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00:00awesome awesome awesome well it's an honor to be here we're very very excited to be here and so
00:19glad that you decided to stay for the conversation we are very privileged that we get a chance to have
00:25a conversation right after our vice president Kamala Harris so let's jump in Geico is excited
00:33to be a partner with essence to bring together a fantastic panelists of esteemed leaders who
00:41will get you inspired and motivated to have positive impact in our community now I work for
00:48Geico I have the privilege of working for Geico let me just share with you it is the second largest
00:54insurance company in the country while also working with countless partners to strengthen
01:00black communities across the country if you want to learn more about our efforts in the community go
01:08by our activation booth right here in the expo hall and or Google Geico in the community so are you ready
01:16to be excited and inspired through this wonderful conversation yes all right well I want to
01:24introduce our panelists starting with our chief diversity officer at Geico Carl Thames Carl give
01:31everyone a wave we are so excited that we have the vice president of Center for Entrepreneurship and
01:40Innovation for our Urban League of Louisiana join me in welcoming Classy Duncan to the stage and also we
01:48have Danielle Kennedy Jones managing consultant for Kennedy Jones Solutions group with one of our
01:56partners and clients such as the 100 black men of Erica will you welcome Danielle to the panel awesome all
02:05right well Danielle we're gonna jump right in and get started we're gonna start with you will you
02:10talk to us about your work with the 100 black men of America and the impact that organization is
02:16having on black students across the country so yes thank you so much for having it's an honor and a
02:23privilege so 100 black men of America is the nation's leading mentoring organization and so all of the work of
02:32the 100 is all about impacting youth whether they're in middle school high school or college students it's
02:38all about changing the trajectory of their lives by giving them opportunity exposure resources and
02:44access so one of the things that we do is partnering with organizations like Geico to elevate experiences for
02:51our collegiate 100 students so there's 69 chapters across the country and what they do is work with these
02:58students to be sure that not only are they getting the in classroom opportunities but getting those extra curricular
03:04activities so when they enter the workforce they're ready to work really having the skills that they
03:10need and really trying to make sure that we drive them not to just go and get a job but actually do it
03:17through a career and we do all of that wrapped around mentoring because all of us had someone someone mentor us
03:24and give us an opportunity to really understand those things we didn't even know are seeing ourselves so
03:30that's what the work of the 100 is all about awesome well they are doing a great work and we're so
03:34privileged to have some of the students at geico from 100 black men of america so thank you for sharing
03:40that with us classy i want to talk with you a little bit will you tell us some of the needs of small black
03:47businesses right now and how is the urban league helping meet those needs thank you so much and and thank you
03:55guys for being here with us and staying here with us for this discussion again i am here representing
04:02the urban league of louisiana and we know that for small businesses a lot of folks in our communities see
04:10entrepreneurship as a pathway to economic resilience economic independence and so as one of the pillars of
04:17the work that we do we are working with our small businesses specifically our black owned businesses to make
04:23sure that they have access to the resources they have access to education they have access to you know
04:30counseling services because it's one thing to get information in the classroom but it's another thing
04:34to have a partner an accountability partner and a business advisor and a guide to help you with
04:39implement implementing what we teach you in the classroom but you know one of the other things that i
04:44think when we talk about small businesses and their needs everybody always talks about this concept of
04:50we need access to capital that's the number one thing we always hear we need access to capital
04:55well one of the things that we do at the urban league of louisiana is that we want to work with
05:00businesses for to prepare to access capital right access to capital is one thing because we're working
05:07on you know eradicating and eliminating some of those systemic barriers that exist specifically for our black
05:14and brown businesses but the other side of that right is that we want to make sure that our businesses are
05:19prepared to access that capital and so we're working again with a number collaborative partners within
05:24our communities to make sure that businesses again get access to those tools the skills the education
05:30that they need to really put their best foot forward when they go to look at and whether that's debt or equity
05:36funding right and so we want to make sure that businesses are prepared so when we talk about business
05:40needs the capital is one piece but it's also the education and the skills you know i was speaking at this event
05:47this past weekend and i was thinking you know we're talking about you know what does empowerment mean
05:52right what does empowerment mean and i said well you know to me you know empowerment is about ownership
05:59right not just about ownership of you know owning a house or owning a business but i'm talking about
06:04responsibility right and so one of the things that we teach and what we know our small businesses need is to
06:10take ownership of the process of entrepreneurial development so i encourage you to do that we
06:15want to thank geico for all of their support and helping and assisting us with doing that
06:19and again the power is in the collaboration and the power is in folks that like geico who are really
06:25supporting organizations like the urban league with you know because we work we're the boots on the
06:29ground right we're the boots on the ground and so again we hats off to geico for their support
06:35for all of the work that we're doing and we want to continue to do moving forward so thanks awesome
06:40i love that response amazing response and thank you so much for what the urban league is doing in the
06:46community all right i want to talk about the power of partnership so carl i'm going to come to you
06:53will you talk with us about why it's so important for corporations like geico to support our black
07:00communities yeah thanks uh thanks for the question dorita you know for us i think it's the difference
07:07between equality and equity so like i'll go back in time a little bit article one section two of the
07:15constitution says people that aren't free were considered three-fifths of a person so inequity started
07:22essentially at that time but even if you think about 1863 when the emancipation proclamation was signed
07:29when we as people should have been free we weren't we didn't find out about it until two years later
07:35as we celebrate juneteenth for um all blacks enslaved people being free but even you fast forward 100
07:44years after that when you think the playing field is equal it's not because here we find ourselves
07:49fighting for civil rights in the 1960s and that was just for men and women to say
07:54that they're equal and to be treated fairly so inequities have been with us for a long time
08:02and we certainly understand that geico like many organizations i'd say in 2020 we had an awakening
08:09you know in february that year you had a black man shot in georgia just running the streets later that
08:16year um a young lady was shot in an apartment in kentucky and then you had in minneapolis minnesota man
08:23died because someone had their knee on his neck so for us we stood back probably like many organizations
08:31saying we have to do something different and we have to really stop saying we want equality but we
08:38want equity because equality assumes that the playing field is the same and it hasn't been so what we've
08:45been trying to do with our partnerships with 100 black men of america national urban league uh equal
08:51justice initiatives i can name them on and on they need our help because they are reaching out
08:58to the to those communities where our black and brown people are and we just want to do our part
09:03to do what we're doing and to do more awesome thank you carl and i want to thank you for what you're
09:09doing as our chief diversity officer at geico to make that happen danielle i want to ask you uh what are
09:15some of the biggest struggles that black students are facing today and what can we do in our communities
09:22to support them so i'd say one of the biggest struggle is really just providing the access and
09:28the resources i mean our kids are absolutely amazing yes but it's simply because they do not have some of
09:34the same opportunities when they're given the same opportunities and we equalize the playing field just as
09:40carl was talking about then they're able to achieve their goals one of the things that we did with the one
09:45100 was we took a step back after the george floyd incident and we realized a lot of corporations were
09:51coming to us saying that what we want to do is give your kids access to internships and careers but what
09:58we realized is they didn't realize how to navigate the waters that meant that it wasn't equal so simply
10:05because you say here's an internship you can have it if i don't know how to navigate the waters to get
10:10through your process then it was just an opportunity that was extended but i'll never achieve it so one
10:16of the things is trying to be sure that we mentor these young people that we make sure not only do
10:22they have all of the book knowledge that they need but they have all of the exposure and preparedness
10:28that they need so whenever you have an opportunity to take some young person along expose them to
10:33something prepare them for the realities of the world that they're going to face when they get into
10:38corporate america that's what we all need to do so even though we may have made it we need to make
10:44sure that they are ready prepared and have the resources that they need not just to get the
10:50opportunity but to actually achieve the goal of having a long-term career so it's not about a job
10:57but it's about us making sure that they're ready and prepared for the career i love it i love it we all
11:02got to play our part to make that happen right all right so classy would you talk to us about how can
11:08individuals support the needs facing small black businesses across the country and what are some
11:15of these resources that we need to provide with small black businesses so number one support right
11:24and so there's plenty of opportunities here while you're here at the essence festival of culture
11:272022 to support black businesses but when you go home go into your community support black businesses
11:34and as we go through this recovery period right so you know we we were coming out of covet 19 things
11:40have changed a little bit right but our businesses right specifically our black and brown businesses
11:45are still in that recovery phase if you are here or in a region like um the south like southeast louisiana
11:54a lot of our businesses are still recovering um from um the last hurricane season from hurricane ida from
12:00hurricane laura so i always ask folks when you when you're working with our businesses please understand
12:06the nature and the landscape and give us some grace right but also support us give us feedback
12:12what you can do in your communities is understand what resources are available within the ecosystem
12:17within your communities so if you know of a business and you know of you know whether they're
12:22whether it's an urban league or any other organization that supports small businesses
12:26make sure that the businesses in your community get connected with those resources you can play a part
12:31in that also within your community you can have a voice right you can be a connector of resources once
12:37you learn about something even if that resource isn't for you it could be for your cousin it could be for
12:43your aunt it could be for the the neighbor the person next door so get connected to the resources the
12:49resources are in your community i can't say that enough one of our strategic collaborations is with the
12:56small business administration there are resources in your community so please reach out and connect
13:02and make sure that the businesses in your community get connected to those resources i can't tell you how
13:07often folks come to us and you know say well we have we don't know about you know resources for capital
13:13or resources for training and i said that can't be true right so you got to get in the know you got to
13:18get connected to those resources and so again i want to make sure that folks know that you can connect to
13:23resources you can get connected to training you can get connected to counseling services access to capital
13:29we work in a very strong i mean i'm talking about nationally entrepreneurial ecosystem right and so
13:35what that means there's many spokes in the wheel you know our corporate partners are a part of that
13:40you know a part of that wheel so please reach out to us at the urban league and we can connect you
13:45to resources within your local community all right everybody will you give it up for this wonderful group of
13:51panelists thank you so much for sharing with us i hope you are inspired and motivated not just to hear
13:58it but to make an impact in your community we want you to have a wonderful rest of your evening and enjoy
14:04the amazing things that are happening at essence this weekend thank you to our panel thank you everyone
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