Strengthening the community in Toledo has been a huge focus for the African American Leadership Council of the United Way for the last few months, the council’s leader said.
Every year, the leadership council hosts its Lunch with Leaders quarterly series to discuss and educate local residents about different issues and the solutions to those issues, said Jonathan Dorcely, affinity leader for the leadership council and director of marketing and engagement for United Way.
“This year, we’ve really been focusing on wealth building,” Mr. Dorcely said. “We’ve looked at personal wealth, so just those strategies for how you can build wealth for yourself and your family. Then we hosted a budgeting workshop about how you create a budget so you can reach those financial goals.”
This time around, the African American Leadership Council will take “a step back” and discuss wealth building at the community level at its Lunch with Leaders: Community Wealth Building event, which will see three local leaders who specialize in the areas of housing, health, and economics at Frederick Douglass community center from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Aug. 8.
Carrie Morgan, vice president of community development for Huntington Bank; Kendra Smith, vice president of community health for Mercy Health; and Fletcher Word, publisher of Sojourner’s Truth, will be taking turns discussing one of the three topics.
Ms. Morgan will be tackling the economic piece of the event, she said
She’ll be discussing what safe housing means, the difference between renting and buying, and rental agreements.
The event is a great way for Huntington and other community leaders to build trust in the community, Ms. Morgan said.
“The program is at the Frederick Douglass center, which I think is a great location just because of the location to certain neighborhoods that we’re trying to target,” Ms. Morgan said. “It’s a way for, not just Huntington, we’re doing this in partnership with United Way, to actually go into these communities and actually talk to the people.”
Ms. Smith is set to discuss health but in the “holistic” sense, she said.
“As a health organization, we want to talk about physical health ... but we also want to talk to folks about their financial health, the health of their community, and how all of that plays [a role] in overall health and well being,” Ms. Smith said.
It was important for Ms. Smith to cover different facets of health because a person’s financial health, for example, can impact their physical health.
Ms. Smith added she’ll also be educating residents about the different resources that Mercy Health has to offer around housing support, food insecurity, and nutrition.
Resources like the hospital system’s Financial Opportunity Center, located at Mercy Health Franklin Avenue at 2213 Franklin Ave., which provides residents with a financial counselor at no cost, she said.
Mr. Word will talk about the Black Wall Street Community Development organization, which is composed of different Black media partners such as Sojourner's Truth, 107.3 The Juice, and Stalwart Magazine, which aims to provide mentorship and professional development opportunities to African-American entrepreneurs in the area.
He said there are “all sorts of reasons” why Black entrepreneurs need to be educated about the opportunities Black Wall Street Community Development provides.
“One of the issues that Black entrepreneurs face is the fact that they have limited funds when they’re starting their business and because we have limited funds, to put money into areas in which they can get the word out about their business,” he said. “That’s one of the last things they think about. You think about rent and what you have to spend on the product.”
Events like these get people to start thinking about what they and gives them a space to find solutions to issues that don’t just affect them but the community as a whole, Mr. Dorcely said.
He added it also gives them access to resources and opportunities that other cities in the area might have more of.
“I think if we continue to have these discussions and empower people, we can kind of move forward and help create better situations for people, no matter where they live,” he said. “Through policy, through private and public dollars, and things like that, so that all people in our communities have the same opportunities.”
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