You're witnessing my silent pause,
which is intended to bring some suspense.
Very, very excited to be here.
Thank you, everyone, for being here.
It's my honor to
to introduce something that the city of Seattle couldn't be more excited with.
I'm joined by Dean Frank Hodge from the University of Washington's
Foster School of Business, Ollie Garrett from Tabor 100,
Dean Joe Phillips from Seattle University's Albert School of Business.
Together with other community leaders, including my wife, Joanne
Harrell and Ollie Garrett and others on this exciting venture
that I'll talk about in a little more detail.
This is an exciting new collaboration aimed at fostering
the growth of our local businesses, and that's is critically important.
What we're trying to do in this new chapter of Seattle.
We're proud to introduce what we are calling the Liberty Project.
It's a ground breaking program designed to empower entrepreneurs
who say who face significant barriers to success due to systemic racism
and the legacies of inequitable policies and practices.
This initiative is especially crucial for black owned businesses
right here in Seattle,
a statistic in Seattle.
African-Americans account for just over 7% of the population,
but earn revenues well below their share of our city's population.
Statewide, black communities
earning less than 1% of the total business revenue that is generated.
And that disparity is completely unacceptable.
We're standing here because approximately 55 years ago
right here in what we still refer to as the Central District,
the Liberty Bank became the first black owned bank in the Pacific Northwest.
It served as a lifeline for individuals and businesses who were previously
excluded from financial services and investment opportunities.
For many of those that know my personal story
know that I literally grew up about four blocks heading north.
And so when we saw the creation of this bank, we saw access to capital,
we saw entrepreneurship, we saw the very reasons
why people emigrated or immigrated to Seattle in the first place
for a chance at their slice of the pie through small business development.
This bank has
always symbolized resilience, empowerment and opportunity.
And now the Liberty Project will build upon that rich legacy
by fostering meaningful collaboration
between leading small business institutions and Seattle communities,
we are taking tangible action to drive economic empowerment
and create a vibrant, inclusive business landscape across Seattle.
Now, for nearly three decades, our fine academic institutions
the University of Washington, Seattle University and TABOR 100,
an organization I'll talk a little bit about later have worked
somewhat independently, somewhat collaboratively,
but all with a very core focus on nurturing the growth of black
owned businesses in underserved businesses in Seattle and the Puget Sound region.
Now, the city of Seattle wants to be a strong partner of this.
I don't use the
expression the Russell Wilson quarterback strategy anymore.
I say the Geno Smith strategy
on quarterbacking us all together.
And the city is proud to help quarterback, help
lead, help collect, collaborate, help follow this important effort.
We are calling again the Liberty Project.
Now, the Liberty Project will focus on three core areas and I think our deans
will talk a little bit more in detail.
But in essence, we know that we want to increase
management capacity of the small businesses.
Many of them when you're worried about payroll or rent, often they have
they need assistance in growing management structures, drafting strategic plans,
some of the technical work that we have, but management comes critically important
for a Small business
Number two, expanding access to money through loans and investments.
We know that access to capital is one of the biggest impediments.
And number three, increasing market access through contracting opportunities
and reaching new consumers, particularly in downtown
Seattle and surrounding or in our surrounding region.
We know we'll focus on certain businesses where we think there are opportunity
energy, retail, personal services, commercial construction, food
and beverage manufacturing, restaurants and power utilities contracts.
The Liberty Project itself will provide an array of services,
including business, consulting, finance and accounting support, market assistance,
technology services, contracting, bid preparation and legal assistance.
We'll be very intentional, very deliberate and very proactive in our attempts to
address the revenue disparities faced by communities
that have endured disinvestment.
We will align our values, our resources, our commitment, our actions
by creating these tangible opportunities for business growth.
I like to take the point of personal liberty
and thank and acknowledge First Lady
Joanne Harrell, and that's what I call her every single day.
I don't call her Joanne First Lady Joanne Harrell
who serves as many of you know in the University of Washington
Foster Business School as the fritzky leadership chair,
a role in which she was the incubator of this program.
And of course, Dean Frank Hodge, who has worked tirelessly
to facilitate and support the development of the Liberty Project.
In closing my
part, I want to talk about the downtown activation plan.
We have here members of the chamber and Seattle Chamber of Commerce.
We have members of our Office of Economic Development Department that we talked
about our successful Seattle restored program where we are
looking at what I called my enemy,
which are plywood and closed stores.
And how do we activate this here in lies some of the opportunity
that we're going to take full advantage of through this Liberty project.
So as we look to the future, we know that bold action
and intentionality becomes critical to our success
and genuinely excited about the possibilities this collaboration
brings and the dreams we can help support by standing alongside and uplifting
black business owners, underrepresented organizations of people.
All they want is an opportunity.
You give them the opportunity, they'll take it from there.
That's what this project is all about.
So next I'm going to introduce Dean Frank Hodge,
a little intro on Dean Hodge.
He's the dean of the University, Washington's Foster School of Business.
He was appointed the 14th dean of the school in July of 2019.
He was the only one that predicted the pandemic in 2000.
No, he didn't.
That's not right
Dean Hodge joined
the faculty at University of Washington, in 2000.
He is known and I know this for a fact, as a coach to his students,
his teaching has been recognized with dozens of awards
across the undergraduate, graduate and executive levels.
And if you ever heard him speak or watch him
deal with his students, you'll know why he leads with passion
and commitment to this kind of work.
And that's why we're so happy to have his leadership in this project.
I present Dean Frank Hodge.
Thank you.
Mayor Harrell I also want to recognize the significant contributions
that were made to getting this project off the ground by Professor Joanne Harrell,
who's the Fritzky chair in leadership at the Foster School of Business.
Thank you, Joann.
I also want to recognize someone behind
me, associate dean of inclusion and Diversity at the Foster School.
Michel Pernell Hepburn.
If you go into this beautiful structure,
her parents were founders of the Liberty Bank.
So her history with this place goes way back,
and we are honored to have her on staff at the Foster School of Business,
our North Star at the Foster School of Business.
Our purpose is to better humanity through business.
That all starts in the classroom.
That's where we plant the seeds.
But that's not where they grow.
In order for those seeds to nurture and grow and bloom
into beautiful plants, they've got to be planted in the community.
And that's why we're so proud to be a part of the Liberty Project.
We have made experiential learning.
We have made partnering with our communities an integral part
of the educational experience at the Foster School of Business.
And the backbone of our efforts
in this area are the Consulting and Business Development Center.
And I have with me today the director of the Consulting
and Business Development Center, Michael Vershbow.
Thank you, Michael.
Michael has been the director for 27 years.
The Consulting and Business Development Center over
those 27 years has generated over 275 million additional dollars
in revenue for small and minority owned businesses in Washington State.
They've retained over 200,000 jobs in the state
and more recently and taught by Associate Dean Michelle.
Pernell Hepburn is a class where we have MBA students
help small and minority owned businesses apply for loans
and they generated loans.
This last year of $1.7 million, 75% of those
loans went to black owned businesses.
Having an impact in our community is really important,
something that we're proud of.
I'm proud of the work of the Consulting and Business
Development center on its own.
But what is really special about it is when it partners with others,
it elevates and amplifies the impact it has in our community.
And that's exactly what the Liberty Project does.
It brings together the TABOR 100,
the Alber School at Seattle University,
our city leadership at our city level
to have an impact in our community.
We're ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work.
We couldn't be prouder to be a part of this project.
Thank you.
Thank you, Dean.
Next, I'm going to bring up to the podium Dean
Joe Phillips from the Seattle University.
A little background on Dean Phillips.
He was appointed dean of the Alber School of Business and Economics July of 2001.
He joined Shell University after serving on the faculty
of the College of Business Administration at Creighton University
in Nebraska, where he started in 1982.
And again, he leads with passion and commitment to this project.
I present to you Dean Joe Phillips.
Thank you, Mr.
Mayor.
And actually, it's true, Frank did project COVID.
I distinctly remember I distinctly remember our deans meeting in 2019
when he told us it was coming.
So there you go.
Yes, Thank you.
Over the last 75 years,
the albers school of business Economics of Seattle U has championed
the responsibility of business to create a better society.
Our students are taught to be leaders
who are committed to making a difference above and beyond the bottom line.
A hallmark of our values driven education is the emphasis
we put on student engagement with local communities
to improving lives through the strategic application
of their skills, knowledge, experience and their networks.
It is reflected in the ongoing work we have been doing for years,
with many black owned businesses in the Central District.
Our Resource Application and Management program or ramp up
provides business coaching, planning, technical support
and other assistance to underserved local businesses.
Qualified ramp up clients are assigned to Seattle
U client account manager and student
consulting team for a renewable one year engagement,
and since 2016 we've dedicated thousands of student hours
providing both business consulting and working on access to funding
in the form of grants and loans to grow vulnerable black owned businesses.
In Seattle,
for example, we've helped facilitate black owned businesses
such as Catfish Corner Communion and Earl's Barbershop
as tenant improvement grantees with the Seattle Office of Economic Development.
So in this new effort, we're building on previous collaboration
with City, and we're looking forward to it,
which is why we were honored and delighted to be one of the three
anchor institutions along with UW and TABOR 100
invited to participate in the Liberty Project.
This collaborative endeavor builds up our ramp up work,
providing many opportunities for Albers students and faculty and staff
to participate meaningfully in minority business growth and creation in our city.
So thank you for including us, and we look forward to being of service
to the Liberty Project.
Thank you.
Dean Phillips
And now my last speaker would be she's never been introduced
like this before, but I'm going to call her the glue.
I call her the glue because this is where it all
sort of comes and sticks together that Ollie Garrett, the leader of TABOR
100, as many of you know, has been an incubator
facilitator, a counselor, sort
of the glue on many of the small business, particularly black owned businesses and.
Women owned businesses, minority owned businesses
in the Seattle and the greater chalet area for decades and decades.
When I first ran for office in 2007, I went to a
a I don't know exactly what it was.
It was a large gathering of many of the chamber, 100 businesses,
and I did not even realize at that point how much work Tabor was doing.
And since then I've been sort of recruited to play a role at their fundraisers.
And my wife and I have been very supportive
and we think when I talked about restoring Seattle and in writing
this new chapter in Seattle, it has to be sustainable.
It has to be sustainable.
It has to be here way after we're gone.
And so by pulling these great academic institutions together with the glue,
if you will, through TABOR 100 and Ollie Garrett's outstanding
leadership, we know this will help us write this new chapter in Seattle.
So I present to you the glue Ollie Garrett.
Thank you.
I'm excited about this partnership.
Tabor 100 was founded and started back in 1998
after the passage of I 200 and Tabor
100 Focus became How do we help
now that this initiative is on the books,
how do we help African-American businesses
sustain and continue to get contracts
through the I 200
we started doing this work as an all volunteer organization.
So when Bruce talked about in 2007 and seeing all the work
we were doing, it was as a volunteer organization.
In 2020, we moved into a facility where we were able to
now take our technical assistant program to the next level.
We have classroom settings, we have workshop settings,
We have all of the technology to help the businesses grow with Technical Assistant.
In 2022, TABOR 100 did
352 hours of technical
assistance with African-American small businesses and businesses
from small communities in 2023.
So far, we've put in 582 hours,
but technical assistance with these businesses we've bought on
and have about seven employees now and 22 consultants.
With this collaboration, we will be able to now
take businesses to the next level of technical assistance.
One of the things that I said, being a small business owner myself,
a lot of businesses get started without knowing,
not knowing what they don't know, that they don't know.
So they get into this and get going and realize, Wait a minute, I didn't know
I need to understand labor laws
I didn't know. I need to understand,
have a CPA, have a bank.
There's a lot of programs that we offer a one on one coaching, accounting bit
opportunities and preparing the businesses to get ready to be it.
But there's another level that they need to go to and go through,
and this collaboration is going to help us now take our technical assistance
program, add on additional staff
and collaborate with the University of Washington and Seattle U
You to take the business to the next level and to make sure
that they are really ready to grow their business.
So I'm really excited about this and I want to thank the mayor and
First Lady, Joanne for pulling all of this together
and recognizing that we are all doing this work and a silo
well, I won't say a silo because when we start talking about the businesses
that we've helped, we looked at it and we realize a lot of these businesses
had gone already through each one of our programs.
But to now to make this structured and I am just really excited and thank you.
Thank you, Ollie.
So as I close, I just want to recognize a few more people
and I want to say and I'll answer a few questions
if there's some questions posed, I want to recognize
members of my executive team, Tim Burgess here, and Greg
Wong of my Cabinet, Mark McIntyre here of our Office of Economic Development.
I want to thank Rachel Smith from the Chamber of being here
and many of you for being here.
So with that, I couldn't be more excited.
I think all of the stuff we're working on the city,
this has a little piece of it, if you will, whether it's public safety,
homelessness, economic empowerment, race and social justice.
This project, this delivery project touches upon it all.
And with that, are there any questions?
I'm going to count you down
all you can ask a question.
Sure.
Did I ever bank here?
That's a good question. When I was a little young to bank here.
Let me let me let me let me say that I had when I was an attorney.
I had many small businesses that I advised that took loans out here.
And I was involved in assisting them.
So I knew the bank when I became a professional.
I mean, everyone quite did
what we say back in the day, but I was a little too young.
I was just in high school when I lived down the street.
Yeah.
When this project had come about, they were trying to preserve
as much as the legacy as possible.
And I think it was.
Was it Dean Hodge who talked about Michelle Hepburn's history here?
What should I talk about? Seattle has gotten very large.
You see the construction projects? We've gotten very large.
And I say sometimes Seattle's best when we get small again.
And, you know, I,
I, my parents and my grandparents knew her parents and grandparents.
And and when we talk about
we talk about the legacy that we're building upon,
I just think it's pretty cool when we have these kinds of common stories here.
So, yeah, the safe deposit box are here.
And that's why we thought to have this here.
But I think most importantly that a lot of the when we were coming here
over here, I was pointing out houses of people
that I knew where they lived and some of them still live here.
We have to be intentional if we're going to fight
for the diversity in the city and it comes through small businesses.
That's why in my opening remarks, I talk about access to capital expanding,
expanding technical assistance to businesses that need it.
And again, these fine academic institutions have been doing this work.
And I don't, quite frankly, and I'm not ashamed to say this, I don't think
the city has a strong appreciation for the work that they've been doing.
It's been absolutely amazing.
And so I want to thank again first Lady Joanne Harrell
for sort of putting this all together.
Couldn't be more excited about this project, about downtown.
You know,
this is
opportunity really for both sides of this
is the city about putting it
in the midst of your revitalization.
And I, I like I like the
the word you used in your question, which is aggressive.
We will be aggressive.
We literally walk downtown
and we ask who controls or owns a building
because that's just not it's not on the wall.
We do the research to find out who are the decision makers,
and then we partner with our anchor institutions and find out
who has goods, wares or services that can fit into this area.
And we're going to matchmaking.
What do they need to succeed?
This is a sustainable approach to getting our downtown back, getting
our economic resiliency and vibrancy back, as opposed to doing one offs.
And I said when I took office that, yeah, we like flashy things,
but I like things that work well and I want things that are sustainable.
This is a sustainable approach and dare I even say, an academic approach.
And so we're going to be aggressive.
We're literally in discussions now with small businesses
and we look forward to seeing it when you walk downtown with your own eyes.
Okay, Everyone believes in our one Seattle concepts.
I'm going to cut us down to it.
3 to 1 Seattle.
Thank you very much.