Authentically Detroit
Authentically Detroit is the leading podcast in the city for candid conversations, exchanging progressive ideas, and centering resident perspectives on current events.
Hosted by Donna Givens Davidson and Orlando P. Bailey.
Produced by Sarah Johnson and Engineered by Griffin Hutchings.
Check us out on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @AuthenticallyDetroit!
Authentically Detroit
From Debt to Innovation in Education with Marc Alexander and Guest Host Dwan Dandridge
This week, Donna was joined by guest host Dwan Dandridge and Marc Alexander, the founder of Lite Tuition. Together, they discuss the transformative potential of economic solidarity and the strategic navigation of social circles to overcome systemic obstacles.
Marc’s story is a testament to the collaborative spirit that can drive significant social change. In 2009, Marc Alexander was a senior at Kettering University struggling to finance his next semester of school. When word of his struggles to secure a student loan reached his local paper, he was blessed to receive an anonymous check in the mail to cover the rest of his education. The check came with one message, "Pay it forward," and Marc set out to do exactly that.
In his mission to support other students struggling to finance their education, Marc created the company Lite Tuition, a social tech company that empowers students to increase their fundraising potential through a custom built crowdfunding platform. Light Tuition is a beacon of hope for those burdened by financial struggles due to student loans debt.
For more information on Marc Alexander and Lite Tuition, click here.
FOR HOT TAKES:
WAYNE COUNTY PARKS DIRECTOR, HUSBAND FACE GUN CHARGES AFTER DISPUTE OVER 10-CENT CAN DEPOSIT
HOW DETROIT WANTS TO SPEND $346 MILLION IN FEDERAL DISASTER RECOVERY AID
Up next. Authentically, Detroit welcomes guest hosts Dwan Dandridge and Mark Alexander, the founder of Light Tuition, a tech company that empowers students to increase their fundraising potential. But first this week's hot takes from the Detroit Free Press and Bridge Detroit Wayne County Parks Director and husband face gun charges after dispute over a 10-cent can deposit and how Detroit wants to spend $346 million in federal disaster recovery aid. Keep it locked. Authentically, Detroit starts after these messages.
Speaker 2:Founded in 2021, the Stoudemire is a membership-based community recreation and wellness center centrally located on the east side of Detroit. Membership in the Stoudemire is available on a sliding scale for up to $20 per year or 20 hours of volunteer time. The Stoudemire offers art, dance and fitness classes, community meetings and events, resource fairs, pop-up events, the Neighborhood Tech Hub and more. Members who are residents of the Eastside have access to exclusive services in the Wellness Network. Join today and live well, play well, be well. Visit ecndetroitorg.
Speaker 3:Hey y'all, it's Orlando. We just want to let you know that the views and opinions expressed during this podcast episode are those of the co-hosts and guests and not their sponsoring institutions.
Speaker 1:Now let's start the World. Welcome to another episode of Authentically Detroit broadcasting live from Detroit's East Side at the Stoudemire Wellness Hub inside of the East Side Community Network headquarters. I'm Dinah Givens-Davidson.
Speaker 4:And I'm DeJuan Dandridge.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening in and supporting our efforts to build a platform of authentic voices for our real people in the city of Detroit. We want you to like, rate and subscribe to our podcast on all platforms. Orlando is out sick today, so we have the CEO and founder of Black Leaders Detroit, dwan Dandridge, filling in as guest host. We're also joined by the founder of Light Tuition, a tech company that empowers students to increase their fundraising potential, mark Alexander Dwan and Mark. Welcome to Authentically Detroit.
Speaker 1:Thanks, it's a pleasure to be here, all right, so how is this blessed day finding you?
Speaker 4:Well, I'm doing pretty good myself. I'm hoping that I can do justice to Philly and for Orlando, I hope, praying that he recovers soon.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know he was sick last year and you know Orlando goes hard, and so he did not give himself sufficient time to recover and he ended up feeling not so great again, but I think he'll be good later in the week, hopefully.
Speaker 3:Amen, it's a beautiful day. I had an interesting bad slip and fall about a week and a half ago. It was very humbling because I remember earlier in the week I told the Father I would give you praise on my highs and praise on my lows. So when you're laying on your back on the cold concrete it's a reminder to give them praise, even the lowest level. But you know what? I'm up and alive. So today is a blessed and highly favored day, so I can't complain at all.
Speaker 1:And I was slipping and sliding on my way in the office this morning. You know nothing like snow to remind you. This is Detroit. All the talk about global warming this is Detroit, but on the other hand, my son is in LA and rather the snow than the fires. It has been so scary for me having him there. He had to evacuate one night and let's just say he was not in a big hurry. He didn't seem to be at all worried about what might happen to him and I was on the other side in.
Speaker 1:Detroit panicking, yes, but yeah, it makes you value snow when you see the fire, doesn't it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, man, yeah no doubt he did get out safely though, right.
Speaker 1:Oh, he got out safely. He was home the next morning. It was actually, when I look back on it, almost comedy, because I was really losing my head. I was like are you out yet? And he's like I'm washing my face. Oh, my goodness what do you mean you're washing your?
Speaker 5:face.
Speaker 4:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I have to look for my gum. What do you mean? You're looking for your gum.
Speaker 4:I can't take it. I can't take it.
Speaker 1:His lift was there. He said his lift was there and I said what are you doing? He said I'm putting on my shoes. And I was, like you know, can you at least pretend to be a little bit worried, because he told me he could see the fire from his apartment, but he got out safely, got out on plenty of time. Actually it was I'm not going to say it was a false alarm but the fire did not really encroach on where he lived. It was, you know, there's people who are starting fires there, and so I think it was, you know, arson. And then somebody was able to dump water. A helicopter dumped water and we were all fine.
Speaker 4:Water. A helicopter dumped water and we were all fine. Yeah, I mean, as a parent, the closest thing I can lean to, to kind feels like as a parent to say, OK, this is real serious crisis mode.
Speaker 1:But I take it she was taking the shooting seriously.
Speaker 4:Oh, definitely she was. She was taking the shooting very seriously.
Speaker 1:I think that's probably worse. Right, an active shooter is the scariest thing you can imagine for your kids.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, and you know both my daughters, one at Texas Tech and the other at MSU. I got the call from both of them at one point saying Dad, there's an active shooter on campus. Oh my goodness yeah.
Speaker 1:Makes you think about you know, when we were in school, I don't recall active shooters being, you know, going through my campus. Think about you know we were in school. I don't recall active shooters being, you know, going through my campus, so it's you know new millennium? Yeah, for sure. And our young people face so much danger that so many of us didn't face.
Speaker 4:Absolutely yeah, to where they're used to it. Like my son said, he can't imagine not having an active shooter drill.
Speaker 1:Wow it's like our tornado drills back in the day, right, yeah, it was really terrible. You know we had tornado drills and fire drills. Now my sister came of age at a time when there were, you know, nuclear weapon drills. I think they had to hide underneath the desk just in case a nuclear bomb dropped. The desk would save you. Sometimes I think we're doing things so that we can think we're making our kids safe, but glad to know your daughters are okay, I'm super glad that my son is okay.
Speaker 1:Yes, I was trying to get him to come home. I was like, just come home. I always do that whenever there's, you know, covid happened. Just come on, baby, he won't come Anyway. So for Hot Takes Day we have a couple of stories. One it's not really funny and I'm going to try not to laugh, but it's the most ridiculous story.
Speaker 1:The Wayne County Parks Director and husband faced gun charges after a dispute over a 10-cent can deposit. Wayne County Parks and this is from Susan Bromley, detroit Free Press. Wayne County Parks Director Alicia Bradford is facing felony charges along with her husband, larry Bradford, after a New Year's Eve incident that police said started over an apparent dispute with the store clerk about a 10-cent deposit on a can of pop. The Bradfords, who are Farmington Hills residents, were each deranged on felony charges of assault with a dangerous weapon and felony firearms on January 1st by the 47th District Court Magistrate Michael Sawicki in Farmington Hills. They were released on $50,000 personal bonds.
Speaker 1:According to the police report and video released by police, larry Bradford, 72, approached a store clerk to purchase a 16-ounce can of Mountain Dew for $1.99 and told the clerk he believed he was being charged sales tax. He can be heard on the video telling the clerk there is no sales tax on pop. When the clerk told him the total cost, the clerk tried to explain the extra 10 cents was from Michigan's deposit law. Another customer standing behind Bradford said there is now, and Bradford turned and confronted the man. According to a video of the incident, a physical altercation ensued after the man leaned forward toward Bradford and both men pushed each other. At one point, police said Larry Bradford struck the man twice with a can of Mountain Dew. According to the police report, police who arrived on the scene wrote in their report that they found the inside of the store had bags of chips, mints and gum all over the floor with a couple of merchandise stands knocked over. Bradford left the store after stating he was going to get his pistol, according to the police report, while the other man searched for his glasses and apologized to the clerk, asking if he should leave and adding he didn't want to get in trouble.
Speaker 1:About 43 seconds later, larry Bradford re-entered the store with a nine millimeter gun and pointed it at the customer he had the altercation with. Alicia Bradford can be heard yelling in the background Larry, please. And asking if the man he fought with had robbed him. According to the police report. Alicia Bradford then enters the store with a black handgun in her hand demanding to know what has happened. The man who had altercation with Larry Bradford was still on the floor saying they argued he was attacked before. Kind of pop. Alicia Bradford kept her gun pointed at the man, according to the police, while she had her phone out to call 911. Neither could be reached for comment.
Speaker 1:Wayne County. Director of Communications Dodo I. Neither could be reached for comment. Wayne County. Director of Communications Dodo. I'm not going to try to pronounce your name, but it starts with an L. Confirmed Friday that Alicia Bradford is suspended without pay. Now a couple of things. First of all, at one point the man said I should kill you. Alicia Bradford's husband screamed I should kill you. This is the most unnecessary thing. Two guns pointed at a man over a, over a dispute over 10 cents. It's ridiculous, isn't it?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's so. One of the things that I try to do, donna, is I try to reflect on times when I let my anger get the best of me, and I think that that's the way that I use lines like this, because it's easy to say that like how ridiculous Larry was behaving and, you know, try to like, you know, think about what was going on with him psychologically and all of that. But I think the bigger thing that's happening is like we are too violent right as a community and there are things that when we're not doing the work that we need to do internally, some of us could end up being larry. So for those of us that that have that somewhere in us, if you know, given the the wrong circumstances, we have to think through that stuff. When we have an example before us, I can't imagine being that dude lying there with somebody pointing a gun over like a 10 cent deposit that I had nothing to gain from it either way.
Speaker 1:You know. Here's the thing. First of all, I can't imagine being Larry or Alicia. I have, in the past, been associated with people who are hotheads, but I never came out with my own gun. I was the one trying to calm the situation down. I think we have a responsibility, when we are pointed to leadership positions in any form, to function as leaders and to control ourselves. The behavior that I saw there the video was almost comical. It was so over. It's so much overkill, like two people pointing guns at a man over a small dispute. How can you in good faith do that and then tell a young person don't get into a fight over gym shoes or somebody stepping in your gym shoes.
Speaker 1:And you, at this big age, it's your responsibility to get help. So if you don't know how to control your temper and you might lose your cool like that over 10 cents, perhaps you should get help. The other thing, of course, is New Year's Eve and they probably weren't entirely sober. But you know, don't go to a gas station, Don't go out when you're entirely sober, because this is a preventable incident. And, quite frankly, when you look at it and I watched the video a couple of times you can't help but wonder is this the only time they've ever been violent together? What kind of role are you playing inside of the community?
Speaker 1:So it was extremely disappointing to me to see a leader who is paid to be a leader of our community, the leader over parks, and right now had somebody at a park done that, this leader would have to hold them accountable. So I just found it to be disappointing all around. We demand more of the people who step into these roles and I know as much as you say you can imagine. I've never seen you lose your cool like that. Now maybe there's another, DeJuan Dandridge, I don't know.
Speaker 4:I mean, there's the work, right Knowing that there's. So in my younger teenage years I've done some dumb things. I got kicked out of Redford for fighting over a chair as a teenager. Yeah, as a teenager. But you give me unpoliced DeJuan that hadn't done the work as a teenager, those similar circumstances. I'm just saying I've seen a lot of people that I respect do things that I don't respect. Is all I'm just saying. I've seen a lot of people that I respect do things that I don't respect.
Speaker 1:Is all I'm saying I have too. I'm just saying be on the other side of a person who has seen that happen, whether it's a person that I might be married to, being unable to control their temper, or people I know who are abusing children. When you behave in that manner, get help. Get help Because it's never okay, that's assault and they will probably very likely I can't say probably because I don't know how the court system works very likely do prison time for some kids. It's entirely preventable. So you hate to see it happen, but you just hate to know that there's people who are walking around who are that unhealed in our community as leaders, definitely, at any rate. Next story is how Detroit wants to spend $346 million in federal disaster aid, and this is by Nushrat Raman at Bridge Detroit.
Speaker 1:More than a year after storms and tornadoes ripped through Michigan, knocking out power for thousands, flooding freeways and leading to the deaths and injuries, the federal government has granted $460.8 million in disaster recovery and prevention funds to the state, wayne County and Detroit Urban Development HUD about $346.8 million to fix old alleyway drains and sewer lines that have led to basement backups and built flood-resilient, affordable housing. City officials announced on Wednesday the grant is historic. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said Wednesday during a news conference We've got a sewer system built to handle four inches of rain in a 24-hour period, which was great through the 20th century. We've now had two incidents where it's been five and a half and six inches of rain. And what happens then is basements in the city back up and it is devastating to go downstairs and find three or four feet of raw sewage in your basement, lose your furniture, lose your dryer, lose your belongings, duggan said alongside local and federal officials. Detroit has 1,800 miles of alley sewer lines connected to homes and most were installed 70 to 90 years ago. He said Tree roots alley sewers have been grown over decades in infiltrating lines. That means any kind of rain poses a risk. Duggan said Neighborhoods such as Cornerstone Villages, north Rosedale Park and North End have homes with blockages. In 2024, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department cleaned 622 miles of sewer in 8,000 catch basins in the city and is investing about $50 million a year in capital replacing, cleaning and inspecting the sewer system, said Sam Smalley, dwst Chief Operating Officer.
Speaker 1:Here is what to know about the additional funding. The HUD funding is meant to help states, counties and cities recover from severe weather events such as storms, floods and fires, not always covered by insurance and other federal dollars. It is the only recovery aid that primarily helps low and moderate income communities. The assistance can be used to replace damaged affordable housing, repair and upgrade roads, water systems and utilities, support small businesses and implement measures to reduce damage from future disasters. According to the news release, michigan's recovery assistance is for the severe storms, tornadoes and flooding in late August 2023, events which prompted a disaster declaration from President Joe Biden for nine counties in the state. City officials want to use the influx of aid to prevent basement backups for 10,000 Detroit homes over two years by fixing failing alley sewer lines and drains and build new affordable housing. Detroit has 120 days to create a plan for how the dollars will be used. The city aims to host community engagement events to gather feedback from residents, according to a news release. What do you think about that, duann?
Speaker 4:according to a news release. What do you think about that, duann? I mean as someone that you know we enjoy living in Michigan because when we see some of the things that's happening in LA and on other parts of the country be it, you know, hurricanes or what have you we feel a level of security. But this is an issue right as somebody who lives in Detroit myself and I've had, you know, basements that have backed up on me but also as a general contractor going in and seeing the aftermath and it's unhealthy when you have sewage or anything backing up into your home. So glad to see this, but you know me, donna, I'm wondering what contractors are going to end up benefiting from this. What Detroiters are going to speak into this plan that's going to be created in 120 days, to make sure that it's done in an equitable way, with everybody in mind and everybody benefiting equally.
Speaker 1:You know, in 2021, following the storms in 2021, which caused over 35,000 homes to have backups, flooding and sewer backups At that time, the city installed backflow preventer valves in a couple of neighborhoods that they considered priority one, and they're neighborhoods with the most socially vulnerable residents, the poorest people in the city of Detroit, that never get touched when these dollars come. And so the neighborhood instead of Jeff Chalmers, they chose Victoria Park, which is the wealthiest part of the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood. They chose Aviation Park and I think I can't remember the other community they chose. And a lot of these decisions are aligned with the city's redevelopment plans and not aligned with the needs. And when you don't match the dollars that are addressing social needs with the social vulnerable population, what ends up happening is green gentrification, where people who are the poorest and most needy are pushed out of places that are no longer inhabitable because there's no dollars flowing there.
Speaker 1:So, like you, I'm really interested in seeing the map, because 10,000 homes is a fraction of the number of homes that need to be helped. It's a great number. I'm glad to hear that there are 10,000. I'm glad to hear they're having these community listening sessions, but I think if you, like me, have been to a listening session. You know, sometimes you just say you're listening, but your decision has already been made. Do you have any thoughts on that?
Speaker 3:Actually what I find interesting about that. To Dwayne's point, what's actually going to happen behind the scenes at the end of the day? Because I've been to a lot of press conferences. We get excited. You have everyone there, the PR opportunity to take pictures. Then when it comes time to do the work, nothing is actually done. At the end of the day, the same problems exist. The money is now spent up, there's no more reserves and the same struggling population is now in the far off work situation, even to your point. We've been in homes that flooded and it sucks because at the end of the day the children can't be in the basement because you have a lot of feces that's built up. It's inhabitable. But some people still have to live in those conditions at the end of the day and it is not a comfortable position to be in and you know I mean the indoor air quality can be poisonous.
Speaker 1:It's toxic Some of the things that also happen. You have people who are transplant recipients, who cannot live in their homes because they cannot live in places that are not sanitary, and so it would be interesting to see if, rather than using geography, whether we use need to drive that decision-making, saying that we're going to go to the places where the people have the greatest need to make sure they can stay there. And, of course, a lot of people are living without furnaces and hot water tanks because that's the first thing to go. Sometimes that basement is the third bedroom or fourth bedroom inside of a home. So there's so many areas, and I hope the city is doing a really good job listening. And, again, I don't like the geographical targeting that seems to be the thing lately. I prefer targeting people who have the greatest need and finding a way to document that.
Speaker 1:So, more news to come. I think we'll have to wait and see how this plays out. I'm also still waiting to see how our ARPA dollars are being spent, because it feels to me as though we have a lot of those dollars the American Rescue Plan dollars that have not been spent yet, and there's not a lot of transparency on how the city always spends its money, and I think that's the important thing for watchdog communities and organizations like ours. And then finally, dwan, I want to just underline your point about contractors who gets paid to do the work? We should be investing in Detroit-based, detroit-owned contractors, and to a large extent, that means black-owned contractors in our community, who constitute the majority of people in the community, and therefore we should see some parity when it comes to contracting. Absolutely All right, we'll take a break and be right back.
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Speaker 1:Welcome back everyone. In 2009, mark Alexander was a senior at Kettering University struggling to finance his next semester of school. When word of his struggles to secure a student loan reached his local paper, he was blessed to receive an anonymous check in the mail to cover the rest of his education. The check came with one message pay it forward. And Mark set out to do exactly that. In a country with a $1.58 trillion in student loan debt and $3.9 million to start an undergraduate program with loans and no degree, mark knew he had to do something to help. In his mission to support other students Struggling to finance their education, mark created the company Light Tuition, a social tech company that empowers students To increase their fundraising potential Through a custom built crowdfunding platform. In his work with Light Tuition, mark connected with several non-profits who expressed an interest in a similar platform To fundraise with, so he created Light Raise.
Speaker 1:I have to say that it's really providential that, on a day when Orlando could not be here, dwayne Dandridge is sitting in the seat because I know you have a lot to say about this, you being another person who has looked at crowdfunding as a way to close gaps in access to capital, so I'm going to let you lead with some questions and I'll follow Definitely All right.
Speaker 4:So I'm going to stay on script, because Donna knows that I'm really passionate about this, but also curious as to like how it shows up in your everyday Mark. So I guess the first question we have is what is your background?
Speaker 3:Oh, so I grew up in the beautiful city of Pontiac, michigan, on the north side, to be exact. My family, we grew up in a very poverty stricken area. My mom was going through cancer at the time when I was in high school, going into college. So we've learned to do more and more with less and less, to say the least. So I decided to go to Kennedy University because this gave me the opportunity to then make money while I was in school. So you go to school for three months and you can work for three months. So it still allowed me to send money back home to the family, make sure mom's and my sister's good.
Speaker 3:But what happened when, unfortunately, was my last year of college? I racked up over $130,000 in student loan debt. See, when they recruit you to college, they don't tell you how expensive college is and even just how the system goes, with FAFSA paying for it. But I digress. So I got to a situation where I was on campus for a full year, unable to go to school. But my story made the front page of the Flint Journal and on March 26th of 2009, I received that letter and I still, to this day, keep that letter hung above my desk because it's a reminder that faith, the size of a mustard seed, can move mountains. You, just on your darkest days, do not give up, and that's why I'm still able to sit here before you now paying it forward to students around the world.
Speaker 4:Thanks for sharing that. So you have, you know the idea right, and then I guess you have like how it actually works. So where'd you get like the idea for like light tuition? I think we heard a little bit as Donald was reading your resume, but in your words how would you describe the idea, the way it came to?
Speaker 3:be. The week after I received that check. It was so many students that reached out to me and, the sad thing about it, I didn't realize how many students were struggling to get through school because some of them had full rides. But here's the caveat that money is only earmarked for future semesters and you can't use it on the past due amount. So they had to give up and forfeit scholarships, grant opportunities. They said, mark, how can we get the money you raise? And at that time I'm like I'm still thanking God for getting the money to begin with.
Speaker 3:So I remember fast forward. I just kept saying to myself I have to do something to give back and being in tech, I'm like well, what if I created my own version of GoFundMe where I controlled it? I empowered the students and put it out there in the world to see. So we created an MVP Minimal, viable Product and the rest is history. We launched in 2020. I had our first student, who was actually a Ketter student as well, going through the same problem, and that's when we realized we had something real good here that was going to change the world.
Speaker 1:So how much have you raised?
Speaker 3:to date. Oh, the last number I checked, we're probably close to over about $2 million since we did it. And again, for the listeners out there, this is bootstrap, backed by God. This isn't we raised capital because we tried that. They said no, we can share about that later. It isn't that we got these amounts, massive amounts of endowments. We were broke, we were poor, but we had faith and we moved like nobody else.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you smile at that. You know you have a story. It's not the same story, but you have a story also where you wanted to empower our community. Also where you wanted to empower our community.
Speaker 4:Can you just share a little bit of that for people who don't know? So we do something similar, but the entrepreneurs around the city in the nonprofit and for-profit sector is who we focus on. So we provide grants and no-interest loans to black entrepreneurs in the city of Detroit, and our long-term fundraising approach is crowdfunding. We ask everyday people to become the heroes and donate a dollar a week. Our goal is to get to a million people making that commitment right, so we'll have a serious pot of money for the entrepreneurs that are still, as you mentioned, your family was doing doing a whole lot with very little Amen, yeah, so I'm just so amazed by that Very little Amen.
Speaker 1:So I'm just so amazed by that. What sets you apart from other crowdfunding sites? I mean, you know, I might set up a GoFundMe right now if I had a need. What sets you apart from the individual GoFundMes?
Speaker 3:So what we say for the light tuition component is that money is sent directly to the school. So of course the GoFundMe is sent to the person in care of, directly to the school. So of course the GoFundMe is sent to the person in care of. If you heard nightmare stories about that money never reaching the cause, the organization or the individual. Sometimes every dollar raised on our platform goes directly to the school and care of the student. So you won't see a student out there spinning on their shoes, rims, video games is going directly towards education. And here's the caveat if their campaign, if they're not enrolling their school at the closing of their campaign, all that money is then refunded. So our team follows up with the school, the accounting department, the finance department, because we need to make sure that for those donors who are really passionate about supporting students, their dollars reaches the cause at the end of the day. So that's the differentiator for us and then for Light Raise.
Speaker 3:The thing that is so different with our platform versus GoFundMe is the organizations control the money. So I had a company come and say well, I can just launch a GoFundMe and raise a million dollars in six months. I was like, well, what happened. When you reached that goal in month one, you still got five months to go. Who was gaining the interest off of that million dollars? And that was a light bulb for them. We don't touch the money at all. The money flows through our software straight to your account. So that way you are controlling the narrative at the end of the day. So that's that differentiator for us.
Speaker 4:I really appreciate that right, as somebody that, like, really believes in accountability. One of the things that we say to people that support our work is we won't ever ask you to trust us. We invite you to watch us, right? So we say, if we are who we say we are, we're going to do what we say we're going to do, so keep your eyes on us, right? So I really appreciate like giving the thoughtfulness and saying we're going to build in like protections to make sure that some of the nightmares don't happen here.
Speaker 1:So hats off to you for that. Thank you, brother. So you attended Kettering University, right?
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:And when I think of Kettering University, it is GM University.
Speaker 3:Yeah, GMI, GMI right.
Speaker 1:GM Institute.
Speaker 3:Is that what it is? General?
Speaker 1:Motors Institute, general Motors Institute. Okay, and so I'm thinking that you started with an engineering degree. Is that correct? Yes, and then somehow you ended up doing this.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Is this your full-time job or are you also still pursuing engineering, that kind of work?
Speaker 3:Nope, I've been doing this full-time since 2021. So this is my bread and butter. I wake up every single day, except for my Saturday rest. I get that rest on that day. Other than that, you will see me either out on the streets talking to organizations, on stage, but this is my nine to nine. I can't say nine to five, because entrepreneurship is a lot more work.
Speaker 1:So how did you end up going from engineering to this, and do you feel as though you're satisfied? Do you feel as though your degree background prepared you for this work?
Speaker 3:Yes. So I would say engineering gave me a high level of discipline. So going through Catherine, oh my goodness thermodynamics, physics, three differential equation, it forced me to think 10, 15 steps ahead to what the solution is going to look like. So I'm thankful and grateful for the engineering degree. But there was a professor, karen Kayo, at Kettering. She was over at the business department.
Speaker 3:I remember when I was struggling just debating, do I want to stick with engineering or do I want to go into business? Because my co-op experience highlighted that engineering it's not as outgoing and engaging as I thought it was at times. I enjoyed it but I didn't love it. And she said to me Mark, I agree, engineering is going to open up so many doors for you throughout life. Are they doors that you actually want to walk through? And when I had to go to my dorm room and think about all the doors that my ME professor said were open, are those doors I genuinely wanted to walk through? And at the time, having a nonprofit while in college, I said no, I want to leverage engineering, but I don't want to be an engineer. If I have to engineer something, it's going to be people, opportunities and society.
Speaker 3:At the end of the day, so, I graduated with a business degree concentration in engineering and entrepreneurship.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. So you pivoted while in school, amen and Dwan. You also had somewhat of a career shift when you went to Black Leaders Detroit right?
Speaker 4:Yes, so I mean I referenced it a little bit earlier.
Speaker 4:I was a general contractor for years and you know what I did was residential renovations, kind of specializing in historic renovations in some of the you know historic neighborhoods around the city.
Speaker 4:And I felt a calling to start doing ministry by vocation at a certain point and it set me on a path to figure out what that was going to look like and I was glad that it was nontraditional because I ran from it for two years. But I really want to understand how some of the white-led nonprofits raised so much money in Detroit and got a chance to go and work for one Life Remodeled for four years and I got an amazing education on fundraising and not only that, like how to properly structure a nonprofit organization, and, spun off from there, launched Black Leagues Detroit because I realized that there were some things that learning as much as you can. There's still some things kind of built in and baked in and it's going to make it harder and more challenging for us to raise the type of money. So I thought it should be a pot of money controlled by black Detroiters that understood us and was in control of giving a yes and no's.
Speaker 1:You know this is new stuff, it's new technology, but it's historic right. Our people, when we were freed from slavery, came together and pulled resources and created all kinds of things. And you know and did that I was when I was at Summer Leadership Institute at Harvard in 2002, professor Evelyn Higginbottom. Dr Evelyn Higginbottom was my professor and she said at those times in history when black people have known the government was not going to save us, we have been the most productive.
Speaker 4:Yes, agreed.
Speaker 1:And so I would imagine that this is a time of great productivity.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:And I guess my question is how can you help spread this word and help more people understand that we do have the power to you know, to crowdfund, to raise our own resources, and we don't have to be dependent on a mayor or governor or president deciding to invest in us. How do you spread the word.
Speaker 4:Can I share a quick story Please? So in 95, I had the privilege of going to the Million man March. So at the Million man March and at the Million man there was the most spiritually rich experience I've had outside of my children being born in my life and I've had some rich spiritual experiences. But there was a moment when 1.2 million black men loving each other and atoning, and the whole nine we were asked to go in our pockets and pull out a dollar, at least a dollar, and in 95, that's all you was going to get out of my pocket was a dollar, right, but we were told to hold them up and then we were told to hold them higher and while we hold them in the air, what was said is this is what they fear Us coming together with our economics, because if we do that we solve our own problems to your point, right.
Speaker 4:And then the dollars were collected and I pray and hope and I'm sure that they did something great with the money. But that moment was burned in my mind. So when it was time to start thinking about what was Black Leaders Detroit going to be, I had that as a reference point. But I also realized that social media and the internet allows us to do that without having everybody move or ship us to DC, right. So I think that that's kind of where the idea, at least, was birthed.
Speaker 3:For me, and at first that's beautiful in a sense, because people don't realize the power and the volume. I think sometimes we just look at the few that control the most materiality. If we collectively came together we would be absolutely unstoppable at the end of the day.
Speaker 3:And just even to your point. If it's okay, I'll share a little story because that resonates so much with me as to why I think to all the listeners out there, as a community we do have to come together. So, as a tech company, once you reach certain revenue goals and milestones, you're encouraged to go out and raise VC capital venture capital which is that next big thing to scale and grow your organization. So we did. We built together our pitch deck, our data room, everything a company would need, our business acumen. We made sure we're sharp and on top of it and we went through the whole due diligence process sitting down with an investor and the investor getting told no. So in this one particular instance, I'm like okay, it makes no sense If we're researching and we're hitting every metric but we're still getting told no. It's something that's off.
Speaker 3:I remember at this particular meeting I knew we had that check lined up and they said no. I gave them this analogy. I said I want you to understand the difference between nice people and kind people. Nice people tell you what you want to hear to feel great, but kind people tell you what you need to hear to be great. So I need you guys to give me some kind advice as to why you said no.
Speaker 3:The recording stopped since this was virtual, and I remember the voice saying are you ready for some kind advice, mr Alexander? I said absolutely. You are. Don't look like us. You didn't go to our circles, our schools, you're not within our network. And the list went on and on, and that was the deciding factor.
Speaker 3:Now here's the caveat, and we talked about this earlier during the news updates Swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to rap. So instead of getting mad, I said thank you. I still get advice from that person to this day so I can know what circles I can go in and thrive and what rooms I just need to completely remove myself from. And that was that spark. For me, vengeance is the Lord, but for me, the best revenge in life is massive success. And I realized collectively, work with entrepreneurs. I start buying from them. Who can I contract with to do my tech work? And then they can contract with me to do marketing. So once we started feeding each other, our dollars started to bounce around our own businesses. And guess what? When that dollar circulates through six different black-owned businesses, you start to get revenue, you start to get power, you start to get influence, and that was a change for us.
Speaker 1:I automatically think when I hear that, about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos yes, and the amount of due diligence that you had to do and still get rejected, and the limited due diligence she had to do and get accepted by people. So identity becomes that you know thing that helps determine yes or no. We don't want to acknowledge it, but it's there and I think about that also as a nonprofit leader, right, because we're, as I mentioned, launching a capital campaign. And as we launch our capital campaign, I keep thinking about the fact that in philanthropy it kind of is the same way, not venture capital, but philanthropy Black executive directors do not tend to have access to the same dollars as other people, and it's just a known fact. And so who can I get as surrogates to go out and speak on my behalf? So they don't have to look at me, they can just look at my friends, right? I've got some friends who are willing to speak on my behalf, because I think you can get mad about it, but it doesn't change anything.
Speaker 1:So then what can you change? But?
Speaker 1:I think, that crowdfunding is the thing. Also that you don't really think about crowdfunding as philanthropy. It's an alternative, but it's not something that's ever done at scale where you're really saying how am I going to do a capital campaign? We're really depending on the people who I'm serving to help fund this thing and we're trying to incorporate that. So I'm interested in your thoughts about the. You know, does this translate into philanthropy, this kind of thing? I know that you have done. Of course, you gave us a check, so that's a surprise.
Speaker 1:So we really appreciate that. I know that you support other nonprofits, but do you think this kind of technology or this kind of work could translate into philanthropic fundraising?
Speaker 3:Absolutely, because, at the end of the day, what we realized, especially when we had to go out there and really raise funds to get to the next level, our community, the same poor community which I said, we didn't have two pennies right together. They found money out of their pillows, their mattresses, they borrowed it from grandma auntie, everything. It was our community that really came together when we gave them a vehicle to do so, because they wanted to help. They just didn't know how can we help. I don't have a bank account, I don't have these tools, but guess what? My sister has a debit card.
Speaker 3:You can send money to the platform. So that's when we realized that people want to help, but they just didn't know where to go or how to do it. So when you create a hub, a platform that's accessible to anyone, you create a hub, a platform that's accessible to anyone. That's become the game changer for so many communities out there, and that's what we've been seeing.
Speaker 1:You know, people like to say that black people don't trust each other enough to give money to causes like the ones that you started and the one that you started, but that's not actually true. Black people, according to a lot of research, are the most philanthropic people in the United States, but we give to our churches, right, right are the most philanthropic people in the United States, but we give to our churches, right, right, and we trust pastors, even though some of them have proven not to be trustworthy, because we believe when people give us a message we believe in. Can you tell me what message you have been using to sell this to people, where they are going into their mattresses and they are working together to find the money? What's your message?
Speaker 3:I think, the main message I'll start with. So, for those listeners out there who haven't met me, I am a God-fearing, christ-seeking individual, and it tells you in the book of James that faith without works is dead being alone. Yes, a man may say he has faith, but you should know my faith by my works. So I had to get out there. I didn't have to sell any people because they seen me either on boards for nonprofits, they seen me volunteering, they seen me working my tail off since 2009 and before when I got to check and I've learned to and, people, please do this document your journey.
Speaker 3:Pen to paper is something so powerful we take for granted, because whoever controls the pen writes history. So I made sure to document all my history and continue to share, and the thing they've seen is consistency. At the end of the day, anytime I'm calling on, anywhere, I love my wife. Aziza. Alexander is my queen, my baby, the moon to my sunshine, so you know he loves his wife. I'm serious about my work. I'm always going to be out there and seeing and I'm always going to keep my word. Anything I've said, whether it was two years ago, three years ago, two weeks ago, I followed through on it. So I didn't have to sell because they seen and trusted my works. At the end of the day, that's great.
Speaker 1:You know, DeJuan, I don't even have to ask your message because I met him First time. I met him, he told me about Black Leaders Detroit. I was one of his first investors. I was like, how do?
Speaker 1:I do this so fast I was so impressed and you really sold me on it. We were meeting on something entirely different, actually. The late Marlo Stoudemire brought us together at Life Remodeled and at the end of the meeting you told us about your vision. I think it's so important to also speak life into the possibilities there. So you work with an organization like mine as we're embarking on our capital campaign. Is that something that Light Rays can help us with?
Speaker 3:Absolutely Okay tell me how that works so we can create your own custom platform where you can do different phases. So shout out to Envision Liberia. They're our first big international client. They're raising six million dollars to build three schools over in Liberia and what they're using our platform for is they can build them in four different phases One phase, where you can already be raising money to acquire the land. The second phase, to build a primary school. A third phase, so they're running simultaneous campaigns to build their funds. So you might have someone that don't want to acquire the land but they say you know what? I have a passion for elementary students. Let me get to this campaign. So you have to have multiple ways to attract multiple people, as well as having the CRM systems, all the tech on the inside that I'm a nerd guy, so we already built into the system.
Speaker 4:It's all good, I was going to say kind of to your last question, more so than this one was know the audience that you're speaking to, amen. Right In my years before starting Black Leagues Detroit, I ran a transitional house that was geared towards focusing on young men that want to stop selling drugs and develop a relationship with the Lord, and it was property that I owned outright, so it was funded for me and my wife's budget. But at a certain point, you know, when the economy crashed, it was a struggle for us, so I had to shut the doors down. But there were a bunch of brothers that were really impressed with the work and they loved it and they knew what we were doing and I thought that because they knew when they were in position to that, they should have given. But what I realized after being upset with them, without them even knowing I was upset with them for a few years. Once I learned a little bit about fundraising, I realized I'd never asked them and a lot of times people just aren't asking us right, for whatever reason.
Speaker 4:So now what we do is we ask people and when we ask and we know the audience. Like you, donna, you signed up right away because you're somebody that understands like one, a $52 is worth you taking a chance on something, even if it's new. But you also understand how our dollars don't circulate the way Mark described working with other contractors and vendors and whatnot, right. So that's like you are what we would call low-hanging fruit, like you're going to get it right away. Some people we have to package it a little bit more and some people have to watch us for a year or two to see us doing what Mark said and keeping our word. Then we have allies, right, that don't understand all the things that plague our community when it comes to challenges with accessing capital, but they believe in fairness. So where I'm saying like equity and reparations to you, I might say, hey, this is for people that believe in fairness, to them, right, and that resonates. I think it's the customizing, the ask to the audience.
Speaker 1:Do you ever like give workshops on this?
Speaker 4:I actually do Really. I actually do do something we call More Money, More Impact, where I try to share the game with black nonprofit leaders and teach them all the stuff I spent learning for the four years I was at Life Remodeled. Love that.
Speaker 1:You know, every year we have an Eastside Summit and I think having you guys actually give people an understanding of what you do, first of all, and how to connect with what you do and use your tools, but also how to build that themselves, is so important because it empowers people to be there. That's really amazing work that you're doing. I just I'm moved. Can you tell people how to sign up?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. So what we're doing this year and I think it's important, not just for our students at Light Tuition you can go there for free at lighttuitioncom and sign up for free. But if you're an amazing nonprofit out there in the community, whether you have one person or 100, and you say you know what I want to scale and make an impact, what we're doing at Light Raise, l-i-t-e, raisecom is we're doing our 100 nonprofit impact initiative where we're going to give away free software for six months, give access to CPAs attorneys, marketing people, sales folks. Give access to CPAs attorneys, marketing people, sales folks. Because the thing I realized going through my experience of trying to raise investment capital for for-profit if people just had the right resources they can scale and take off. Thankfully, it's been my faith.
Speaker 3:And you said something earlier asking people for help. Quick tidbit sometimes people don't want you to ask them because they're going to say yes. They don't want you to ask because they don't want to give it to you. But when you say, can you help me, they would say, sure thing, we got you covered and that was important too.
Speaker 1:But any nonprofit, go to LightRayscom and you can sign up for this initiative that's going on from January 2nd to March 15th. It's going to kick off June 1st. Well, you know, I think people is actually honoring them by treating them like they can be part of the solution. When you can only be a recipient, it sort of suggests that you have nothing to give, and a lot of people want to be able to give something.
Speaker 1:I actually had somebody reach out to me about a month ago who was very engaged in our work and she says, donna, you always give us something. How about we create a wall and we talk about everything you've done for us and we acknowledge you not me personally, but your organization for what you've done for us in the community. And it moved me because we never asked her to and yet that gives her a sense of value and being valued, and I realize it's a matter of respect and I'm certain that these young guys, once you asked them, felt respected by you that you were going to do that. So we've talked about how people can get involved in receiving support from you. How can they give to Light Raise and is it Light Tuition, yes and how can they give to your initiatives.
Speaker 3:So I would say, first and foremost, prayer is going to be the most important thing you can do for me, because the big thing that I don't want to do is let my business outgrow my business acumen. So I'm always seeking wisdom, knowledge, understanding. So if you have advice, not just advice on how we can scale and grow, but advice on how I can be a better leader, that's first and foremost. At the end of the day, the second thing is go to lightwishingcom, find an amazing student and support them. At the end of the day, you don't realize how many students genuinely want to graduate, whether it's getting their certificate, that degree, and it can create a psychological nightmare if they got just a year away and they couldn't make it. That's what happened for me.
Speaker 1:That happened to me too. Let me just say this when I went to undergrad, my dad paid my tuition and my parents divorced and my dad told me he could no longer afford me and I owed back tuition. So there was a period of time, a couple of years, and I was really just partying all the time this is the Donna people don't know and I had no direction and no self confidence and I believe my life had come to an end. And it really took a leader in the community saying to me just write the university and tell them your story and see if they'll let you back in. And they did.
Speaker 1:But for that period of time where I could not afford that and I'm making at that time $3.35 an hour, the old minimum wage, well before, if I talk about 15, $3.35 an hour there was no way I could even envision a life where I was going to be able to complete college. I know how depressing that is. I know what happens to people and a lot of times what I try to do is help young people feel lifted, because I gave up on myself when I was 20 years old and I hate to see other young people go through that. So I mean, this is God's work, amen. And I will definitely be reaching out to contribute to young people. So will I? You've got a commitment from me, and then?
Speaker 4:DeJuan, how can people give to Black Leaders Detroit? You can go to blackleadersdetroitorg and there's a Join Now button that'll take you to a prompt that says you can sign up for a dollar a week, four dollars a month, fifty-two dollars a year, or the other button if you want to customize your giving.
Speaker 3:Okay, all right. Well, I think real quick too. How can we give to you?
Speaker 4:Right, right, you've got a capital campaign.
Speaker 1:Well, we do, and so you can go to ecn-detroitorg and contribute. You go to contributions, you can contribute right on that link and like you, I mean we really appreciate anything people can give to us. So we have classes here, we have instructors. We're always trying to educate our community. It's not just about us, it's about us. You know the collective us, and so we have collected clothes and toys and food to give away to the community because our community has so much need. You know, a lot of times we want to change people without helping them. But when you help people and you reach a hand out, that's a way of showing love to people, where sometimes they're going to listen to you. And I know you found that when you were working in transitional homes with young people, people trying to make a change in life. So anything you can do to contribute is appreciated. Thank you for asking.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 1:So this has been such a great conversation, so rewarding, and you know it's the first of the year, our first podcast this year, and so it's moved me a lot. If you have topics that you want to discuss on Authentically Detroit, you can hit us up on our socials at Authentically Detroit, on Facebook, instagram and Twitter, or you can email us at authenticallydetroit at gmailcom. All right, now it's time for shout-outs, where we honor people who've done great things. Let's start with you, dejuan. Do you have any shout-outs?
Speaker 4:I think the first person that always comes to mind for me is Malik Kikini. Yeah, so he is on sabbatical, well-deserved. So that's the first person that kind of comes to mind for me. What about you, Mark?
Speaker 3:Absolutely so, of course, my beautiful queen Aziza, I love you. I thank you. You've been my road warrior, my help meat, my moon to my sunshine. I thank you. And a special one to my niece, aubrey. I am so proud of you. She is seven. She is doing great in school. You make Funko so proud. She learned the difference between the asset and liability, so we've been hammering in on that before we go to the next phase, but I am so proud of her. How old is she?
Speaker 1:Seven years old, she's seven years old and you're teaching her economics.
Speaker 3:Absolutely Get her ready. That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, I want to shout out Angela Brown Wilson, who is one of the founders of our organization and our chief operating officer. Angela has been out since about June of last year recovering from leukemia, and it was really, really devastating when she went out, but she came to our end of the year party last year and she joined us for our retreat last week online, and just to look at her courage, her perseverance and the fact that she's gone through so much and still has so much to give really was a great way to start the year. So, angela, we love you and it is so good to see you and we are praying that she will be back at least part-time by the end of this month or early February so that she can continue contributing to the community.
Speaker 1:Angela's the reason I'm at ECN. So I was here when it was Warren Conner from 93 to 97. And when I started here, angela was deputy director and she ended up going to the Archer administration working for him all eight years as one of his top executives, overseeing all of the departments for the city of Detroit about 11 or 12 departments Very humble person. Then, when he stepped down, she ended up working for many other nonprofits and became chair of the board here and recruited me back and I'll still remember. I always remember the day when she called me and said, would you consider applying for this role? And I was like, yes, that sounds perfect for me and it's been great. And then at some point she stepped down from her employment and came to work with me as an outstanding partner and really a keeper of our culture and climate in this organization. She's meant so much and her absence has also meant a lot.
Speaker 1:So just putting out a prayer and a thank you and a shout out to Angela by the way, I made a mistake this is not the first podcast since we've been back. It's the first podcast since I've been back to work. We just really started working again this year on Monday. Our first week was a retreat in Orlando and I recorded last year At any rate. Thank you so much for listening. Love on your neighbor Outro Music.
