>>Coming up on American Black Journal, it has been two really long years for small businesses and they are just now on the road to recovery.

We're gonna hear about what they should be doing after the COVID-19 pandemic ahead of the Small Business Workshop.

Then we're gonna talk about the return of the biggest event each year in the black act legal community.

We're gonna talk with the Wolverine Bar Association about this year's Barristers' Ball.

Don't go away.

American Black Journal starts right now.

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(upbeat easy jazz music) >>Welcome to American Black Journal.

I'm Stephen Henderson.

The first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic have been really devastating for small businesses in our community.

They're just now starting to map out the road to recovery and think about what they really need to do to bounce back.

The LEE Group's eighth annual Small Business Workshop is gonna offer them some answers.

In a series of free virtual seminars that'll take place in May and June, I caught up with Mark Lee who leads the LEE Group as well as David Girodat from Fifth Third Bank, which is the series presenting sponsor.

So Mark, eight years, that's a long time to be talking with small businesses about their needs and their challenges.

Of course, this year I think is really different than lots of other years just because we are still watching small businesses, I think, figure out what the road to recovery looks like after the pandemic and decide what it means, I guess, to really come back.

>>Yeah, first of all, thanks for having me.

Eight years is a long time.

I thank all the viewers for your support.

It clearly shows that we still have a need for this particular type of program in terms of supporting entrepreneurs.

And we think about the evolution of recovery.

We thought we would recover last year, and here we are in 2022, we're still trying to figure out what this thing called recovery looks like.

And I think as we think about this year's workshop, just a couple things I wanna briefly highlight for you if I could.

One is a study was done recently by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that really focused on that three quarters of US small businesses are still struggling financially.

They still have some financial challenges.

And a lot of their resources are still tied up.

They're short on resources because they had to use their resources to keep the business open during the pandemic.

And they're coming out the pandemic, that is still a challenge.

And now we're finding that inflation and hiring are challenges as well.

So whenever we think we're focus on that recovery, things continue to change as well.

>>So tell me what the framing, I guess, is for this year's seminars, which are gonna be virtual again, and they're gonna unfold over May and June.

What will small businesses be able to learn from all of this?

>>That's a great question.

We're gonna continue have a virtual series.

We're gonna focus on the road to recovery.

What does that look like?

And specifically, as I just referenced, there's a challenge when it comes to hiring.

How do you attract talent?

What are your plans?

What should you be executing?

What should you be focused on?

There's still a challenge when it comes to access to capital.

What are the grant programs, financial opportunities out there, if you will, that people can still tap into?

And also we're gonna be talking to business leaders to focus on what can we expect.

We have a futurist and economist from Fifth Third who's gonna be talking about expectations for the balance of this year.

And how do you navigate those challenges as we think about continuing to evolve and grow as part of this recovery process.

>>Dave talk about from, I guess, the banking perspective what you're seeing and he from small businesses about what's challenging them now that we're at least a little bit on the other side of the pandemic and I guess how that maybe looked different than it it did before all of this happened.

>>Stephen, thanks.

One, Fifth Third is really excited to partner with Mark and is organization for the eighth year now in promoting small business.

It's a true passion of myself and the organization that we're committed to the marketplace.

Framing things up, I would look at if we had this discussion December of last year, we'd be having completely different dialogue than we're about to have with folks starting in May and June.

When you look at the inflationary pressures that we're experiencing around fuel cost, labor, labor supply, supply chain logistics, it is a different environment for small business owners, let alone when you start talking about access to capital and rising rates.

So this is gonna be, in my opinion, a little more of a science, or excuse me, a little more of an art and a science type of year because every situation's going to be different.

If you're able to absorb labor cost and push them through to the consumer and still be viable and compete in your industry, that's great, but not all businesses are that way.

You think about a lot of it's great small businesses around metropolitan Detroit, family run, family staff, you're providing a product and service that you can't price yourself out of business.

So those are things that we worry about and we stay focused on.

We do think about those stats that 50% of our employment base is small-business-driven around the country, so their success is incredibly critical.

I probably have more interest now.

I wanna say I had COVID figured out and PPP loans and what to do with this, Mark.

That capital's gone, and there's not a lot of replacing that.

So sustainability around small business is critical, we all work together and share the ideas and the knowledge that we have.

>>Yeah, so talk a little about the lending environment, Dave.

That is a key part, I think, of the landscape for small businesses, not just in metro Detroit, but everywhere, and it's a real challenge.

Is it more challenging right now, or less challenging for the businesses themselves to get access to capital?

>>I would tell you depending where you are in a cycle, Stephen, it's gonna determine what's called the ease of access to capital.

Business that they have a history and you can see the cycles of challenges, maybe purely tied to COVID.

Banks can figure out and underwrite through.

Luckily we still have great tools around the SBA and the partnerships we have there.

I do think some organizations, it's gonna take additional outside resources.

That's why some of the grant money and access to capital beyond just traditional banking needs is gonna be necessary.

It helps stabilize balance sheets.

It helps give you time to put a forecast together, projections, earn your way back to prosperity.

As an organization, we realized today that some businesses were severely impacted and that are not showing the profitability that they had.

We had a great trajectory in Q4 saying, "Okay, we're back on track."

Now, a little bit of level setting, and this is where the education's so important, have you adjusted to absorb that labor cost, those fuel costs, the interest rate environment.

So once again, that's where that arm's gonna come into play a little bit almost by industry that we work together and say, money's still there.

There's still capital.

And there's tremendous liquidity in the marketplaces.

That's the great news, but banks, it's our job to get those dollars to deployed to the small business owners to keep things moving.

>>So Mark, I wonder if at any given moment, you can see it as a moment of challenge, I suppose, or a moment of opportunity, or maybe it's always a little bit of both, but I wonder if you can talk a little about if somebody right now has an idea to start a business, is this a good time to be doing that?

Is this sort of post COVID or pre-post COVID dawn a good time to say, "I'm going out on my own and gonna take my chances."

>>You know what?

That's a great question.

I would challenge people.

You have to be smart, extra smart, extra prepared as you're starting a business right now.

Is it a good time to certainly start a business?

You have to assess your strengths, your opportunities, your financials.

Do you have that plan?

Do you have that strategy?

Do you have that board of advisors?

It's gonna take a great level of planning to certainly think about starting a business.

We've always had challenges in this country.

This is a resilient country.

This is a resilient city and we always have people businesses during challenging times.

So I'm gonna answer the question by simply saying if you're interested in starting a business, do your homework, have the proper planning in place and ensure that you have resources in place to help you get to the next level, then rely on institutions such as Fifth Third to provide you with resources and support moving forward.

>>Yeah.

What about businesses that had been thinking about expansion before the pandemic, saw the pandemic disrupt all of that, and now have to reassess is this time to kind hold steady and keep all your ducks in a row for a boom later or is that boom here, Mark?

>>No, the boom is not here yet, Stephen.

I wanna make it crystal clear, now is the time to still retrench, look at and take a full assessment of your business and see where you are today, determine where you need to invest your resources today and in the future.

And I want you to plan to be very pragmatic, systematic, and strategic as you think about growth.

Don't assume that the boom is here.

The pandemic has challenged all of us to go back and reassess what we are today.

That should be what you use to plan on a go forward basis.

>>Yeah, and Dave, talk just a little about the, again, the lending environment for people who are thinking about starting a business, is that tougher right now, or people who are thinking about growing their business?

>>Stephen, I tell you, first off, on starting a business, a lot of great businesses started in the midst of diversity against them and great ideas and great concepts are always welcome to be heard by all, including the banks.

And going to Mark's comments, just where are you in the planning process and expectations are critical.

the banker will ask you a lot of questions today about customer acquisition, labor, cost of goods sold.

So it's kind of a big boy dialogue, but it's one you have to have to be honest at where you are in starting something up.

But I think we're gonna see some great things come out of all this.

Someone's got a great idea and it it's gonna show up.

Expansion, I tell you, I think depending where you're at, and it's kind of tying back the market, you're looking out 90, 180 days and you see that what opportunities on your horizon, you need to start thinking about how do I capture, position myself for that now.

Your lead time because of supply chain, if you have to buy equipment, it's not like you're running down to the corner store and it's there and waiting for you.

So you really do have to plan effectively.

You think about your access to labor.

Are your people ready and trained?

So I'm optimistic as we get into the second half of the year, and I think when you get into the seminars, you're gonna hear some of that type of commentary from Fifth Third people.

But I am one to say I'm a planner and I like to think long term.

This isn't about a 90 day cycle.

This is probably the next year that we're gonna battle through these things, and we'll come out stronger on the end.

And once again, it's gonna be led by small business and the ideas that they bring.

They're entrepreneurs and innovators.

>>It's time to have some fun again, 'cause the Barristers' Ball is coming back after a two year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now this will be the 60th year of the Barristers' Ball, which raises money for the Wolverine Bar Association, which is the voice of the black legal community here in the Detroit area.

I caught up with the head of the Wolverine Bar Association, Kim Ward, as well as one of the award recipients for this year's event, the Honorable Craig Strong.

So Kim, tell me, two years of hiatus for the Barristers' Ball.

It's gonna be a lot of fun to get back together.

>>Definitely.

Yes.

That is the goal.

We are excited to bring back the ball, it's, as you've indicated, it's been two years.

Everyone is excited.

We're actually almost nearly sold out all our tables, so that is an of how excited everyone is to return.

Of course, we're returning back to the Marriott, which we know so well.

The ball has been at the Marriott Detroit Renaissance Center for many, many years.

This is our 60th, and it means a lot to us.

It's a milestone year and it means that we have been planted firm, I would like to say, as a tree.

We've grown out, our branches have extended over many, many years, and this is one of our largest charitable events for the organization, which our foundation puts on every year.

So we're looking forward to it as well.

Hope to see you.

>>Talk a little more about the Wolverine Bar Association and just how critical an institution that is here in the Detroit area.

>>Sure, it's paramount.

As I've indicated, just alone, just for the ball itself, being at 60th annual, of course the organization itself goes back many, many years as early as 1919, which we were founded by the Harlan Law Club, which was the original name under the name of one of our US Supreme Court Justice Harlan, who had a very, made a very bold decision, I would say dissenting opinion in terms of equality rights and segregation.

So many, many years later, of course the organization, wanting to expand out and we're talking about that growth.

We wanted to expand out across the entire state and Michigan being the Wolverine state, of course, the name Wolverine Bar Association was born.

And as you've indicated, Stephen, it is very critical.

It's very critical for African American attorneys as well as judges, as well as our law students.

And the organization was founded for that purpose, to assist with minority attorneys as well as law students at the time who were looking to get into law school and just needed to have a good network to be able to communicate, to be able to bounce things off of.

And so the organization has grown to be able to create programs.

So we're pretty much large.

We have, since that time, we can carry probably before COVID overall between five to 800 members per year.

And so our ball is well attended and supported by the public and we're continuing to grow in numbers, even off of the pandemic.

As you've just indicated, we can tell that our numbers have increased since the two year hiatus.

>>So Judge Strong, first of all, congratulations on receiving this award from the Wolverine Bar Association.

It's not the first award you've been given, but tell me how important it is to be honored this way.

>>Well, to me, it's important because it's the organization that I love.

I believe that I would not have been a judge at the time of my life when I was 30, I got on the bench as a referee, but it was because of the Wolverine Bar.

The fact that the Wolverine Bar allowed me to participate in so many activities and encouraged me and allowed me to expand and grow.

Bar association are very important.

Bar associations actually control and shape the legal profession, and influences so much even the appointment of judges.

And that's one of the reasons why the Wolverine Bar became in existence because the white bar association, the good old boys, would not let blacks in.

So the blacks at that time determined that they needed to come together and form their own bar association, which they did.

And they had their seminars.

They helped each other.

They got involved in civil rights issues and they tried to break down the barriers of discrimination and racism in the court system because back in those days, everything was white.

White judges, white jurors, white police, white in court employees and black folks didn't feel they had a fair chance.

So the Wolverine Bar Association basically was formed back in those days to knock down the barriers of racism, which they helped do.

When we talk about the Barristers' Ball, I look back at the days when the Wolverine Bar hosted a dinner and it would invite the white judges.

Once again, they were trying to break down the barriers in the court system, and that evolved into the Barristers' Ball where it became a more of a social event where the lawyers can invite their spouses, they can entertain their clients, and the presidents would invite dignitaries, local and national people that could help the members of the association, the association and the community.

And I happen to have a photograph of the first Barristers' Ball.

>>Oh my goodness.

Look at that.

>>You're lucky that we threw that.

(Stephen laughing) Fred K. Persons, the lawyer at the mic, who was the president at the time and he thought big.

He just didn't invite local people.

I have a letter here from Robert Kennedy, who was the attorney general, the brother of president John Kennedy.

And he was thanking the Wolverine Bar for inviting him to the event, but he was unable to do so.

I also have another letter by him in which he is thanking the Wolverine Bar for endorsing the Honorable Wade McCree for appointment as the United States district judge for the Eastern District of Michigan.

You see, the Wolverine Bar just did not think local, it thought big.

And we also have a letter from Justice Hastie.

He was the first black federal judge.

He was judge in the Virgin Islands and the Wolverine Bar invited him to the Barristers' Ball and paid his expenses.

Wolverine Bar became the biggest social event around.

The guests did not have to pay.

They were the guests of the Wolverine Bar lawyers, and it was a place to be.

It was featured in the newspapers.

Everybody got dressed up, the women were in great gowns, the newspapers covered the event, and people wanted to attend.

One of the things that I thought was very important was the role of the president in inviting his or her guest, because these were dignitaries.

These were people that could help out and all the governors would show up and the governors are the ones that make judicial appointments.

So it was very important.

As a matter of fact, I remember seeing Governor G. Mennen Williams, who appointed the first black judge.

That was Charles Jones back in 1950, he would attend our balls.

Governor Milliken, who appointed more black judges than any governor would be in attendance.

Everyone thought it was that important, and it was because it helped break down barriers.

It helped end stereotypes and it brought people together then, and it still does now.

>>This is one of my things I absolutely love about Judge strong is that he just got such a command of history and remembers all the important things that happened to get us where we are.

Go ahead, Kim Ward.

>>Yeah, that's exactly why Judge Strong is being honored, and still, as humble as he is.

Judge Strong was also a past president for Wolverine Bar Association, as well as for the Association of Black Judges of Michigan.

So even in his retirement, he is still giving of himself, of history, of knowledge, as well as networking and mentoring to our students, which is so important, and which is why we have the Barristers' Ball.

The money that we receive from that event definitely goes towards our law student programs, our pipeline programs.

Some of those programs include our judicial externship program in which we try to place students into our circuit courts and our federal courts to give them the opportunity to work very closely as clerks for judges.

We even have our summer clerkship program in which we provide students with the opportunities to work within law departments, in-house departments with law firms, giving them that on-hands experience, putting them right into what a brief is, depositions, giving them that knowledge so that they are best prepared when they do graduate and walk into the legal profession.

So we have a huge pipeline.

We try to make sure that our students are prepared to pass the bar.

We have essay programs to strengthen their writing skills.

We provide mock trials.

We definitely place them into opportunities to even reach further back to our high school students, as well as our undergraduate students by preparing them with law student, I'm sorry, LSAT preparation exams.

And so the foundation is huge, and in that sense also in terms of our membership.

we have a great membership base.

Our members have included not only Judge Strong as past president, but also Reginald Turner who is currently the American Bar Association president, as well as Dennis Archer.

And of course, I have to mention Victoria Roberts, Chief Judge, as well as the late Damon J. Keith.

And I say that because we have scholarships that are named after them in which we provide scholarships to our students to help them through law school as well.

So our organization is vast.

We are definitely ready to do the work.

We understand our community needs.

We provide programs in terms of expungements, in terms of legal advocacy, voting rights.

So we're on the front line for justice as well.

And so having Judge Strong here with us to continue to assist on the board.

As you know, he wears many hats, as you can tell.

He's very philanthropic and of course, fashion forward.

Everyone has seen him through Detroit.

(Stephen laughing) And so definitely, as many hats as he wear, we definitely tip our hats off him.

And so we are definitely happy to have him as one of our honorees amongst the other judges that we're honoring as well, which definitely will include some of our federal and circuit court judges along Judge Strong.

So we're definitely happy to honor Denise Page Hood, as well as Denise Langford Morris, Honorable Leo Bowman.

We're definitely happy to, of course, Judge Strong, as I mentioned, and we're also honoring some local individuals that do civic and community work, which includes Shahida Mausi of Aretha Franklin Theater, formerly Chene Park, as well as our Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence.

And we're also honoring Reverend Kenneth J.

Flowers for his activism on the legal front.

So we have a number of people that we are honoring as well.

>>Yeah, all right.

Well again, congratulations, Judge Strong and congratulations Kim Ward for bringing the Barristers' Ball back.

Thanks for being here with us too.

>>Thank you.

>>Thank you.

>>That's all for us this week.

You can find more information about our guests americanblackjournal.org, and you can always catch up with us on Facebook and on Twitter.

Take care of yourselves, and we'll see you next time.

(upbeat easy jazz music) >>From Delta faucets to Behr paint, Masco corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco, serving Michigan communities since 1929.

>>Support also provided by the Cynthia & Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit Public TV.

>>The DTE foundation proudly supports 50 years of American Black Journal in covering African American history, culture, and politics.

The DTE Foundation and American Black Journal, partners in presenting African American perspectives about our communities and in our world.

>>Also brought to you by Nissan Foundation and viewers like you.

Thank you.

(gentle piano music)