My understanding that there might be allies among different Chicagoland jurisdictions was a really phenomenal takeaway. Plus I got to hang out with the author of "Who Owns the Ice House" and several very influential entrepreneurship books. After a spirited discussion before I knew who he was, he offered to come speak for free, or help setup programs at the Innovation Center or for youth when we were ready! He then excused himself and walked straight on stage to speak!

While I could not succeed in getting everyone together due to interpersonal differences, I was able to get a significant number and they played nice while there. We will use the information from this several hour engagement for the growing local business strategic action plan.

It was going to be a big launch and bigger deal and... I couldn't pull it together. I failed. The mayor gave us almost 7-weeks to name it, organize it, and execute it, and unfortunately, after much stressing, I dropped the ball and wasn't able to make it happen. While I believe I am familiar enough with the city to execute it in that timeframe now, it was a huge blow back then, and I know that my host in Gary was disappointed.

It definitely affected my mental state as well due to me thinking back to all of the things I could have done to pull it off in the timeframe. One of the guys in the office would remind me that the Notre Dame study we were going to make the central aspect of it still wasn't done yet, and it was a lot of moving pieces, but I still couldn't help feeling like I failed the city.

Over the course of several weekly meetings, I was able to slowly give ideas & feedback that helped me earn everyone's trust. I would need it for the point at which everyone got frustrated with one another and the process.

We hit a point where people had stopped showing up and it was looking like the initiative...(my very first in the VMC Playbook!!!)...was going to die! Several weeks before our mural unveiling I had to step in and rally everyone to keep it together! To achieve this, I led a mini-campaign to change the event to what is now known as "WestFest Arts Fair" and incorporate novel aspects like teaching art & photography lessons there and incentivizing attendees (many of whom were from underinvested neighborhoods) to engage the arts with cash prizes for best new-learner pictures (photography lessons), t-shirt designs, and drawings (drawing lessons).

It worked! The committee really came together and there was an incredible amount of energy and purpose behind this new approach! Also, it proved my hypothesis that you COULD bring arts to underserved communities with lots of other problems, you just had to make it accessible and properly incentivize them to start learning the arts. Once they were exposed to it, they fell in love and went all-in.

Proving this theory wasn't just important to me for the arts, it was important to me because it represented a way to introduce a therapeutic coping mechanism into these communities where so often the raw emotions that come with a harder than average life manifest themselves in violent ways if not given an outlet.

With that said, it was not without challenges! Attendance was not where I had hoped it would be. While I tried everything from passing out flyers at farmers markets, to church announcements, press releases to door knocking the Westside neighborhoods (both days it started raining on me lol...but that was less important than convincing the naturally skeptical neighbors that it WOULD actually happen) - I realized that the MCers needed longer runway time on radio spots, take a while to believe you if in person, and need to hear it from people they trust on social media. While this was baked into my plan, some of the balls got dropped by the team while I was at our conference in Denver. This was my fault. I should have delegated better. With that said I learned, and now I understand how to manage the different personalities to get the best results for the team. Moving forward I believe it will be a HIGHLY successful event with lots of influential unofficial promoters and trusted "local legends" involved early and taking ownership over mobilizing people...as long as we inspire them, get them everything they need early, give them the promotional ideas, and support them with resources to amplify their impact.

To help evolve the operations side of the festival I created a new website to inspire vendors (afterall the vendors make an art fair), will have youth & community feeders into next year's, and created project management and marketing strategy docs to help everyone stay on task and on schedule.

I'm excited for where this can go, and as I transition to other tasks, am looking forward to it not needing me to kill it!

Knowing that I would need the ESOs to do some heavy lifting with potentially sitting down with others they didn't know (or particularly like) for the development of a strategic action plan, the forming of the foundations of a sense of understanding & community amongst them, and at the same time wanting to upskill them on new options highly relevant to small businesses from the SBA - I organized a meeting with the SBA and ESOs.

It was a success and we got lots of comments about how valuable they thought it was. One of the easiest ways to support lots of businesses is to support those that work with them hands-on!

More than anything, I learned how to make sure it doesn't fail. Evidently, there are a high number of coworking spaces across Michigan and Indiana (as well as NW Indiana) that are not what most at the conference would consider a success.

With a range of voices across the room (sorry I was only able to capture the left side of the room with my subpar selfie skills) I began to learn all of the things that can (and have) gone wrong with incubators, accelerators, and coworking spaces in the bi-state area, so I walked away with a much enlarged understanding of what NOT to do, and what to make sure we account for in the planning.

This also highlighted the complexities of delivering change in a way that residents can see versus what's actually needed for change. There is a balance of needing to do what it takes to create the infrastructure for lasting change, but also showing visible progress. And the people of Gary are impatient and tend to accuse you of not really caring while hoping you prove them wrong. This all comes from what I would later realize was the traumas of past regimes inaction, or worse.

My first step in Gary was taking a tour of the metro with Chris Harris my host, and Gary native. Chris did a great job of explaining the significance of various areas and giving me a history of the city. It was incredibly impactful for me to hear about the significant history of Gary (first black mayor of a major city, home of the Jacksons, home of US Steel - the largest steel producer in the world at the time) as well as the disinvestment: mass exodus after the first black mayor, the first Congressional Black Caucus, property tax hikes due to US Steel, and real estate profiteering.

It was definitely an "oh wow" moment for understanding how Gary got to where it is, and the scale of issues the city faces on its path back to greatness.

Once I understood this on the ground, I knew I had to EARN their trust (or even getting my calls answered lol) by helping stakeholders with their issues before I ever could ask them for anything.

This was such an important time for me because it showed that I could! be an asset and solve some of these really hard problems for the city like finding and convincing developers to come seriously look at building in Gary despite the (undeserved) reputation. Coming from outside the public sector, it was also a lesson in how much a new Mayor's administration has to deal with that citizens will never see or know...and how that can drastically impact the priorities and course of action.

I look forward to doing the same on Michigan Blvd and Franklin in Michigan City.

After several conversations with lending institutions who confirmed how hard it was for them to get great small businesses loans or capital products from their current or previous banks, I knew I would ultimately have to be the bridge. To achieve this, I needed to be able to understand their perspective and speak a conservative bank's language.

To do this, I enrolled in three small business financing courses: a CUBG Commercial Lending course, a Bootcamp on Consumer Lending, and a Loan Packaging for Entrepreneur Support Organization Certification. As a result of completing these, I now understand how a conservative financial institution thinks and am hopeful for designing a solution that helps our high potential NW Indiana local businesses scale, add more jobs, reinvest back into neighborhoods, and most importantly - infill the vacancies on the core Boulevards that need to be filled in order to create a sense of community and vibrancy that is critical for the broader city.