- Coming up on "American Black Journal," this is a huge election year in the city of Detroit and we are devoting our entire show today to the Detroit mayoral race.

We are gonna have excerpts from a recent forum with six of the candidates talking about the future of small business in our city.

We're gonna hear how they plan to help Black businesses grow and succeed.

So stay where you are.

"American Black Journal" gets started right now.

- [Narrator] 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.

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- [Narrator] Support also provided by the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit PBS.

- [Narrator] The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit PBS.

Through our giving, we are committed to meeting the needs of the communities we serve statewide to help ensure a bright and thriving future for all.

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Thank you.

(upbeat music) - Welcome to "American Black Journal."

I'm your host, Stephen Henderson.

Earlier this month, "American Black Journal" teamed up with three organizations to present a live virtual forum that featured six of the candidates who hope to become Detroit's next mayor.

The Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Detroit chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists and the Michigan Black Business Alliance were our partners in this hour long conversation that focused on small business in Detroit.

The forum was moderated by Detroit PBS board member and SPJ Detroit Vice President, Mark Lee.

Here's a portion of the discussion.

- The president and CEO of Michigan Black Business Alliance.

We are very excited about this conversation.

We've surveyed hundreds of our members to understand what their issues are.

And so my first question is to all of the candidates, and this question comes directly from a member of the Michigan Black Business Alliance, her question is, "What concrete steps would you as mayor, "and specifically three steps you would take, "to build a viable transparent pipeline "that connects Detroit based small and micro businesses "to substantial growth enabling contracts, "not just small projects, "but the kind of long-term high value opportunities "that can truly build business capacity "wealth in our communities like we've seen in the nineties."

And so that question is to all the candidates and I think we'll go in alphabetical order.

So we'll start with you, Mr. Barlow.

- And we'll give you 60 seconds to respond.

60 to 90 seconds to respond, next.

- My name is John Barlow, product of Detroit and a small business owner myself.

I've consulted industry at large to be able to converge relationships in order to make sure that they start to innovate at the small business level.

And so whether it's small businesses innovating for R&D grants and going to the Department of Energy or other places for national prizes or whether it's just our young kids performing robotics right down at DHDC and performing in competition, I understand where innovation is going, I understand where the future is going.

So I understand the venture capital, the private equity, as well as the other types of forms of income that can come in through different banking institutions to support those type of initiatives.

I'm too tired of individuals saying at a high level, at a banking level, that they're gonna come in and support small businesses and they don't.

It never gets to the grassroots level at the little man.

So that's what I'm here for.

I work with founders every day at New Labs with Black Tech Saturdays.

I know what they go through and so I plan on supporting 'em a thousand percent by creating a $500 million fund with my partners that I plan on bringing in that are actually native Detroiters that have been asked to come back if I am the actual mayor.

- All right, time.

- So we're just gonna go in order.

So, Mr. Durhal, and if at any point you guys need me to repeat the question, I will.

- As we talk about the steps that we will take to ensure that folks know here in the city of Detroit we mean business and that we're focused on small business, our first step is going to be doing something that we've already done at the council table, but expanding it.

This past year we passed a procurement ordinance that raised the threshold that allowed for more smaller businesses or smaller and minority businesses to contract with the city of Detroit.

At one time it required $25,000 to meet a threshold and everything required council approval.

We streamlined that process, making it easier so the bigger businesses are not competing for the smaller contracts and we create a level playing field.

The second thing that we are going to do here in the city of Detroit is work to bring our businesses to the table and provide more transparency.

That means working in a collaborative effort with the Metro Detroit Business Alliance or working in collaborative with a lot of our small business owners to ensure that we are hearing that needs that they have in order to do business with the city of Detroit.

And finally, we will be investing more into smaller businesses.

Motor City mass is not enough.

We will put more money into Motor City Mass, but what we are focused and concerned on is how long businesses can stay open.

It's easy for folks to start a business sometimes when they have the right funding, but we want to increase the capital for business support on the back end to ensure that those businesses are staying open and helping residents.

- We appreciate that, time.

Charity.

- Yep.

Thank you.

Mr. Haashiim, you're next.

- Years of domestic and international business.

So, you know, the most important thing is to make sure that the small businesses have an opportunity to take advantage of large city contracts.

So as mayor, what I would put in a motion would be to make sure that we wrap this business opportunity by allowing these businesses to have, I would say a crutch or some type of program so that based on inclusion, that they actually can survive for seven to 10 years.

The average small business goes out of business within five years.

I'll also promote for a public bank so that we can make sure that getting the necessary finance for these small businesses will allow them to take advantage of bigger contracts.

Understanding that small businesses have a lot of issues as it relates to bonding, insurance, equipment, and, you know, financing in the short term.

So we would address all of those issues to make sure that that business will survive.

Last but not least, until we actually can start a public bank, I would partner with the bank so that we can remove all of those obstacles.

- I'm gonna jump in.

I wanna nudge you gently.

Time, time, Charity, please.

- Yes, thank you.

Ms. Jenkins.

- Thank you.

First, we would create a joint venture program so that smaller businesses can participate in the large contracts with the city of Detroit and if they don't have the same capacity or the capacity needed to participate, they are able to partner with larger firms that have the capacity to enable them to build their capacity.

So it would be larger firms partnering with smaller Detroit based businesses, Black and Brown businesses on these hundred million dollar contracts and they would build their capacity so that the next time the contract comes up, they do have bonding capacity.

They do have the ability to get their own insurance and they have the experience on these large projects that often keeps them from participating.

So that's the first thing.

The second thing is we would refund or re-up the funding the Motor City Match.

We would create not only permanent funding for Motor City Match, but we would have a rotating capital fund for businesses who have difficulty accessing funding for their businesses through more traditional banking processes.

- All right, time, time.

- Work with you all on that project.

Thank you.

- Thank you very much Ms. Jenkins.

Mr. Perkins, what are your three steps?

- Thank you and good evening.

And my name is Todd Perkins, mayoral candidate and I have a Detroit first mentality.

Detroit first mentality subsumes a lot of the ideas with what other candidates have said.

But first and foremost I want to give, not only business mentoring, but financial advice, so that when money is deployed into these businesses, then they understand how it's best gonna be used for the purposes of managing those affairs.

Because if you're taking money in the front house and not knowing how to exercise it in the back house, it's just gonna go out the window.

But, again, you're going to have to, from that perspective, as we educate our business community and our small business community, we are then going to partner them, you know, this is a page out of Coleman Young's book and Coleman Young, I'll give you an example, Coleman Young, when when they wanted to do bonding with Lewis and Monday, they made other bigger law firms joint venture with them so that they did have the understanding on how to do that.

That's the same thing I want to do, not only with legal matters- - Time.

- But also contracting matters and was that somebody said time?

- Yeah.

- Time.

- Okay, time.

Thank you Mr. Perkins.

- Ms. Sheffield.

- Thank you so much and thank you all for hosting.

Our campaign has a Mary Means business platform.

I have been very vocal that my goal is to make Detroit the best place in America to grow and start a business.

So we will do several things.

Number one, we're gonna create a targeted business support office, similar to an office of small business affairs that provides the ecosystem and the support that addresses numerous needs that small businesses have in Detroit.

We're also gonna work on reforming the procurement ordinance that does call for more equalization credits for joint ventures.

That also requires and sets aside more contracting for Detroit base and small businesses, which I think is important.

We're also going to prioritize commercial space and properties throughout our city, focusing primarily, of course, in our neighborhoods, in our commercial corridors, for Detroit base and minority owned businesses and we're also gonna address one of the greatest needs of entrepreneurs, which is access to capital by creating a business investment fund, partnering with banks in the philanthropic sector to ensure that we are filling in gaps that oftentimes our business owners need.

We are going to, of course, expand and continue to prioritize Motor City Match and any type of entrepreneurial and technical assistance that gives business owners and entrepreneurs what they need to survive and also to thrive here in Detroit.

- And I wanna address a very important issue, which is access to capital.

And we always know according to all surveys, access to capital's number one issue when it comes to businesses.

But I'm gonna take a slightly different twist because we know that the ARPA funds is drying up, the federal dollars are no longer gonna be here.

And so we know there's a sense of nervousness right now within the small business community in Detroit as it relates to access to capital.

What are your plans to address access to capital, number one, and, number two, talk about the relationship between the city of Detroit and Washington, DC as it relates to the relationship to make sure that those federal dollars which are used to support small businesses continue to flow into Detroit.

What would be your specific plans?

And let's start with the, I'm gonna go on my screen, I'm gonna start with the bottom right, John Barlow, we'll start with you.

- As a small business who's been a power connector for the Department of Energy, understanding what it takes to have that relationship, but also understanding that we live in a very restructuring era, based off of what the White House is doing, and so not to count on the White House is my goal.

I like self-sustainability, I like innovation, I like making sure that we attract the capital because we're putting forth the best ideas and we have the best teams shipping products and teams to market.

We could not continue to have a fragmented ecosystem of tech town doing something over here, U of M doing something over here and continue to think that our founders are gonna become unicorns.

It's not going to happen.

And so my goal is to use my relationships in Miami, Atlanta, both in New York and elsewhere, internationally as well, to spur a new birth of technology and innovation and community innovation hubs.

- All right, thank you.

I'm going across the screen here.

Ms. Sheffield.

- A couple of things.

One, for me, I mentioned earlier the business investment fund.

I think it's important that we create a dedicated line of funding that will support small businesses here in the city of Detroit.

And that will be in partnership with the philanthropic and private sector that can help pour in to supporting the various needs that small businesses have in Detroit.

I think we also have to strengthen our relationship with our banks.

We have a commercial reinvestment act and we have to ensure that banks are contributing as much as possible to loaning to our small businesses and contributing to the capital needs that they have.

We will also leverage our city's budget as much as possible.

We had to chip in our general fund to support Motor City Match and we will continue to do that if need be to ensure that there is support on the city side to support the efforts of our small businesses as well.

As it relates to the political climate on a national level, I mean, we're gonna continue to leverage as much support as we can from the federal government in the state of Michigan, using our resources, our relationships and finding common ground to be able to provide support and funding for local entrepreneurs and small businesses here in Detroit.

- All right, Mr. Perkins.

- Let me start with the banking industry.

Banks have pledged a lot of money to this particular area, but I believe the current administration has that money in a trust fund and really it's not very transparent in how that money's used or how it's going to be applied.

And I wanna make that very transparent for the business community and how we're going under the Community Reinvestment Act, that's an obligation for them to do, but I think that getting those banks to go above and beyond the call is necessary and it's beneficial to them because what you're doing is you're building a base and you're building a community base or a business base which is also gonna create a tax base for the city.

And so, it has some utility in doing that.

As it relates to, I don't wanna get cut off here, but as it relates to DC, you know, you have to understand, I've always said that I want to audit the finances, but I also wanted to audit the departments and how we use money in the city of Detroit 'cause the community Black grant money that we're gonna get is gonna be distributed differently and the cities that use it more efficiently and more effectively are gonna get more of the money.

And having legally represented many Republicans, I understand how they operate and how they function and I'll leverage those relationships in order to make sure Detroit gets its fair share.

- Thank you.

Saunteel.

- So in most metro areas across the city, the Community Reinvestment Act is based on the entire area.

We're pretty unique in Detroit because Wayne County and Oakland County are separated.

Banks have separated us as a region and as a result, Oakland County gets more money in their community reinvestment acts than Wayne County does.

So the first thing I would do is try to remedy that so that we're not separated and we're considered as one metropolitan area like has done across the country.

As it relates to national, what I would do nationally, I would do the same thing that I have done for the past 10 years at The Heat and Warm Fund where I've worked on both sides of the aisle to make sure that we were able to maintain funding for utility assistance here in the state of Michigan and across the country.

And I've been in and out of the offices of Democrats and Republicans, not only right here in metro Detroit, but across the entire state of Michigan and worked with legislators across the country to ensure funding for vulnerable families.

I would do the same thing to ensure- - Thank you.

- That we continue to get funding here in the city.

- Yes, Mr. Haashiim.

- Yes, you know, I agree with Barlow.

I think that's a very important point he made.

Detroit and most municipals across this country are gonna have to stand on their own.

That's very clear.

So what we would do is make sure that we institute this public bank.

It's very important, it's been done in Philadelphia, they're still working on it, but it was set up for the express purpose of helping Black and Brown and small businesses.

Our own bank allows us to give those resources to those businesses that need it most.

As well as the Motor City Match and all these other programs, I'll make sure that the majority of that finance goes to small businesses.

Too much is still going to consultant fees and overhead.

So we would slash where we can to make sure our businesses get more of those resources.

Also looking at the national level, I think when the federal people see that we're working- - Time, time.

- To improve ourselves.

- Up against the clock there.

Mr. Durhal.

Unmute yourself please or someone.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

So it's no secret that $826 million of ARPA funding has helped the city of replace significantly and help us fill some of the gaps that needed to be filled.

But as we look and we transition forward, we can't totally rely on our general fund.

This past budget cycle, I put in a budget close to $500,000 for supplemental business support to help some of our folks stay open, particularly those who are Motor City Match awardees, to ensure that after those first two years we're providing resources so that they can stay open.

I think that's important, but I also want to do something different, just as I sponsored the pilot Fast Track ordinance, which helps and accelerates the creating of affordable housing units, close to 1,400 more each year, I believe we can expand a pilot ordinance payment in lieu of taxes for a new business startup here to ensure that when they open up, they are not encumbered by some of those taxes and those business costs on that end and I think that will help us accelerate business.

I think we'll incentivize business a little bit more and we'll see more folks getting ready to invest.

Finally, we've gotta work with the partners that work with us.

So when we talk about down payment assistance programs, banks like Huntington and other banks have been instrumental in supplying supplemental funding for us.

We can still utilize that for business support, business startup as well.

But that access to capital, work with them to create more grants that are gonna be available for smaller business and minority business owners.

- Yes, we're gonna give you 30 seconds each to give you your final statement, closing statement.

And, again, I'm gonna go across, start at the very top here, on my screen, I'm gonna start with Ms. Jenkins.

You have 30 seconds.

- Thank you.

I am Saunteel Jenkins.

I'm asking for your support on or before August 5th and I am giving you my word that in a Jenkins administration you would have a partner in the mayor's office who understands the importance of small business, who understands the importance of Black businesses, who understands the importance of women owned businesses.

Not only Downtown, Midtown, Corktown, but across the city of Detroit.

You all are the lifeline of our neighborhoods and of our economy.

So I would be supporting you on day one of a Jenkins administration.

Thank you.

- All right, thank you.

Next on the screen I have Mr. Durhal.

- Thank you and thank you for throwing this this evening.

We are running to be mayor of the city of Detroit to move this forward.

And you need experienced leadership for continued growth.

We're the only candidate that can say that we have served on the state level and the city level and I challenge you to check track records and receipts.

You don't wake up in the morning supporting small businesses or business, you check and you do what you've done before.

You can tell a lot about what a person would do by what they've done.

On council, we've been supportive of small business as well as development and as mayor, we are gonna take that to the next level to ensure everybody has opportunity and every business can thrive, particularly small minority businesses and Black businesses here in the city of Detroit.

- Awesome.

We have Mr. Haashiim.

- joelhformayor.com, that's our website.

I'm the only candidate for mayor that have found ways to bring in revenue into our city treasury, build a diverse economy, start a manufacturing industry here in Detroit, which is housing, build 10,000 jobs, bringing in 10,000 jobs, paying a livable and occupational wage.

So basically we are the only candidate that have shared how we will bring revenue into the city treasury.

That's the most important thing about your next mayor.

He must be able to build a diverse economy- - Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr. Barlow.

- That fact the matter is is none other candidates probably besides Joe have actually done business.

You need a CEO in that seat as mayor and you need someone that's not gonna lie to you.

You need someone that's actually gonna love you.

If anyone else can tell me how to program or even be able to graphic design without calling an assistant, let me know.

But if not hire someone that knows innovation.

I guarantee you none of them understand where the Museum of Future is.

They never been there and never heard of it.

They know nothing about what's coming.

God bless you.

John from mayor.

- All right, thank you, Ms. Sheffield.

- Thank you so much.

I'm council President Sheffield in Detroit.

It has been an honor to serve and it will be an absolute honor to have your vote in support to be the next mayor of the city.

And to achieve my goal of making Detroit the best place in America to grow and start a business.

I know that we can achieve it together.

I truly believe that small businesses are the backbone of our city.

They bring life to our corridors, create jobs and fuel the character and the culture of our city.

And I will do everything as mayor to uplift you, to support you.

And I won't just start as mayor, we've done the work on council, creating the legacy business, creating the first ever ordinance that cuts red tape and streamlines the process to make it easier for businesses.

We'll build on that success and ensure that you all get the support to thrive here.

- Thank you.

- In Detroit.

- Thank you.

And last but not least, I think I got everybody, Mr. Perkins, - Thank you.

And thank you for putting this forum together and allowing us to give information to the business community.

My name is Todd Perkins and I am asking for your support, I'm asking for your vote and I'm a asking you to share the news, but I'm also asking you to tell your people to vote.

That's what I'm asking you to do.

But as an individual, you know, my stock and trade has been the law.

My stock and trade has been building businesses for other clients.

I've started off businesses with clients who've had no money and have done it on a pro bono basis and have turned them into clients who pay good retainers.

I have taken returning citizens and turned them into having multi-million dollar lucrative businesses.

I understand business, I understand how it's to be done and I know what a city can do to enhance efforts to build businesses and small businesses alike.

So I'm the guy and I'm the choice for that.

Thank you.

- Thank you very much.

- And you can see the entire Detroit Mayoral forum on the "American Black Journal" Facebook page.

That's gonna do it for us this week.

You can watch past episodes at americanblackjournal.org and you can connect with us anytime on social media.

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

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] 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.

- [Narrator] Support also provided by the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for journalism at Detroit PBS.

- [Narrator] The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit PBS.

Through our giving, we are committed to meeting the needs of the communities we serve statewide to help ensure a bright and thriving future for all.

Learn more at dtefoundation.com.

- [Narrator] Also brought to you by Nissan Foundation and viewers like you.

Thank you.

(upbeat music)