Creating prosperous communities and thriving businesses

Kalene McElveen grew up on the east side of Detroit in a food desert. “Our closest grocery store was a liquor store,” she says. There…

It made perfect sense to Irma Boyd to settle in the Keweenaw. She’s Finnish and so is 35% of the rest of the population. Then…

Za Nei Thuai knows her gift is feeding people. “God gave me the talent to cook,” says the 49-year-old Burmese refugee known as Suipi (Swee-Pee).…

If you need another example of how business ownership builds generational wealth, there’s one happening in Muskegon. Mari Romero owns Yummy Delights by the Lakeshore,…

Brittany Magnusson knows how vital day care is. If Evart Daycare and Learning Center closes for just one day, there’s a domino effect: parents miss…

For years, Daniel May has been a driving force behind community celebrations in Kalamazoo, including a Juneteenth bar crawl that left an indelible mark on…

The whistle of trains mixes with the clop-clop of horses pulling buggies in downtown Clare. Outside of Four Leaf Brewing, it also mixes with the…

Sean Hollins knows all too well the challenges of being a Black business owner – the search for funding, the wealth disparities, the lack of…

Jessica Nagel didn’t realize the depths of plumbing knowledge she was going to need to start a business. “There was virtually no plumbing I could…