 Good afternoon. My name is Molly Martin, and I'm the director of New America Indianapolis. New America is a non-partisan, non-profit think tank based in DC, but I've lived in Indianapolis for almost 20 years, and I focus my work on the Midwest, the Rust Belt, the Upper South, and equity and economic opportunity. I'm so pleased today to be here with an excellent panel and with our leading partners at the Indianapolis Recorder, one of America's oldest and most respected Black newspapers based in Indianapolis. I know we have guests from across the country today, so thank you as well for joining us. I'm going to do a brief introduction of our panel and a brief run-through of how today will work before I hand it off to my co-moderator. Our panel today features Inmote Fadisa, the executive director and co-founder of Kepper Institute, Vincent Ash, the senior project manager at the Indianapolis Chamber, the honorable Robin Shackleford from the Indiana House of Representatives representing the 98th District, Taylor Simpson, the founder and CEO of the Halo app, and Larry Williams, the president of the Indian Black Chamber of Commerce and the owner of a local security firm. I'll introduce my co-moderator in just a moment. New America and the Indianapolis Recorder decided to do this COVID and the Black Community series because we understand that its important Black voices are amplified and included in solution design and response to this crisis. We also understand that the Black community in America is being impacted differently by COVID-19 than other communities are. When New America talks about race and economic equity and when we talk about the Black community, we keep a couple things in mind. Black voices are critical to our communities, their economic lives, their cultural lives, our individual lives. Black lives matter. Race and ethnicity are different. Black residents in the Black experience are not monolithic and we say sometimes vulnerable populations, that vulnerability maybe to systemic biases and again doesn't mean to imply that Black residents all have the same experience or resources. I do want to kick us off as we focus today's conversation on how Black businesses can weather the storm of COVID-19. We have a perfect co-moderator in Marchion Wally, a civic entrepreneur and innovator and a columnist at the Indianapolis Recorder. I'm going to turn it over to Marchion to talk a little bit and walk us into our first part of the session. A reminder to our guests though because I've had a couple questions. Unless you're a speaker, we can't see you so you're okay if you're in your pajamas. Marchion, I want to hand it off to you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Molly. Thank you, Molly and it's very much a pleasure to be here and to be a part of this important conversation. A part of what we're talking about is the story of Black business. The story of Black business is going to be about economic empowerment. It's going to be about Black entrepreneurs chasing their dreams and sometimes it's also about family. More than just being about B2B or business to business or business to consumer, Black businesses are also cultural institutions. They make a community. They make a city and I'm very proud to be a part of the Indianapolis Recorder which is celebrating its 125th year of being in business. Part of the story of Black business is also the story of disparity and overcoming. The city of Indianapolis conducted a disparity study really for the first time in about 20 years and one of the data points that we found from the data period that they were looking at was that Black owned firms received about 73 cents for every dollar that they might have expected to receive based on availability during a four-year study time period. We also know that in Indianapolis that there's a lot of construction firms and architecture firms and they do well when we are building stadiums and public works projects but when we're not that's definitely a challenge. There's also the question of in most cities minority versus Black. How are we, you know, disaggregating the idea of minority versus Black businesses and really honing in on what the real story is of Black businesses. Often we hear the story of about capacity and trying to get access to capital and how that's kind of a chicken versus the egg kind of a story. There's also the story about the general bias towards Black businesses and sometimes Black leaders within the community. Black businesses definitely have a story to tell but what we're going to focus on today is just one piece of that story is Black businesses as it pertains to COVID and what we've put together here is really an ecosystem that's involved with the Black business community here in Indianapolis and today we're going to hear from individuals who run Black businesses, a B2B firm in the form of a security firm. We're going to hear from a Black startup that is B2C or business to consumer. We're going to hear from our indie Black chamber of commerce. We're going to hear from a Black elected official who's a policymaker advocating for Black businesses. We're going to hear from a Black social enterprise as well and we'll have an important conversation that I think really needs to happen and so with that we're going to move into this conversation and my first question is actually going to go to Larry Williams. Larry is wearing two hats in this conversation. He is both a business owner and the leader of the indie Black chamber of commerce. So Larry, tell us a little bit about your business first. He's muted. Let's go ahead and unmute you. There we go. There we go, Larry. So go ahead and tell us a little bit about your business. Thank you, Marshawn. Me and my mother own a security company, uniform guards, armed guards, off-duty police officers. And so right now during this pandemic, half of our contracts have closed down. But so like some of the churches, we do VMVs, event centers, so those have been shut down. But by the grace of God, half of them are still going. We still do Indigo. We have construction sites. We also have the criminal justice center. We do department of family services. So we're still functioning and going through this. Well, that's good. So can you tell us about the indie Black chamber of commerce? Why does it exist? And what are you hearing from other Black businesses, particularly as it pertains to COVID-19? Sure. Just like you said, the city did a disparity study. Well, in 2014, the state did a disparity study. And it showed that the Black community in the whole state was doing 2% of available contracts. And there was no one advocating for Black businesses. So me and my mother started the Black chamber. And what we did was we got Black businesses together and start advocating to make sure that we got these contracts that are set aside for us because of our tax dollars. Okay. Go ahead. And so here we have over 250 members. And so our goal right now, we've been talking to them. And some of them have been shut down. Some of the restaurants have been doing well because people are coming and patronizing them and using just the walk up method and the order method through DoorDash and things of that nature. Okay. That's important. And you raised the issue of advocacy. That's been, I think, one of the successes that I've seen from the indie Black chamber just observing from afar. Can you talk about some of your advocacy efforts and really have you thought about success? Sure. We've advocated with the airport. They have been a great partner. We've gotten a lot of members there. We've advocated for Eskenazi. We've gotten a lot of contracts through there. So dealing with the bigger companies, making sure we get people in there because, well, the capacity is a lot of things that they say that we can't handle. So we can get people in there. We try to walk them through and make sure that they can meet the capacity and everything they need to grow. So can you talk about that working with businesses and trying to build capacity? Is that one of the goals that you all have kind of created for yourself as a Black chamber, particularly during this time? Definitely. I mean, we have three goals. The first goal is to, number one, teach people how to run the back office of a business. Because you can build a chair, but do you understand the back office? Do you know what license you need? Certification, insurance, all those back office things we make sure we teach. And then once we get you on that point, then we go to the bigger companies and advocate to make sure that we get you contracts. And while you have that contract, we walk you through to make sure you keep it and grow from there. So it sounds like the Black chamber is really doing a lot of work to try to support Black businesses. You said you had 200 members. Are you happy with that? You want more members? And do you know, like, how does certification play into this too? Because we know that a lot of our businesses actually aren't certified by the city or the state. Correct. No, 250 is not enough. We need more members. We need just more support from the Black business community. But on certification, we need to make sure all our members are certified. I mean, even marketing the city and the state does marketing, writing, even if you're a lawyer, you know, they still use these businesses. So we advocate and we have a great relationship with the certification with the city and the state to get people certified through the city and so you think so we know we had this disparity study and it's been the chamber has really raised its level of activity. Do you think Black businesses overall are progressing? Do you think in particularly in Indianapolis, I know COVID-19 took a big hit. But before that point, do you think we were on an upward trend as far as businesses doing better or was, how would you describe basically the environment from what you were seeing? Yes, I think we were trending upward. But like you talked about, data is king. So we have to have the data. And so with the city doing a disparity study, you know, we've been saying that, you know, that we're not getting enough as a Black community. But once they did the disparity study, now we have the data to back it up. And in the White community, you have to have data to back up what you're claiming. Understood. And so with COVID-19, we're facing even more challenges. And so I think this is a good time to bring in the Honorable Robin Shackleford. Representative Shackleford, you are the leader of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus. And following the work that you all have been doing, you will first, I'd like for you to talk about the environment that you're operating in. But can you also tell us about the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus? So our current environment, like most environments, is I'm operating for my home, which most of our legislators and most people are, we're trying to practice staying at home. But the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus is made up of the 12 minority senators and reps that represent the state. So we do work that will advocate on behalf of our community when it comes at the state level. We're looking at those bills and policies that we think either should be in place to help advance African-Americans are trying to pay play defense on some of that legislation that's coming down that we think will harm our community. And one of the the environment that you all are operating in, you're in super, you're in a minority position in both chambers, yet you still have to fight and you've had some success. Correct. So I'm sorry, I was talking about that environment. Yes, we are in the super minority. So that means the Republicans, they control the House, the Senate and the governor's office. But even being in that position, we have been able to still have success in working through our agenda, especially when it comes to NBEWBEs and VBEs. One of the pieces of legislation that we were able to get past this session was just making sure our state universities are reporting their NBEWB numbers and VBE numbers directly to the state budget committee. We give out millions of dollars to these state institutions, but we were having issues and concerns with a lot of them not meeting their goals. So they will report their information to the Department of Administration, but we wouldn't be able to see it. We wouldn't be able to drill them when they come before the state to get their funding. So now through a bill that Senator Taylor actually authored and we got past this session, those state institutions will now have to come before the budget committee and submit those numbers to us. So that sounds like a major win. It sounds, you know, getting the data as Larry with the Indie Black Chamber of Commerce mentioned. In following the work that you all have been doing at the legislature, I know that licensing has come up a few times. And as a policy issue, that impacts businesses that particularly that are doing here, the barbershops and beauty shops, I know you I think you've done work on diabetes and specialists in that area. Can you talk about that and those those fights there and how that's impacted black business? So a lot of organizations will want to get licensed for one, it just gives credibility to their industry. And for two, it helps them funding when we go and see who's actually, and I don't want to say legitimate, but who's actually a licensed vendor, whether it has to do with beauty shops, barbershops, dentistry, real estate agents. So we're trying to make sure that if you're supposed to be licensed, then definitely make sure you are licensed by the state. I wanted to just touch on certification because this has become another important avenue that I think all of our minority businesses need to do, not only at the state level, but at the city level. And then also if you work with Midwest, these are three different entities, these entities are no longer sharing information. So they're no longer a collaboration, if you get certified with the city, then you will be automatically certified with the state. So I think it's vital that black businesses know that you need to get certified at all three of these entities, they're all vital institutions, and they all give out contracts when it comes to minority businesses. At the Mid-State Supplier Diversity Council, they're kind of like the private sector version of what the city and the state are doing as far as holding onto this. As a policymaker, when you're thinking about COVID-19, I know you what, we just got out of session. At the federal state, and really at the local level, you being at the state level, you're kind of in the middle of the local and the federal. What are things that you're hoping to see that are coming either from the local level or the state or federal level, actually, that will positively impact black businesses? So I'm hoping to see that a lot of our black businesses take the opportunity and actually get a lot of the assistance of the funding that's coming down from the state level. There is millions coming down whether it's within the CARE Act, whether if the federal government have given agencies and nonprofits money to actually give out and assist these minority businesses. A lot of them are loans, but some of them are actually grants. And I know black businesses have been wanting grants for years. So this is the opportunity that I say, get connected with the SBA, get connected with your lender. I know I have posted some of the issues and concerns that black businesses are having applying for these funds, but please let us know at the legislative level, what are some of those issues and concerns? Because we can convey them back to the governor, which will get it back to the president and at the federal level. So one of the things that I know that you are always preaching is that advocacy matters and advocacy works. What does it mean to see the Indie Chamber at the General Assembly during session for you as a policymaker? So it means a lot. And I just want to thank the Indie Black Chamber for coming down for the last couple of years and advocating on behalf of those minority businesses. You guys are doing an excellent job. We get different groups coming out to the state house daily, but we never have enough African-American groups. Whether it's the minority health coalition, the NAACP, the Urban League, or the Black Chamber, I firmly believe in advocacy work because you have to be in front of these legislators. You're talking about 150 legislators across the state of Indiana. Some of them do not get to interact with a lot of African-Americans, especially professionals. So this is the opportunity to have you step in front of those legislators when we're all in the same place. And it definitely shows up in the legislation. That it is. It's certainly exacerbating a lot of the disparities that we already knew kind of existed. And so it's going to become even more incumbent on folks to engage their legislators to even advocate for some of the policies that they want to see happen. That's definitely has to be a part of the story of Black businesses and COVID-19. Correct. And when you're looking at some of those disparities, whether it's health disparities, whether it's economic disparities, the Black businesses, the Black individuals are always at the top or at the bottom of the list. So it is vital that you guys voice your concerns, any issues that you're having. Let us know. We are still meeting. We meet behind the scenes, whether we're meeting with leadership, whether we're meeting with the governor's office. But please let us know still what are those issues and concerns that are happening in your space. And that's actually an important piece of the story that maybe we don't take advantage of like we should. Do you, when's the time for folks to start engaging with legislators? So the time is now. The summertime is the perfect time to actually start talking with the legislator. If you're thinking about any legislation that you would like to see coming up next session, the summertime is the best time to get a poll of us. This is the time where we're willing to come out to where you are when we get through having to stay at home, whether it be by computer or whether it be over the phone, we can still do that. But this is the perfect time because we start drafting our legislation during the summer and then it's actually due in the fall. So I keep a running list of any issues and concerns or legislation that people are interested in for next year and next year is a budget year. So that is the year that we will be talking about money, whatever it has to do with minority businesses are majority businesses. So this is the time to actually start engaging with your legislator. And I appreciate the fact that the Black Legislative Caucus has the opportunity and as much as they are representing different communities across the state to advocate for the Black community across the state, I know that you all communicate with the governor. Are there any, how does that, how does that usually go when you all are communicating with the governor, particularly about issues as they pertain to the Black community? So I would say that Governor Holcombe is one of those governors that are very receptive. During session, the Black Legislative Caucus, we develop an agenda. We actually meet with all four of the leaders of the legislature and go over the agenda and ask for their assistance. And included in that, we also meet with the governor and ask for his assistance. We always have MBE, WBE, VBE businesses on the agenda because they are always at the forefront of things that we're fighting for. So when we're speaking with the governor talking about minority businesses, talking about any assistance that they need, he's very receptive. And I will also just throw out a poodles to the new director of the Indiana Department of Administration, Leslie Crane. She has been great to work with. She actually came from the House of Representatives, but us being able to work with her directly and get some of these issues that were confronting the MBE, WBE department, she has been great and effective in listening to us and changes that needed to be made. And I understand they're doing a disparity study now too, right? Yes. So I just wanted to make sure we just had, I'm on the subcommittee for the disparity study for the state. The same company that did the city's, BBC, is also conducting ours. And right now, they're in that stage where they're reaching out to businesses to take the surveys, whether it's online or by phone. So I just wanted to make sure that if you have got that invitation, if you're a small minority business, please complete the survey because this is vital to us collecting that data when it comes to proving that there is a disparity with black businesses at the state level. Data definitely matters. And so we've been talking about the challenges and the problems. And I think right now, what I'm going to do is transition to my co-moderator, Molly, to talk about some of the solutions and some of the things that are happening within the black ecosystem. And we'll have more questions for the other panelists a little bit later on in the program. Molly? Thank you, Marshawn. And thank you, Representative Shackelford. And thank you, Larry. The Indianapolis Black Chamber was New America's very first partner in the city of Indianapolis. So I'm always really glad to have them here with us. So as Marshawn said, we've heard a little bit about the scope of the problem and a lot of us understand how this looks in the black community. We started kind of at grass tops, understanding advocacy and kind of formal structures. We're going to move now to talking about grassroots. And I'm going to welcome my guest, Imhotep Adisa, who's the co-founder and one of the leaders at the KEPRA Institute. So I'm going to let my colleagues or Imhotep unmute. Wonderful. Hi. Hello, Molly. How are you? I am great. Thanks for being here. I'm always glad to see you and to see the KEPRA crew. Now, since we have folks from outside of the city, I'd love for you to take a minute and tell me what is KEPRA. And I'm going to use this super scientific method of holding up the spelling. I don't know if you can see it, K-H-E-P-R-W. What is KEPRA and what do you do? KEPRA Institute is a non-profit organization. We launched about 18, 19 years ago, focused primarily at the time on African-American males, my son, Paulette's grandson. And we just needed to have some positive cultural reinforcement. And KEPRA was born from there. It's been heavy from the beginning, focused on entrepreneurship as a approach to building leadership and agency and solving community problems. Fast forward to the present. We now are heavily involved in a variety of areas of what we call community wealth building. That includes entrepreneurship with a heavy emphasis on addressing the needs and issues in community, the environment. We're involved with a national initiative called the Climate Justice Alliance. All youth-focused leadership development using an enterprise model to encourage and build and develop leaders. And there's a ton of programs that we involved in. Today's topic, of course, is focused on the pandemic and the role of entrepreneurship in this space. KEPRA, K-A-G-P-R-R-W. O-R-G. Fantastic. For doing a million things, you really sum that up really quickly. Well, you know, Marchand says, keep us a sink, man. But we have you on here. They're one of our favorite personalities in town, for sure. So, you have something really important in the tab. You hit on the cultural significance of entrepreneurship in the Black community. And Indianapolis is kind of home base, you know, real legacy of entrepreneurship. We even started this program before we broadened the scope, talking explicitly about barbershops and beauty salons, because we know that there are certain businesses, restaurants, personal care that are an especially strong legacy in the Black community. When you think about the role of entrepreneurs in preserving Black culture, what comes to mind? Well, culture itself wraps up everything everyone does within the context of their own cultural experience. So, Black and Brown entrepreneurs do things differently, sometimes viewed as not doing it professionally, but just as unique and often solving problems and creating solutions out of what's available and what's in front of them. So, I think of entrepreneurship and the Black community, you know, we have always had to find ways to do with very little, nothing creating opportunities out of Mr. Crisis. So, I don't know what time in my community where there weren't entrepreneurs grinding, building and finding solutions in all kinds of ways and still do to this day. So, it strikes me as just regular stuff. Of course, the pieces that most folks are seeing aware of during the entertainment industry where people of color are prominent and visible and very successful, but you know, entrepreneurship, you name it, we got folks in those spaces doing work, certified, non-certified and finding ways to support community work and economy. So, as COVID challenges all business owners and certainly entrepreneurs who are often on that razor thin margin of being able to make ends meet, they provide a cultural, they serve a cultural need, they serve a business and an economic need. What are you doing at KEPRA and what are you seeing others do to make sure that entrepreneurs stay connected right now? It would be a hard time to be out there on your own. Okay, the KEPRA work in the entrepreneurial space, I would like to probably categorize it in maybe three areas. One, we decided to launch a grant-based supporting fund for entrepreneurs and artists and it's called LEED, the Local Entrepreneur and Artist Direct Support Fund. And it's on our website LEED.KEPRA.org and we're encouraging the community folks to make a donation to that space and every week we're going to pull a lottery-based approach to whoever applies in that arena in that space. We gave our first grant out last week and we intend to provide a grant of at least $500 as long as we can continue to acquire funding to support that. And part of that's driven around, again, idea in community where we've always found ways to support and generate dollars to support our initiative. So that was the first thing we decided we could do in that space. We also added a page to our website called pandemic.KEPRA.org which has a community-based resource hub and on that page we are highlighting various opportunity support entrepreneurs at this time. The thing the Chamber is doing with the response hub, it's all on our page, other resources, one specifically to entrepreneurship and there are other categories that we've added to that page to let communities, folks know, here are the places that for support whether it's in the entrepreneur space, the food space, the housing space and then also a section for folks just find out what are other people doing in communities around the country that might create some ideas for local folks to be supportive of. There's a section on there if you've got an idea you can submit it and then we'll post and put that on this central page for supporting entrepreneurs. One, two, I think I like to mention on an alchemy of course which is an option or initiative we launched right before the pandemic focused on supporting black and brown entrepreneurs at the corner of 38th and Illinois. Excuse me, we just finished a pilot project with collaboration with Forward Cities, it's a national supporter of black and brown businesses and of course the pandemic hit, we had to shut the space down and so we said well what are we doing now and so hence you saw what I just mentioned and we're looking now to move more of our incubated support pieces online virtually until we can return to some more safe space. Also on that we have a couple of entrepreneurs I like to highlight who have found a way to improve and increase their business opportunities in the midst of the crisis. One is Earthly Clean and the young lady her name is Lakaya, she runs our urban agriculture growing good and the hood initiative for providing healthy food to community. She has a company where she produces organic cleaners and so of course in the midst of the crisis her products are off the chain and sales tied to people needing clean hand cleaner. You can find her, I think we're going to put her information in the chat room and then of course there's another project that we're supporting and encouraging people to look at and that is the revolutionary goddess gear and we'll put that in in the chat room also and she called the other day because she makes mask and now that the you know the government of national public health officials says hey everybody should wear a mask she calls it hey what do you guys think I can do to help ramp this up and I said are you are you ready for it yeah I said okay we'll help you by supporting you put out there online we've been talking hurt with her more about what's the best approach to build your inventory your process for manufacturing and of course you know doing five to ten masks is different from doing a thousand masks so we're talking with her daily and just trying to highlight entrepreneurs in our community who in spite of the pandemic they said okay what is it I can do how can I be beneficial to addressing the health challenges in our communities but also finding an entrepreneur opportunity in the moment did I cover all the cover piece huh town hall thank you we we've launched a weekly town hall town hall initiative using of course the fancy zoom tool like we're using here inviting folks heavily inviting entrepreneurs who often don't get an opportunity to highlight to come in and tell their stories and share with how they're adapting to the the new world we find ourselves in and then also bringing on the folks who are supporters of excuse me the community particularly on that financial side right now folks of course need to try to get at that money and and just have a way for them to talk directly inform that community about the needs of our community and then encourage them to figure out how to make these dollars more accessible to folks who often the barriers of a qualifier in the way so that's what we've been doing recently is that it no that was amazing and I think I hear Aguila back there I think you've got some of your your solid advisors your just your advisors on your elbow hey you know like that's the crew exactly a great person never works alone right so I like it's really important teams and among them is the idea that while this is a tragic awful challenging moment nationally not to be glib it can be tragic and challenging for the black community a lot of the time in this country and so people have found a way and they've they've remained really hard working and looked for innovative solutions so I'm hearing a little bit about not just helping the black community but also looking to the black community for lessons and models and exemplars and I really appreciate that Kepra lifts those folks up but to pivot to a question you have a captive audience here of funders of business leaders of entrepreneurs of folks in the social sector what is one thing you want them to do to help Kepra keep connecting to kind of be smallest but important entrepreneurs in the city um well when we think of that's a great question of course money is always king especially right now since we're in the midst of a severe liquidity crunch called absence of cash I want to start backwards by saying wealth is broader than money so you have social capital and I argue social capital is the most important resource you can have in the world because if you have great relationship with other human beings uh black white red yellow etc then you've got access to financial capital uh intellectual capital and you know intellectual capital is also a critical resource to have this this particular forum here I would call a community wealth building forum because we're providing information to the community that will then allow other folks in community to access those resources so intellectual capital social capital and of course cultural capitals are all critical aspects of and and then last but not least uh financial capital all these are critical pieces of having a community ecosystem that supports community wealth building uh I think that will did visit our website I would say you know not to paint a dark picture but this particular place we find ourselves uh yesterday is not coming back and we are only beginning to see the beginning of uh this storm that uh a lot of businesses are not going to return from a lot of entrepreneurs you know it's a wrap there's probably a ton of already gone and will not return but in that I think entrepreneurs should be looking at but startups should be saying okay what's the new paradigm that's coming out of the ground and where can I fit into that existing entrepreneurs should be taking a real quick of the look at what we're doing now is it what I should be doing in the future is this a moment opportunity to redirect my resources my skill sets or what's going to come out of the ground we all remember cds we all remember dvds we all remember blockbuster and uh those things have come and gone but folks who were involved in those spaces uh often had to adapt and change how they move through the world for the new world as in lastly in that space I would say you know whenever there's a crisis particularly at this nature uh human beings find a way to to become more social and human and civil with each other we come together so my what what can we do Katrina's an example and so it's a critical healthy place to find ourselves because we can now try attempt to rebuild our relationships in community our relations with each other and out of that uh an opportunity to try to really address this racial wealth question by looking at what do we do differently in this moment because this moment calls for doing it differently and changing it now it's risky because the other side of that in crisis is the double down and okay well we you see it taking place in our communities right now people are hoarding items from the store et cetera so you got two two opportunities here I'm hoping there'll be a number of us in the midst of this this moment to embrace the high road and look at how can we address the issues of racial wealth equity issues and structural barriers that uh will still stand in our way and will continue to stand our way but we do have a moment an opportunity here to work together figure out how to make the world a better place like I can't think about better way to to thank you for your time we'll be back with some questions in my tap but I'm actually going to use this as an opportunity you set me up to swing over to Taylor because you talked about an issue I'm going to come to Taylor Simpson here co-founder of an important new institution an app here in time the halo app and we'll hear about that a little more in a minute but you know Taylor talked about kind of a liquidity of a flow crisis right now for resources and cash for businesses and for individuals so could you tell us a little bit more about what the environment is like for capital flow and liquid assets right now and then also a little bit about what halo app does uh I mean it's it's tough it's tough and uh you know kind of like we've discussed before with robin there's resources available my biggest concern is kind of the education to get to those resources you know how available is that education for black business owners uh black people to get to those resources and Edward hierarchy our those resources going to be distributed so that's that's the kind of answer your first question us personally this is sort of our sweet spot this is what we're excited about we're excited to help people during this time there's no everyone's pretty aware that a majority of the country do not does not have the resources to cover emergencies even at five hundred dollars um I myself have had my own individual personal financial crisis and the reason that usually resonates is because we've all been there and here in lies one of the at least in my lifetime the biggest potential financial crisis in American history and unfortunately that's going to affect disproportionately black and brown people the most so what we've created is a private peer lending community that connects people uh real people real lives to uh to loans one hundred to a thousand dollars um we're excited about it just because we're able to help people during this time when we go through crisis like this we have two sides of market in any crisis there are going to be people who have and people who need and I believe we serve in a sweet spot of connecting the two individuals we're excited about the opportunity here I'm also extremely scared I'm very fearful because this is a great opportunity for predatory services as well and unfortunately millions of dollars are being distributed every single week in this city alone and predatory loan and predatory loans so there's going to be a lot of people that are going to be helped today but the worst thing we can do I think is help someone today and displace them for generations and that's exactly what predatory lending does and I think that's why the Halo app is going to be such a shining star right now something that we're doing we released an article about it on Wednesday of last week is we're going to do a million dollars in zero fee loans to people in need people that are affected by COVID-19 here in the city we're also looking to partner this is a great room for that conversation with individuals on the other side to do those loans at zero interest there's zero backer fees on our behalf very different from probably the proposals that people in the city are getting right now and I think we can be extremely helpful during this time of crisis that sounds like an incredible product and born out of a really sticky issue you know historically there's not been a lot of trust between the black community and financial institutions which makes sense racist practices and redlining and lack of access uh at new america we did a study on the racialized costs of banking that show that in black neighborhoods people are paying 17 to 19 dollars more for a simple checking account so you are arising to an occasion for sure what is your advice for people trying to launch something like yours that's that has to build trust and credibility how do businesses build trust and credibility with black users right now in a time of crisis honest honest it's it's a it's a two-way street you know for me everything about us is very transparent we're incredibly honest i think the lack of transparency is what builds that distress between people in banks we're dealing with systems that have not changed for forever for centuries you know since my grandparents have been alive and those are the same pillars and infrastructures that are around today so that says something you know um so i think the first thing we do is we we're transparent we're honest in everything that we do and i think if if people feel that if it's genuine if people can believe that from you you know it will resonate and and transition to them as users so i mean that's something that we stand for that something we're very proud about i've never you know i've dealt with a lot of financial institutions in my life and i've i've felt you know discriminated and and that's something that doesn't feel good you know you feel lesser than you walk into an institution and you know that you're not getting the same deals as others um and that's something that we you know we don't want to continue on our platform we want to provide people fair access we want to give people safe access to loans when they need it because they should have it there shouldn't be such a wide gap and it will have the end will tap you said that it a little bit in in your segment is just there's such a large discrepancy between the services that some people get and the service that other people get how can we close that gap uh and i believe that's that's exactly what we're doing here at the halo app it seems to me that that the halo app that going to the indie black chambers friday lunches that approaching um kepra to go to one of their programs to calling your representative like calling representative shackle for these are good ways to get an idea of whether or not the offer you're being presented is a good idea um if anyone in the chat has some ideas about where to check the validity of financial office that are coming your way that would be great how to self advocate and protect yourself but taylor what would you say to to residents and to business owners alike how do you kind of stop and take a breath about whether or not the money you have access to is is good money is a good choice or not yeah for me i love that question because a big part of what we do is the psychology of it all right i mean for me even in my personal financial crisis if somebody had just told me to relax to breathe to take a deep breath everything's going to be okay give you that sigh of relief you would make better choices but you end up panicking and this is the time when a lot of people in this city are panicking and so the first thing that our first reflex is to go to a predatory service or you know to bypass terms or fair terms and just get access to what we need to so we can get essentials so i think the first thing is to make public that there are resources out there not only the halo app but there's tons of resources in this conversation right now that can really help people make sure that these conversations are public make sure that educational resources are there first if we can provide educational resources if we can provide emotional resources we can even bypass some of the financial resources that people need um and so i think that's just my biggest concern right where is that access to education for people where is that access that people understand that there are resources that are available and how can we as leaders make sure that that's readily available for for people fantastic before i pivot here i do want to ask before we let you go for a minute we'll be back for questions uh where can we hear more from you because i heard a rumor that you're going to be broadcast tonight as well we're everywhere we're trying to be everywhere but uh the halo app.com the halo app pretty much everywhere on social platforms on our websites the halo app.com we're going to be very active uh or very visible in the community especially right now like i said before this is our moment the time is now this is absolutely where the halo app is going to shine um and so we're going to be extremely visible and we're trying to get this in as many people's hands as possible this is a resource that people need right now we're on the calls we're on the front lines of people with crisis every single day we hear their stories we hear how they're affected i always like to say one of the first things that i heard uh you know when covet started to to get big was hey make sure you don't use public transportation if that does not you know show the mindset of this country i don't know what does just i mean atrocious that some people have no other option but use public transportation some of these things so you know for me we're here we're ready to help we're excited to help we have uh the backing of of of major people in the city and you know i think if we can get people's hands on the halo app versus some of these predatory services we can not only save today but we can really really really really save tomorrow for for all of these people wonderful thank you taylor uh so taylor and dimitip have covered some of the solutions but we have a really established solutions provider with us today i'm going to hand back to marshawn who's going to interview a representative from the indy chamber and and tell us a little bit more about vincent and his work marshawn thank you molly and so we've heard from a startup black startup a social enterprise policy makers another black more traditional firm in our black chamber and that's kind of a piece of the ecosystem but another piece of the ecosystem and in supporting just businesses in general is would be in indianapolis the indy chamber and so with us we have a vencent who actually works with develop indy and we know that there's develop indy and indy chamber can you talk a little bit about like the lance the landscape a little bit on these economic development kind of things that are out here in the larger ecosystem just so we can have kind of a quick snapshot of what we're dealing with absolutely so yeah i usually have to explain this every time somebody asks that and i say i work at the indy chamber develop indy but so the indy chamber basically is the chamber of commerce for the indianapolis region we focus regional economic development so that is marion county and in the eight surrounding on the counties as well and we basically just serve as liaison for the business community for advocacy to you know progress progress throughout the region improvement and then quality of life about seven years ago the chamber decided to get more involved with economic development because it just aligns with like i said quality of life and improvement just the region as a whole so with that three economic development organizations merge with the chamber that will consist of business entrepreneurship services boi which works on small businesses and entrepreneurship and we have our indy partnership which is a regional economic development team it focuses on you know business attraction at a regional level and then you know regional planning as well and then you have develop indy which is the marion county in the city of indianapolis's economic development arm so we focus on business attraction expansion projects as well as real estate real estate development projects as well i mean we're very closely on the city for any incentives that companies may qualify for so i've been here for about a year and a half now i really enjoy i mean we have great relationships again with the mayor's office department of meta metropolitan development as well i mean we're very closely with the city on many different projects great and so we're going to talk about a number of the programs that you all have moving forward um but what i wanted to do initially we were looking at you know beauty shops and barber shops and we realized that there's a bunch of different kinds of businesses that are out here what kind of businesses are you seeing engage with the indy chamber right now in some of your programs like you know talk talk about you know what's the spectrum um who do you want to see that you're not seeing talk a little bit about that absolutely so we have a broad spectrum of different businesses that we touch i know from develop indy standpoint we deal with a lot of bigger corporations more sophisticated companies that's having large economic development or capital investment projects but with that we also have like i said boi who deals with entrepreneurship and small businesses and we're touching you know restaurants beauty supplies a lot of service of providers company providers as well so we really have an ecosystem established at the chamber where we could touch a company basically from an inception or an idea with our free business coaching products and then be able to help them grow and facilitate long term and grow to a mid-size to even a large corporation company with any incentives that you know the city may offer so it's great great to see it's great to be a part of we have kind of our business our boi team and business coaching most of their clientele is you know 50 majority of black or brown businesses as well so we're definitely focused on that our Hispanic business couch was very large as well so we're touching companies pretty much across the spectrum startup all the way to you know c-corp corporation so being able to have that landscape and be able to foster that networking as a chamber it's pretty beneficial so the beauty shops the barber salon the barbers the barber shops the beauty salons the the restaurants it seems like you're you're seeing everybody the like realtors are you seeing them are you seeing maybe folks that have they're just they are the business yeah real real security security companies kind of what you know what larry has alluded to you know financial advisors as well which is they're just the 1099 employees that they're doing on their own so sole proprietors LLCs we pretty much touch every different business aspect across the you know the city and we have a lot of different members but we also have a lot of services you know that are free for just for a community and you don't have to be a part of our business coaching is free things that we do at develop indie where we look at projects for any centers that they qualify is free because we're a partnership with the city the mayor's office so we want to help foster our relationship so more than just being a membership organization we have a lot of resources as well that's available for a community and now you're the quarterback from what I understand for a lot of these interesting programs that you're doing that can benefit black businesses particularly on the access to capital side so can you talk about those and what you're seeing in that situation absolutely so when I say quarterback definitely takes a team but just glad to be a part of it so due to COVID-19 the indie chamber decided to launch our rapid response hub basically it started out as a resource for businesses to come come to check out free for anybody to view and on this hub we have frequently asked questions that companies may ask as far as everything from federal programs to local programs and state programs every time you know the governor made another announcement about you know the stay at home orders we've seen a flood of questions come in so outside of just a frequently asked questions we also had a avenue where businesses can ask detailed questions and they will get responses very quickly from people on our team or we would connect them with the IU Kelly School of Business which was doing answering questions pro bono for all companies as well in addition to that with the city of Annapolis and other investors as well we raised a lot of capital to issue a rapid response loans so with that businesses are able to apply for $5,000 up to $25,000 and capital basically to stay solvent for the next you know 90 days is what we've been what we've been telling people you know most small businesses is what it affects the most and most small businesses are pretty much have cash flow for probably about 15 to 27 days so this we knew small businesses was going to be impacted the most and we wanted to be there for them not only just have the house resources so we could be a one-stop shop to get all their questions answered but to also give them access to capital so with that I think we raised we set a pretty lofty goal of deploying up to $10 million in loan we've had over 500 inquiries of different companies that have small businesses that have inquired about it about loans as well and we're working through that process and we pretty much expedited our lending process to try to get these loans out quickly and efficiently to all businesses that are acquired about it and that's going to be proactive and making sure you know they give us the documentations that they need and then those are like I said a lot of small businesses predominantly that are in like I said our black communities here in Annapolis as well that have reached out along with that and we're seeing a lot of restaurants like I said duty salons as well barbershops but service a lot of service companies I know Marshawn you wrote an article last week in the recorder about how service industries would be affected the most and more importantly you know the black workers that work in service industries but to that point a lot of service industries have reached out to us to in the process to get those loans and all the way from like security companies as well a lot of just service oriented companies outside of just food and restaurants which we have many of those as well have reached out to try to stay solvent during these times it sounds like a lot of the areas where black businesses are kind of situated within the Indianapolis market those types of businesses are taking advantage of the resources do you know do you feel like you're seeing enough black businesses do that would you like to see you know what's what's that looking like have you had a chance to kind of you got 500 applications yeah I would I would absolutely like to see I think a lot more I know historically our loans and our clients that we've had that we have done lending to like I said have been 50% black or brown entrepreneur we would like to stay on that range with these rapid response loans I have seen quite a few you know black owned businesses the minority owned businesses that have applied through the through our rapid response loans I absolutely would love to see more and just being knowledgeable about the resources that's out there is very important for I believe for you know the black community as a whole and so them being aware of this and being able to take advantage I've been talking to like a lot of different people who have reached out knowing I work at the chamber a lot of friends I've been trying to share it on all my social media platforms just personally because I know I have a lot of friends that are entrepreneurs in the city as well and I know they could take advantage of it and or they could share it and they could get it hold up you know somebody that could use it absolutely so we absolutely would love to see more but we still want to you know try to maintain that target that we've had historically with our other loans so one of the things so before we we move to the questions because we're starting to get the questions are coming in I could see I could see them coming in what advice would you give to both the developing black business maybe one that is newer in their in their cycle and the sophisticated black business Indianapolis record has been around for 125 years I don't you know we have other businesses like Indianapolis record that you know are out here what advice would you give them about you know the programs that you all are you're using particularly your loan programs and that kind of thing absolutely so any any loan process can be pretty daunting for a lot of small businesses so with that there is documentation that needs to be included with any type of business we also require people to be certified with the state and not only with the state you know being certified locally at a city level with our office of minority women in business development will go a long way as well it's not necessarily needed for a loan but you do need to be registered with the state with that having a business bank account and not co-mingling your personal funds with your business funds and sending up a draw for you to have you know keeping accurate bookkeeping from your business statements and your your profit and loss statements those are things that we ask for as well just to show cash flow of the business so those are kind of the things that I would encourage developing companies to do as far as sophisticated companies is just continue to be knowledgeable of all the resources that are available with that your first port and contact is probably be the bank that you already have a relationship with and reaching out to them because they will be way more knowledgeable about all the different type of programs that you will possibly qualify for and then taking advantage of you know low interest rates at this time and refinancing different aspects if you can but again you're just staying knowledgeable knowing all your resources that's out there and then just continue to be an advocate for other minority businesses as you go forward and move through the process and just one quick clarification you mentioned certification and you were talking about within the context of right businesses I know that I know there's there's the city and the state certification which you're saying you know it's not necessary for the loans did you mean the secretary of state's office like being being certified or recognized as a corporate entity with sick yeah yeah yeah being recognized as a corporate entity with the secretary of state's office is required is required for a loan that's not yeah it would just be an add in a plus if you're you know registered with the city and certified to you know the city as well so but being registered with the state as a business organization a secretary of state as business organization is required and that's as simple as just following with the secretary of state's office and developing your articles of the corporation and deciding you know are you a LLC s corp that kind of thing okay yeah yeah with that um we have a bunch of questions and I'd like to kind of reconnect with my my co-moderator here I have some questions look like you probably have some questions I'll let you go first sounds good we'll divvy it up um I think my first question is I'm going to pivot to Larry and then to representative Shackleford um we've had several questions on the back channel about data Larry you mentioned the importance of data access to it making a compelling case for your business so Larry let me start with you um where do you send your members to get good data on business on the community where's what's your source so we we have a doctor Shola um on our uh board who does all our data so we we keep a lot of the data he he prepares the data for us um that that's what's so important and as we talk about data um I want to make sure that um as the businesses grow um and they're going through this COVID-19 they should also write down their losses we we write down what we're getting but we also had to write down our losses so whatever contracts that we're supposed to have you know you need to document that because next year um you know we don't know what's going to happen but you know tax time comes they're going to ask you know how much did you lose during this time you had to have that documented uh again that's the data you gotta have uh to receive some more funding thank you so much and as the representative shackleford you talked a little bit about data systems and data systems that don't connect um what data systems would you like to see be improved or changed to better serve black business especially after some of the disparities that the COVID crisis have exposed so I would like to see for there to be a one-stop shop for a lot of these black companies to be able to fill out information whether it has to do with getting a loan or accessing government resources I know someone had mentioned in the comments that they needed more information like direct on how to actually apply for some of these loans and grants uh through the care act but I want to let black businesses know that there are actually attorneys doing pro bono work they will guide you through the process they're doing presentations so I'll be happy to get some of that information to you and Marshawn and that may be uh the next um I don't know what you're calling these things right here electronic tailhaul that you're doing but I have uh set in on some of those presentations because this information can be very complicated to get through you will need the help of an attorney or a CPA if you really want to do it correctly but there are CPAs and attorneys actually out there offering free work and that will help you with the application process but if we can get any of these applications streamlined I know we're trying to do that at the state but since there is a lot of resources out there I would love to see somebody staying straight line so people don't have to keep going to every different source and completing the same information over and over excellent so we'll get that information from you and then any of the panelists and also folks in chat if you know of people who are doing pro bono work if you know of folks who can help navigate some of these bureaucratic systems um I see I see Larry making a motion that would be great Larry yes um the black chamber that's what we're doing we're helping our members um go through these loans and these grants that we have access to so we are here to help people maneuver through because a lot of them don't have the right information so we're helping people build up the information they need to get these loans great thank you Larry Marchand I'm gonna pivot back to you for some more questions from the the back channel so first it's good to hear that Larry our indie black chamber is already on the job trying to help our businesses navigate through this but I'm actually going to go to Vincent and my question for Vincent and you you may not have the answer to this one of the questions that came up was um you know why a loan versus a grant and um I guess the other question that I would add to that is can you talk about like some of the terms some of the financials on on on the grants or the loans rather that you are doing absolutely yeah so I definitely want to mention uh to the last question um you know the response hub has kind of been the one stop shop for resources um we have our own loans but so does every other bank so unfortunately it's not one just to do everything but I know the indie bar association is doing pro bono work as well um and we can connect you through our response hub um for that um as far as uh loans um compared to uh grants um it is considered a loan um but the terms of it is very favorable um so we're looking at 3.75 percent interest interest rates uh which are very good um from a business standpoint um and even personally um just overall so um the loans are are not meant to be uh to take advantage of anybody um and then even with that uh no interest should be accrued um until the middle around 90 days about the middle of the summer is what we're telling people and that's when first payments are are are due as well uh with that we're really just using our loan um access um kind of as a gap filler uh for most companies um if they are still submitting through the sba which is a longer in-depth process um once they get paid by the sba they can pay off um our loan and it's forgivable there's no penalties at all um so that's not the case for a lot of other um you know entities that are administering loans but um for our process is really just to be there for the companies just to remain solvent um like I said interest rates are very low um and payments are in interest are not beginning to accrue if you do um into the middle of the summer so um that's kind of our process um that we have um and I know there are some grants out there um lists announced one as well with a partnership with Verizon um my mom my mom uh personally has an in-home daycare uh which my sister works for as well um they applied for some grants because they had to close down um as for a few weeks um so they applied through some grants as well um so I know CICF may be doing some things as well as united way so um the response hub should have most of that information about grants that um are on there as well right so I was aware of the list grant with um Verizon which was a business grant and then my also my understanding is with the small business administration their grants are for their loans rather are forgivable or some portion of it is forgivable if you have if you maintain your employees that you had you can you talk a little bit about that I know you're not the SBA but yeah no I do I do not know the exact exact answer to that question okay and that's that's probably the first time I've heard that um that's not necessarily the case for our the loans that we are administering um our business uh entrepreneurship services but um yeah so it's a little bit different from SBA but we do follow some SBA most SBA guidelines at the moment and then I know in I am hooked up you wanted to say something I think you have you have a quick program go ahead well yeah I was not about that but yes we have a grant program lottery base I think we shared that earlier uh send folks over for that but I know united way is doing a webinar tomorrow specifically on this how does payroll piece work so you might check that out also March on along along with that um I have to mention this even though it's not not related to um COVID um kind of with Kepra um and they're you know partnering with forest cities we do have a loan um program um that has uh capacity in it I believe up to 60 thousand dollars for entrepreneurs that are in the target areas for forest cities that are at zero interest um and they can go for loans from a hundred all the way up to ten thousand dollars for entrepreneurs that are targeted in those areas um and we absolutely want you know black businesses and that's who is it's geared for um the black community and small entrepreneurs to you know take advantage of that um so that is a revolving fund um once it's out in the next you know installment we'll we'll go through but uh just to be aware of that um with a partnership with you know forest cities we do have that um program as well I had one more question for representatives Shackleford um and if others have some thoughts I'd like to hear from them as well but Representative Shackleford one of the questions we got was you know post COVID-19 um this this can't this too shall pass what should black businesses be thinking about what should we be trying to to do as we prepare for a post COVID-19 reality what are some things that you think from maybe at the policy level if some of you all have some ideas maybe as entrepreneurs um what what's post COVID-19 for black business from your perspective so from my perspective and as far as policy I would say for some of those businesses if you have to close your business because you're just losing so much revenue in this state then think about some of those other things that you may want to get engaged in I know entrepreneurs are those type of people that if one business closed and they're still thinking about what other things can I do so this is the time to start thinking about is there another business that I would like to get into uh that I can actually make more money when it comes to whether dealing with COVID-19 or any other type of business to look into and then think about it policy related licensing what kind of licenses do I need to get into is there policies that are creating challenges or barriers that I would like to see change so just think about those things as we start going into the fall and going into next year when session is going about the start and you want to engage some of those legislators and talk about ideas that you may have to help come out of this crisis all right the entrepreneurs any anybody else um I know one of the things that people have been talking about is the challenge of business interruption insurance and whether or not uh COVID-19 or a pandemic is covered within that and I know the state you know they regulate insurance policies and things of that nature any other things that we should be thinking about as a black business community post COVID-19 and Marshawn if I could just add one thing I'm also a travel agent so I know the travel industry has been hit hard I've received numerous calls from some of my clients wanting to cancel some of their trips some of the vendors I will say are doing a good job at getting people's money back and some of them are not so the travel industry I know we have a lot of blacks that actually do travel and that are facing some of these challenges so I think going into next legislation year especially when you said insurance that just made me think about it because you have some companies that are reimbursing the insurance component and some companies that are not so people are frustrated that they may have to get a credit just for that insurance portion and they can get back some of their money when it comes to whether they took a cruise or a pain at a hotel so I think those are some of those things and challenges that a lot of African Americans will probably bring up and have issues with of how insurance was handled what was actually covered by insurance were they able to get their money back but I know I'm seeing a lot of that take place in the travel industry great one one more breaking news kind of situation is I happen to know that representative Shackleford made a request for some data from a particular agency just yesterday we found out we're going to be getting that data on Thursday what other kind of business data and this the data that representative Shackleford requested had to do with race data on health disparities as it pertains to COVID-19 I just got a message that we're going to get that data on this Thursday from the State Department of Health what other data do you think we need to know as a business community I'm thinking about you know the banks are about to provide funding to use our tax dollars to provide funding to their clients should we have some data on that those are kind of things I'm thinking about what other kind of data most definitely I would want to see the data of all this assistance that the government is sending out and who actually received it which businesses actually got it and what did they use it for because I can tell you right now I can foresee another disparity when it comes to the resources that was sent out whether it was loans grants so that data is also vital I know the Black Caucus will also be requesting some of that data be made public all right I'll turn it back well did anyone else have there yes I mean we we've learned from these loans that they have like even I put in a loan for a bankable and they wouldn't accept my loan because they said they wanted to see what the SVA was going to give me well the SVA right now the PPP loan they crashed yesterday the SVA crashed they had to come up with a different application so I know everybody's sending everybody to the SVA but I mean the SVA really is you know barely moving now they they don't even know what they're doing to be honest so there there is some you know people saying that they're here to help but they are but not everybody is helping I mean you know there's applications being denied they're also asking you know do you have a criminal background you know these are things that people don't know that's happening in the background that if you've got a criminal background the last year they're not gonna give you a loan so if you if you just came out of prison and you start your own business and you're doing great and now you're hit by this you know now you you're not qualified for the SVA loan so I mean there's a lot of disparities that's going on here that we got to keep track of I appreciate that if I am go ahead and gotta mute yourself did you unmute okay I got yeah I think I just want to add in addition to the to data it would be good for us to take a look back to previous times when there have been economic challenges and crisis 2008 the great depression and what are the similarities and what are the differences between those particular moments in the present and I think those kinds of exercises could help better inform our direction and approach to post-pandemic a post-pandemic world learning from the past to help us move forward Molly did you have any other questions that you yeah so I wanted to highlight another question before we we wrap up here and that was a question about that you know this is a new normal for businesses as as in which I've said we're not going back to the way it was and so the future is digital commerce the future is changing even the ways those who provide hands-on services schedule or take payment there may need to make some physical or infrastructure challenges so when you think about the assistance that business leaders are going to need Vincent I saw you nodding so I'm going to pick on you first are you familiar with anyone who's lending assistance to black businesses to help them turn to e-commerce to help them change their physical surroundings so that they can adapt to the new normal I'm not aware of any particular entity that is doing that I was not in my head because it actually has been kind of inspiring to see how some businesses and even black businesses have been able to pivot to a more online platform I know Kepra I believe just a couple weeks ago had a lady that has a yoga studio that started doing virtual classes so and along with that there was a musician on there that you know he's now he's doing a little clips personal clips for people and that are sending them money to do do things like that so it has been interesting and exciting to see how companies have been a little innovative and being able to move the platform and at the end of it it's just going to make companies even stronger once they have still do the in-person things and be able to be virtual as well so I wish I was aware of another entity that was able to help out with that we don't have really anybody housed at the chamber that focuses on that but I think it is unnecessary for a lot of businesses to be able to learn and be innovative and to be able to pivot. Excellent. Emmett, did you want to add something to that since Kepra came up as an example where people are being creative? Yeah well of course our work we have a lot of young adults a lot of young folks grew up with technology they do technology up down left to right they got three of them here in our dormitory that if I need something technologically wise these guys get at it. Rausul is leading up an initiative we're working with New America on called democratizing our data and we are training young people in those fancy data analysis tools like Python, R, etc. We also have a one of our enterprises, KIA New Media and we're now actually looking at how do we take those skills that we've acquired and make those skills available to entrepreneurs who need to have more of a digital format and become more involved in that space. With Alchemy Incubator we're moving online we envision having classes and workshops to assist in that kind of space but somebody's out there listening now get at us we'd be more than willing to to provide some free consultation and figure out how we can help you with that that that narrative join our incubator incubator.capper.org and become a member of that team and we'll figure out how to do this together. Thank you Taylor could I could I ask you really quickly before I hand back to Marshawn because I think I saw you nodding. Yes. Go ahead. Oh sorry go ahead. For me I just wanted to make a quick statement because a lot of our conversation has been business oriented just let's stop and look consumer facing because the more we can sustain our future customers our current and future customers through this time the better our spending power is going to be you know in the in the future. So I really want us to take a healthy look at backing some of some of these people on on our platform at least and in pooling some of these dollars that we have as a community so we can support the people that are affected truly truly truly affected on a very personal level by this crisis because they're in the thousands the tens of thousands the hundreds of thousands and if we can support them for these next coming months you know that's going to only you know benefit our companies as we come out of this crisis so I do want us to recognize consumer facing at least our customers and people that are affected by this crisis on a personal level and and again using the resources that we have not only on this call but within our networks to really really really support them. Thank you Taylor. Marshawn would you like to say a few words before I kind of do the administrative closeout because we're getting near the end of our time. Sure so we have talked a lot about the the ecosystem within the black business community. We did get a chance to highlight some of the venture funds that are coming up. The Nimble is one of those entities that's involved in developing venture funds but we have a policymaker social entrepreneurs we have business owners we have our black chamber we have the indie black chamber and their engagement with the black community this is a story that is going to it'll be about disparities but it'll also be about black entrepreneurs continuing to overcome and I want to focus and celebrate that even as we continue to fight the the other disparities so it as much as knowledge is power let's keep listening let's keep learning and with that I'll turn it over to Molly Thank you Marshawn really well put I want to thank all of our panelists today thank Vincent, Larry, Imhotep, Taylor, Representative Shackleford and certainly thank my co-rot moderator Marshawn and thank all of you for attending. A couple quick follow-up items we had a number of questions we didn't get to we will make sure that those get answered either in future events or directly we'll share them with our panelists. I'll be sending a follow-up message to everyone who registered with the video the transcript some of the resources we talked about and I hope that you will take a look at that and I also hope that you'll share it there are lots of people who couldn't join us today and we think that lots could benefit from from everything we heard from our panelists next week we will be doing this again same time two o'clock on Tuesday the 14th you can look forward to an invitation and we'll be talking about black experiences in health care whether or not people feel like they're listened to do they have access to affordable care some of the disparities and health outcomes related to the black community that we're seeing unfold it's a very important conversation we hope you'll join us and I want to give special note to our community partners at WFYI public broadcasting namely side effects public media who is partnering in this whole project and then playing a special role an elevated role in next week's program so we're really grateful to all of you I hope you had a chance to engage I hope you'll follow up with our materials and share them far and wide on behalf of new america thank you so much for joining us today and I love it when I stick a landing look at us managing our time and ending right so please be safe be well and have a great day everyone great day thanks everybody thank you