22:22

big as what you're doing.

22:24

So somebody's got to step

22:26

out and do a nine hundred million dollars

22:28

project. So that way, we're setting

22:30

the precedents and we're setting the

22:32

pathway for other developers,

22:35

other black developers to actually

22:37

enter into the industry.

22:40

You had mentioned we're talking about generational

22:42

wealth that you know, sometimes it's not about just

22:45

home ownership, which is a piece of it or could

22:47

be a piece of generational wealth. You said,

22:49

sometimes it's like the activities and behaviors

22:51

of generational wealth. Can you talk more

22:53

about that.

22:55

Absolutely.

22:56

You know, one of the things that when you know,

22:58

being being an age was really.

23:00

Kind of the thing that that sparked me about

23:03

how.

23:04

How they see each other, one to one to one

23:07

to the other, and the things

23:09

that they do and the practices.

23:10

That they do.

23:11

You know, I found that, you know, it

23:13

was very fascinating to me because being

23:16

you know, from Chicago and watching

23:19

you know, this kind of homogenized group

23:21

of people be able to

23:23

create such beautiful cities and create

23:26

such beautiful.

23:28

Cultural aspects.

23:30

So it's about language, it's about food, it's

23:32

about garb, it's about dress. How do we

23:34

how do we do those things? And so

23:37

I myself cannot create

23:39

something that says, well, here's what we're

23:41

going to do, right, we all have to

23:43

say, here's a practice that we understand

23:46

that is contributive to the

23:48

survival of our

23:51

generational bloodlines from

23:53

across the board. And these are

23:55

the things. Though we may not agree,

24:00

our agreement is not as important

24:02

as our contribution to the sustainability.

24:05

And so there's a there's an incentivization

24:07

process within this critical

24:10

mass that should be created for

24:12

us to understand that at the

24:14

end of this at the at the end of our.

24:18

Our agreement one to another.

24:20

There is sustainability both

24:22

socially and economically that

24:25

we can always rely. I can leave

24:27

this world knowing that my children

24:30

are going to be okay, and and

24:32

and and having to you know, mind

24:34

my own business. You know, I'm okay

24:37

with that, and and and contributing

24:39

my gifts and talents. I'm okay with that

24:41

too. And so so there has to

24:43

be a spark, you know that that

24:45

that begins to get us to start thinking,

24:48

you know, in this way.

24:50

How do you hold this what becomes a model

24:52

across the country and not just in Chicago.

24:59

It's all almost like if I had a crystal

25:01

ball, I'd be able to answer that question

25:03

so much.

25:04

Do you know, I mean, this is your wish, you get to

25:06

build it. You get to build a crystal ball on this.

25:09

Yeah, okay, great, So I

25:11

would I would hope that, you know, with all

25:14

of the different pro cultural

25:16

programs that we're doing in

25:18

Woodland Central, you can

25:21

always be referenced and can

25:23

always be used as representation

25:27

to the possibilities of what we

25:29

are capable of doing for ourselves.

25:32

And one of the one

25:34

of the one of the things that I find really interesting

25:36

when I'm talking to certain people,

25:39

they stay, well, where has.

25:40

This been done before?

25:41

And so there's no modern, you

25:43

know, representation of this

25:46

since nineteen twenty one. So this

25:48

is the beginning of

25:51

what a model could look like. And

25:53

I'm always very hesitant to

25:55

say here's a model, you know, and use

25:58

this model because they think everybody

26:00

is going to approach what they do

26:03

differently.

26:04

But if you are using.

26:05

The framework that we're doing, I designed

26:08

it so that each community

26:11

can self discover on their

26:14

basic needings.

26:15

And so I've gotten into some economic

26:18

development in my hometown Tweet, Ohio,

26:20

and we're going to go on to a renaissance

26:23

of sorts. And I was before

26:26

downtown was that

26:28

renaissance started, the one that we're in now. A

26:31

lot of corporations started

26:33

to turn their attention to downtown,

26:36

and residents started getting excited and saying,

26:38

Okay, look, something's finally going to happen,

26:40

right, And so I was

26:43

frustrated might be the wrong word, but hoping

26:45

that we wouldn't just stand back and watch the

26:47

show, but that we would find opportunity

26:50

to get in because real estate valuations

26:53

were going to go up because corporations were starting

26:55

to turn their head. And so my question is,

26:57

how do you not

26:59

just be your representation, but how can

27:02

you provide opportunity even but

27:04

also be representation to those people who

27:06

are going to be positively impacted

27:09

by your work so that they're just not watching

27:11

the Jay Byron Show, but they see

27:13

opportunity for them to be part

27:16

of something bigger.

27:18

Well, first, I would I would want to render

27:21

myself available to those

27:23

who are looking to achieve

27:26

what we've achieved here at what

27:28

Mon Central.

27:30

The information is free, right, and

27:32

I'm always.

27:33

Willing to talk with developers

27:36

and new people

27:38

in real estate to kind of give them

27:40

and give them an aspect of how

27:42

I approached what I do. This

27:46

is certainly not my show. There are

27:48

several.

27:48

Other people who you know, who are involved

27:51

in making all of these things happen.

27:54

But you know, you

27:57

have to know a lot about

27:59

a lot of different things when it comes

28:01

to real estate development, and

28:04

you have to and it's

28:06

almost the industry

28:09

itself is almost a red line as

28:11

well.

28:12

Right, if we

28:14

did not.

28:14

Own our own land, I don't

28:16

think we would be having this conversation because

28:21

land is equity, right,

28:24

And that's why we never got our forty acres,

28:28

because they knew that if

28:30

they gave us those forty acres we would

28:32

have our own equity, and then they also knew

28:34

we were capable of self

28:36

determination and self sustainability

28:38

as well. So it's not

28:40

that we don't have the ability or we

28:42

don't have the understanding.

28:45

A lot of it has.

28:45

To do with access and

28:48

to be able to

28:50

create access through private and public

28:53

partnerships with the state and the city.

28:57

The only thing that moves governance

29:00

is visibility and a critical

29:02

mass.

29:03

So this is where, this is where the.

29:07

Where the customary way on how we deal

29:09

one to another in the contributive community.

29:12

How how important that is because once

29:14

a governor or a mayor or accounting

29:17

president sees all of these

29:19

people galvanized not just from

29:22

a reactive sense, but from a

29:24

proactive sense that says, we have

29:26

a plan, right, we

29:28

will work with said developer

29:31

because they are what they are part of

29:33

the one percent who actually get capital, right,

29:36

and we'll work with them, but they're going to do what we

29:38

want them to do, not what they're

29:40

going to tell us we're going to get, because ultimately

29:43

that's going to displace us anyway,

29:46

right, So we have to be

29:48

very proactive in understanding

29:51

the industry and understanding you

29:53

know how investment works.

29:55

And I think finally, so when

29:57

you look at where you live

30:00

and this is for this is your example,

30:02

but when other folks who are listening to

30:04

this start to think about what opportunities

30:08

and resources governments provide,

30:10

you know, I think about where I'm at, State of Ohio. It's

30:12

a lot of resources for entrepreneurs

30:15

and how do you how do you tap

30:17

in though, because that's kind of sometimes the

30:19

trip up is like we don't know where

30:21

that first phone call needs to be made or do you

30:23

have to be somebody to get the attention?

30:26

You know?

30:27

So can you speak on that?

30:29

Yeah?

30:29

You know that's very layered. I mean you

30:32

you want to.

30:33

It's about partnership, right, and it's

30:35

it's about a culmination of

30:37

different talents, and it's

30:40

about having that unified

30:42

understanding that you know, we're all

30:44

leaders but but but here is

30:47

the.

30:47

Vision that we all share and

30:49

we are all talking about the same things.

30:51

We all want the same things, but

30:54

we're talking about them in our silos.

30:56

Right, We've got to come out of the silo. We've

30:59

got an actual to become a true

31:01

network of economic

31:03

development, health, safety, education, tourism,

31:07

local entertainment, international integration,

31:09

diversity of management.

31:12

Legal accounting.

31:14

We've got to put our we've got to put all of our talents

31:17

into the pot and then connect

31:19

with that that that advocate within

31:22

governance, that says I will advocate

31:24

for you guys, but you but having

31:27

the full vision is

31:30

really important, and having a big vision

31:33

is really important. And you know, I'm

31:35

a I'm a I'm a spiritual guy. You know,

31:37

I'm a PK. So I come from from

31:39

that God sense. And so one of the

31:41

things that spoke to me in my spirit

31:44

one day as I was driving was you

31:46

don't need permission to share the vision.

31:49

And so if we're waiting for permission

31:52

to share our vision, then

31:54

we are.

31:54

Going to miss the window in

31:57

which that vision was given for us

31:59

to share. And we're

32:02

always really scared to go

32:04

out there on our own because nobody wants

32:06

to fall on their own sword. But if

32:08

somebody is not brave enough to say, look,

32:11

here is something very big that I've been thinking

32:13

of.

32:14

Here's how I think it could be put together.

32:17

You know, who who's

32:20

with me? Right? This there Jerry Maguire moments

32:22

like who's coming with me? Because

32:25

this is big?

32:26

Right and this is gonna and this is transformational,

32:29

right. We don't need transaction anymore.

32:31

We need transformation. So for

32:34

the people who are wondering like how do I do

32:36

this, come together with the smartest

32:38

people that you know and say, look, I've got

32:41

some ideas. I know you've got some ideas.

32:43

Let's foltron this thing together. Share

32:46

it with the governor, share it with the mayor, share

32:49

it with you know, our local reps.

32:52

We started with our local

32:54

state rep who wrote

32:57

letters for us on our behalf.

32:59

But I had to show him something, you know,

33:01

in order.

33:02

In order to get him

33:04

to get him, i want to say, bought in, but to

33:07

get him excited and motivated about

33:09

what the possibilities were, because

33:11

nobody in development was talking about

33:13

micro grids and digital infrastructure

33:16

and communications and we weren't talking

33:18

about that.

33:18

We were just talking about building buildings and grocery

33:21

stores and affordable housing.

33:22

Just really being able to understand the landscape

33:25

of our community and the needs.

33:27

And necessities of it.

33:28

You know, that's that's really kind of you

33:31

know, in the in a few minutes

33:33

that I have that, I would say that that's

33:36

what's going.

33:36

To be done.

33:49

Black tech, Green money is a production of Blavity

33:52

afro Tech on the Black Effect podcast

33:54

Network in Nheart Media. Is produced by

33:56

Morgan Debond and me Well Lucas.

33:59

The additional production support by Sarah Ergin

34:01

in Love Beach. Special

34:03

thank you to Michael Davis and Kay McDonald.

34:06

Learn more about my guests and other tech disruptors and

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34:11

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34:22

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34:40

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34:43

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