Register Here! #TheShift Summit

Hosted by the Grand Rapids Area Black Business (GRABB).

This one-day experience dedicated to empowering Black entrepreneurs and communities, #TheShift Summit has gone virtual this year with the theme, Progressively Black. This annual gathering connects, engages and informs Black entrepreneurs, creatives small business owners, professionals and stakeholders about opportunities, resources and programs in the entrepreneurial ecosystem that will foster to economic empowerment and equity.

#TheShift Summit attendees will enjoy a day filled with panel discussions, workshops and networking with entrepreneurs, influencers, doers, creatives and other social, public and private leaders.

Featured speaker Lynn Smith is an entrepreneur and the creator of Buy The Block, one of only Black-owned crowd-investing platform that is helping Black communities build wealth while determining the direction of development in their communities.

Lynn has invested in real estate since she was 21, and experienced firsthand how difficult it can be for small investors to get financing. She also saw how the North Miami neighborhood where she grew up was radically altered by development, without any input from residents. Those experiences led her to found Buy The Block.

Smith is motivated by the power that crowd-investing has to engage people and give them a sense of agency. “It’s really helps to get the community involved and show them they can be part of an action that’s being taken in their community and get the benefits and rewards,” she says.

Learn More Here – Buy The Block

Featured speaker, Andre M. Perry, is a fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, a scholar-in-residence at American University, and a columnist for the Hechinger Report. He is the author of the new book Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities, which is currently available wherever books are sold.

A nationally known and respected commentator on race, structural inequality, and education, Perry is a regular contributor to MSNBC and has been published by The New York Times, The Nation, The Washington Post, TheRoot.com and CNN.com. Perry has also made appearances on CNN, PBS, National Public Radio, NBC, and ABC. His research focuses on race and structural inequality, education, and economic inclusion. Perry’s recent scholarship at Brookings has analyzed Black-majority cities and institutions in America, focusing on valuable assets worthy of increased investment.

His research has spotlighted the struggles of Black businesses—including artists and art institutions, restaurants, and barbershops and beauty salons—as they await federal relief from COVID-19’s economic impact.

Learn More Here – Know Your Price