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.
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Authentically Detroit
Candidate Series: Branded for Prosperity with Jonathan Barlow
This week, Donna and Orlando sat down with Jonathan Barlow to discuss his vision for Detroit’s future. This episode is the sixth in a series of interviews with candidates in the race to become Detroit’s 76th mayor.
Jonathan Barlow is a Detroit Public Schools graduate, attendee of Wayne State University, CEO, and lifelong advocate for youth, families, and entrepreneurs. He has spent over 20 years fighting for Detroit’s future, helping homeowners during the foreclosure crisis, building businesses that create jobs, and working with city leaders to drive economic growth.
Jonathan is running for mayor because he believes Detroit deserves leadership that works for all of us - not just the few. His vision is to bring good-paying jobs, affordable housing, modernized city services, and innovative technology solutions that will propel Detroit forward.
To learn more about Jonathan Barlow and his vision for Detroit, click here.
All right Up next, Jonathan Barlow joins the Authentically Detroit Candidate Series to share his vision for the city as Detroiters prepare to select the 76th mayor. This will be the sixth in a series of interviews. Keep it locked. Authentically Detroit starts after these messages. I'm Orlando Bailey of Outlier Media and Authentically Detroit and I'm Jair Stays of Daily Detroit. Detroit, we've got something special coming up that you won't want to miss.
Speaker 2:That's right. Orlando. At 10 am on Sunday, june 21st, we're bringing together Detroit's mayoral candidates for an in-depth community forum right in the heart of the East Side.
Speaker 1:This isn't your typical candidate event. We're talking real issues, real solutions and real talk about Detroit's future.
Speaker 2:Join us at the Eastside Community Network at 4401 Connor Street in Detroit from 10 am to 2 pm.
Speaker 1:We'll be joined by my Authentically Detroit co-host and community leader, Donna Givis-Davidson, to moderate this important discussion.
Speaker 2:Space is limited, so make sure to RSVP through the Eventbrite link in our show notes. Oh, and on that form, there is a spot for your voice to be heard, to help shape our questions and the conversation.
Speaker 1:That's right. Whether you're a longtime resident or new to the city, come by ECN on June 21st. It's your chance to hear directly from the candidates who want to leave Detroit. Have you ever dreamed of being on the airwaves? Well, the Authentically Detroit Podcast Network is here to make those dreams come true. Formerly known as the Deep Network and located inside the Stoudemire, the Authentically Detroit Podcast Network offers studio space and production staff to help get your idea off of the ground and production staff to help get your idea off of the ground. Just visit authenticallydetcom and send a request through the contact page.
Speaker 1: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. Now let's start the show. Where we move along. Where we move along now to the east side, to the deep, like the heart of the sky, moving on, moving on to the east side. We finally got a piece of the pie. We finally got a piece of the pie. It's so bright in the dark. Hello Detroit and the world, welcome to another episode of Authentically Detroit broadcasting live from Detroit's Eastside at the Stoudemire inside of the Eastside Community Network. I'm Orlando Bailey.
Speaker 3:And I'm Donna Givens-Davidson.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening in and supporting our efforts to build a platform of authentic voices for real people in the city of Detroit. We want you to like, rate and subscribe to our podcast on all platforms. Welcome back to the Authentically Detroit Candidate series, where we're interviewing each mayor, hopeful to get to know why they want to be Detroit's 76th mayor. Next up we have Jonathan Barlow. Jonathan Barlow is a Detroit Public Schools graduate, attendee of Wayne State University, ceo and lifelong advocate for youth, families and entrepreneurs. He has spent over 20 years fighting for Detroit's future, helping homeowners during the foreclosure crisis, building businesses that create jobs and working with city leaders to drive economic growth. Barlow comes from a lineage of leadership and activism. His grandfather, reverend Joseph Barlow, founded Moses, a grassroots organization that trained community leaders and activists, including Johnny Turnage and other prominent organizers. His grandmother, odala Garnier, played a historic role in the Montgomery bus boycott, serving as a dispatcher alongside Miss Rosa Parks, ensuring the movement stayed organized and effective.
Speaker 1:A proud product of Detroit Public Schools and Wayne State University, jonathan has been deeply involved in numerous community organizations working to empower Detroiters through advocacy, mentorship and economic development. He has also served the city's youth as a basketball coach at renaissance and you prep, and as the former youth pastor at mount pleasant missionary baptist church, where he remains on staff. That's pastor minnick, right? Yeah, his commitment to uplifting families, entrepreneurs and youth is woven into the fabric of his work. Jonathan has built businesses across the country and abroad, leveraging his expertise in entrepreneurship, economic development and innovation to create opportunities for communities both locally and globally. His leadership brings real world experience in transforming industries and empowering people through strategic investments and forward thinkingthinking solutions. Jonathan is running for mayor because he believes Detroit deserves leadership that works for all of us, not just a few. His vision is to bring good-paying jobs, affordable housing, modernized city services and innovative technology solutions that will propel Detroit forward. Jonathan, for the first time, welcome to Authentically Detroit.
Speaker 4:Thank you for having me, and it is already a pleasure being here, so thank you.
Speaker 1:We're happy to have you here, donna. Good day, it is Happy Monday. How you doing? I'm good. How you feeling? How was the day finding you?
Speaker 3:It's good. You know last week was difficult. Last Friday certainly was very difficult. Very difficult.
Speaker 1:For all of us.
Speaker 3:Yes, I know, and so for those who don't know, we memorialized Angela Brown Wilson last Friday, and then we invited her family here and her family came. And they came. That was beautiful and actually TJ came Our first year.
Speaker 1:Terry.
Speaker 4:Edwards Jr.
Speaker 3:Terry Edwards Jr came and tried to disguise himself, looking down and I was like I don't know him. He looked up and I almost fell apart. I was like, oh my goodness, first young person to walk through this door and join our youth program and stay and he is now his master. Well, he came here and said this is my home.
Speaker 1:This is my home and he now has his master's degree and the pathway from where he was to where he is now even just the way he carries himself is like and we've had TJ on the podcast and you guys should go back and listen to it, because TJ has been on a podcast to tell the story of both of his biological parents being incarcerated for life. He's also told the story of how transient he was in terms of his housing situation coming up, and so this is a young man who has had many, many obstacles but is winning and continues to win at life. He's graduated with his master's in sports administration from Mississippi Valley, where he also got his undergraduate degree, and he's back here in Detroit Before we move on.
Speaker 3:I do want to say a word of recognition about Jennifer Smith who has been in the news, unfortunately related to actions her brother took. But, she is an amazing person. When Terry was with us, he was not preparing to graduate from high school and she helped stabilize him and make sure not only he graduated from high school, he not only got into college, but he got a scholarship to college and he has his master's and stayed in college it is the intervention of a beautiful person like her, and so I just want to always lift up my sister at a time such as this, because she has done amazing work.
Speaker 1:I mean, we love you, jen. And you know, donna, the last time I saw her, you know, we didn't have to exchange words, I just embraced her for a long, you know, and we knew what we knew right. Her impact here at ECN and on that first cohort, the first few cohorts of young people to come through the Volteen Center, is irreplaceable. And so we speak your name, jennifer Smith. We love you. Yes, it is irreplaceable. And so we speak your name, jennifer Smith, we love you. Yes, it's a good day. It's cold again, but I think this kind of weather is normal for this time of year.
Speaker 3:I think we were in some sort of anomaly last week reaching the 80s Last Friday to say that so I come to work, you act like I don't have the weather app on my phone. I come to work and I never know whether to be warm or cold. No jacket or anything. And I was outside doing a site visit on something. I was like why did I dress like this? But it's you know, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a beautiful day. It's a beautiful day, jonathan. We're happy to have you. We're happy to get into all that you want to do for the city of Detroit. We want to ask you a ton of questions and I know you're prepared for that. But first, this is your first time on our platform. Some of my listeners may not know who you are or have done their research on you. Introduce yourself to our listeners well.
Speaker 4:Thanks again for having me, donna Orlando. It's definitely a pleasure, and I am passionately and authentically Detroit born raised. You gave a lot of the details prior to us coming into it, and I think I should probably just add on that a number of different of experiences and things that kind of set me apart as just someone who's had more diverse experiences than the average Detroiter. As a high schooler, I had a chance to go to Norway for a summer and spend the summer abroad over two months. That opened my eyes.
Speaker 4:During the summers as a middle school student, I spent the summers in Montgomery, alabama, in which the southern stigmas and the southern atmospheres are much different than that of Detroit Council in 2009, as well as started to really look into how I can change legislation and affect government, not in the office but outside of the office through more advocacy work, but more intentional relationship fostering and building bridges between different communities and cultures.
Speaker 4:And so I'm a relationship builder, I'm a connector and then I'm a problem solver, but most of all, I'm an advocate and a businessman who understands how systems work, how bureaucracy works, but then how some of the gaps or the some of the gaps or the issues within those systems tend to lean towards favoritism, nepotism or anything that continues to fragment, scatter us or keep us disjointed. And so, really, when you look at John Barlow, I'm a unifier, I'm one that's trying to get us all on one agenda and one accord, and I believe I have the economic insight and acumen to continue to do that, not only for Detroit, but to help Detroit show that to the rest of the world and be that example.
Speaker 1:Can you talk a little bit about your advocacy work and what that looked like?
Speaker 4:Well, that's very extensive. I'm glad you asked that question Extensive. I'm glad you asked that question Simply because advocacy is a lifelong purpose and fabric of my being. Nothing I do is out of purpose.
Speaker 4:We talked earlier, before getting on air, about my ministerial work and ministry Again.
Speaker 4:That started with my grandfather 40 years of pastorhood or pastoring in southwest Detroit Downriver area, which is Ecorse, river Rouge in southwest Detroit.
Speaker 4:The street down there is named after him, and so his work, coming out of the riots in the 60s and 70s, with other pastors like Valman, stotts and others, really set the tone and, along with my grandmother and then my mother doing her work within the Detroit public school system in the 90s and ongoing, just really opened my eyes in terms of how families could continue to be the anchoring.
Speaker 4:And then our institutions around them, the churches, the fraternities, the sororities, the smaller nonprofits, the individuals who do the work that don't have the organization set up for the funding these are the individuals being overlooked, and so unless we really meet them where they are, hold their hand and continue to build, then we're not going to be able to reach every family, and that's what it really takes for Detroit to win. It takes an advocate and a leader like myself who can really get into the weeds and understand the nuances of where communication gaps exist and where we're not building bridges. And that's why I started let's Talk Roundtable last year. We brought over 300 leaders between 12 roundtables to talk about almost every subject matter, from gender to mental health to sports and entertainment, because I build bridges and I build relationships between each other.
Speaker 1:So that's what advocacy looks like talk about how you see the the function of the mayoral office and how your acumen meets that function. Right, do you understand? Give us an understanding, understanding of how you understand what the function of the mayor's office is well, I think it starts with vision.
Speaker 4:Um, it starts with most definitely understanding the economics and the details.
Speaker 4:I'm very detail-oriented, I come from a space where technology allows transparency, and I believe that setting the vision from an engagement, a civic engagement perspective which is why I want to create the citizen dashboard for everyone to navigate the nuances of the city, the citizen dashboard for everyone to navigate the nuances of the city.
Speaker 4:But then not only engagement, but there's a value system that's needed for the functioning, because you're an ambassador, you're the face of the city. When people think about the city, they're thinking about the policy and the things that you bring to the table, and so being the face of the city, but, most of all, showing the branding of the city and what the city looks like. And so the function is not only policy related, but it's marketing and branding related. And so I don't look at Detroit as a one person show, I look at it as a village show, and so I look at one of the functions of the mayor's office is constantly understanding how you highlight and market the city to the rest of the world, because we are in need of attracting population, we are in need of creating more activities and atmospheres, and so outside of all of that, again it goes back to my relationship building.
Speaker 3:Right, so I'm looking at your let's Win Detroit flyer.
Speaker 4:Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 3:And you have three promises right A $500 million Detroit business growth fund, $10,000 a year for all Detroit taxpayers what is that? Guaranteed basic income and then one home for every family. So let's start at the top $500 million to Detroit business growth fund. We already have a Detroit Economic Growth Corporation. We already have a Downtown Development Authority. How is this different from those entities that already exist? And that's number one. And then, where does the money come from and where does it go? That's my second question.
Speaker 4:That's a great question. That's a very lofty goal and I plan on achieving it completely. There's a network of venture capitalists, private equity firms and others that are very well interested in Detroit, if it has the right leader. The $500 million Detroit Business Growth Fund is an extension of what's already taking place in the SNF initiatives, as well as, like you already mentioned, the Downtown Development Authority or Downtown Business Districts. All those business improvement districts need extensions within the community, and so one of my goals is, with this fund and how I attract this money, is engaging individuals like Greenwood Bank and Paul Judge, who I have great relationships with, in order to attract them to the market, so that the citizens of Detroit and their community organizations are able to have trusted sources of funding, trusted sources of capital. And I see you about to ask another question. I do. I have a follow-up question to that?
Speaker 3:Because you know, when you look at, I talk a lot about financialization of a city where the decisions made and the policy of a city is driven by the interest of financial actors, people who want to see us behave in certain ways, and one thing about poor people is they're rarely profitable unless you exploit them. We get profit off of poor people through check cashing places and rental centers and other types of predatory practices where we increase prices at the few stores they have to shop in or whatever, and so my question for you is to what extent will this fund perpetuate these practices that have actually harmed our community in many ways, and to what extent will it harmed our community in many ways and to what extent will it? How do you avoid some of the dangers of financializing a city that has the largest impoverished population, one of the largest in the nation?
Speaker 4:Well, donna, I think that's an excellent question. I'm glad that you're diving deep into this topic, because one of the things that you will see under investments in my plan is one-stop business centers. Those are going to be the anchors of my community innovation hubs and what that looks like. If you've ever been down to Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, you will see something that no African American community right now has in one place, which is interesting. The Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation has built something in Corktown downtown that works as a multifaceted center that we don't have as a predominantly African-American city in the African-American what do you mean by that?
Speaker 1:Say more about that.
Speaker 4:So get this.
Speaker 1:Because I'm trying to make sure you understand exactly where you're sitting. Yeah, yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 4:I say that from this perspective, the intentionality. I'm not saying that we don't have it in terms of other facilities. I'm saying that we don't have it as the model. We're not saying that this is the model.
Speaker 3:Well, let me just share with you some information about what we've done in the past so that you can consider.
Speaker 1:And shout out to Angie Reyes at DHDC, who's a friend to this organization and us. I love Angie. Angie's a good friend. She's our friend and colleague, the.
Speaker 3:Southwest Business Association was actually founded, I believe, or run for many years, by Kathy Wendler who is a? Friend to this organization. A couple of things I may want to point out. One if you have ever been at Mac and Alter and you see a shopping center there and you see a bank there and you see an, apartment complex and a gas station and a grocery store. We did that. We had community stock.
Speaker 3:I'm just giving credit. We honored Angela Brown Wilson and nobody was more responsible for credit. We honored Angela Brown Wilson and nobody was more responsible for making that happen than Angela Brown Wilson in helping to sell shares of stock to residents in this community so they could purchase the land. There's a building next to that that is now empty. That we also used to call the Mueller Building. We also redeveloped that building. We have a building on Harper that we retrofitted, but also in West Village on Agnes Street, we owned the West Village Manor and we opened up Detroit Vegan Soul, the space for Live Cycle Delight and the space for the Red Hook Bakery, and so organizations have been doing this over the years. You have some communities where you have a lot of density of population and you have places where you have a lot of investment in businesses and you have others where it's been wiped out. But I would not suggest that there's any one part of the city where nobody's doing that. I just think it shows up differently in different places.
Speaker 4:So, to answer both questions and the initial question and to get to where I was going with the answer, and maybe I'm not aware, which I can humbly admit to is there a robotics warehouse for teams to build robotics or compete in those competitions anywhere in those places that you named around the city? Daps app is in multiple locations locations do they have a warehouse with all when there's nobody who has exactly what anybody has.
Speaker 3:However, I don't think that that answers the question I had around economic mobility. I will say that angie Reyes is a very creative person and we know that we now have the Black Tech Saturdays, which is moving all over, and I just learned that Black Tech Saturdays is actually going to be doing even more work here. I think, rather than saying only one person has it, we have to acknowledge that there's a system-wide lack of economic opportunity, even in Southwest Detroit, because if Angie Race was sitting here right now, she would talk about the poverty that exists right there, that we have not found a solution to.
Speaker 4:Really I'm trying to nail this home Because you talked about we really started when we talked about attracting that $500 million to our community.
Speaker 3:I was actually asking you how do we make sure that the use of that $500 million does not exacerbate wealth and opportunity gaps that already exist based on financialization?
Speaker 4:That's exactly where I'm getting to, and I believe that, similar to how the historian came on to the show and started to tell us about the fact that we really are some creative and innovative people, and what I'm trying to do is anchor these one-stop business, when you say we, you're talking about black people.
Speaker 4:I'm talking about black people and I'm talking about the fact that we have really never honed in on capturing our intellectual property and our ability to innovate, and what I wanted to do in my plan, and what I am going to do as the next mayor, is to anchor those one-stop business centers and those community innovation hubs in a way that continues to synergize all those different models that we see across the city and help someone navigate those models so they end up in the right place. I truly believe, just like you just said, there are very good examples of different facets of what the total ecosystem has, but just sending someone to TechTown, expecting them to get from A to Z, is not in no way shape. No way shape or form the pathway that anybody has taken to really become totally successful. Black Tech Saturdays I was there what Saturday? Today's Monday. So I was there Saturday. I've been there from the very start, talking to them, engaging them.
Speaker 4:I'm working with five founders right now, in conjunction with Invest Detroit, to make sure that they get to market, and so what I truly believe is that my extensive experience within the business world, and within the small business world especially, allows me to create an environment and support, work like yourself, work like Eastside Community Network is doing here and in its three locations, as well as the pipeline pathways that are happening with robotics and other emerging markets, so that we can very well create visible and tangible and digestible pathways so people don't get deterred along the way and that the community can wrap its support around. And this will be the last thing I'll say, because I think you brought up some excellent points. But this is where I did my announcement in March Detroit People's Food Co-op, because it's one of the most prime examples of what community can do if they come together and how, if they keep the vision and the goal in front of them, they can achieve more than they ever set out to achieve. And so I'm not against anything that you're saying in terms of what's happening.
Speaker 3:I guess my concern is this we talk a lot about investments, right, and a lot of times we're not clear what we mean by that.
Speaker 3:So when we say, you know, we've invested in affordable housing, but the homeless crisis is worse, when we say we're investing in businesses and what we end up doing is bringing in new businesses through One Pathway and neighborhood businesses are closing down, what I see is this way of doing business where we're not really addressing some of the root causes, and whenever you have a fund or an investment, people want to be paid back and so these are not grants.
Speaker 3:You're not going to get $500 million worth of grants, and my concern is that I remember when JPMorgan Chase said they were going to bring $100 million to Detroit and we were like, yay, and everybody's waiting for the grant. No, we don't have that much grant funding. Most of this is going to come through by way of loans. This is going to come through by way of loans. So my question is, when I look at investment and I look at that terminology, how do we make sure that it either does not either A ignore the needs of very low-income people or B exploit the needs of very low-income people, Because that's the two things that I've seen happen in this city over the past, however long.
Speaker 4:I think to several of your points that you just made. I remember when Jamie Dillon made the diamond, diamond, diamond. I wanted to say diamond, but I'm seeing L's in my head. I remember when Jamie did that, he came down to the if I'm not mistaken, I want to say the gym theater if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 4:And he gathered his people. I went in there. It was only supposed to be employees. I went in there and from the second level, I asked a question, the same question you asked how does that get to the community? Because I've been watching Operation Hope since its inception. I'm one of the ones who went down there out of my own pocket to Atlanta for some of their international conferences where they put all the bankers in there, and so, to be truthfully honest, I've done this type of work so much that I forgot to tell the people for the first four months of this campaign, because when Detroit Future City was making this master plan and while financial literacy was starting to take hold in small businesses.
Speaker 4:Michelle Hurst Burden I've had so many conversations with her over the years until, to a degree, her talent was scooped up by another market and I just say all those things to say. I am totally in alignment and agreement with you that it takes a myriad of things and it takes parallel approaches crowdsourcing from the community to help them to reinvest into their community and to educate them on how to reinvest. It takes trusted sources of capital that we trust in, that we can verify and validate are going to be in our best interest, that aren't going to be predatory or take advantage of our business owners and small business owners. But it also means that we continue to identify how we get rid of this wall that was created, historically called wall street, to take up the baton and the torch and initiatives of our economic um gaps.
Speaker 3:That operation hope, though, because you know it has been criticized for predatory lending.
Speaker 4:It is like, like but that, but get this. This is why I say national initiatives mean so much to the local landscape, because Operation Hope was housed in Ebenezer Church. Ebenezer Church is led by Senator Raphael Warnock. Senator Raphael Warnock also has mass incarceration housed within Ebenezer Church.
Speaker 3:He has mass incarceration housed within.
Speaker 4:Ebenezer Church.
Speaker 3:National mass incarceration.
Speaker 4:What does that mean? The National Mass Incarceration Initiative, an organization that covers it?
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 4:They had a conference several years ago. So a nonprofit, the nonprofit, gotcha, gotcha.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you this question because we're talking about investment and we're talking about development, but just to just to zoom out just a little bit, tell me what your understanding is of the issues that are most pressing to Detroiters, and how are you hearing from Detroiters?
Speaker 4:Say the first part again because I heard pressing issues. How are you?
Speaker 1:What's your understanding of the most pressing issues in the city of Detroit from residents?
Speaker 4:So from residents. Initially, when I started this campaign, I heard more. It was different. On the east side I heard sewage backups, water issues. Then on the west side, there was a slightly different issue and I feel like that's based off of the structure of the drainage system. Now, more than anything, I'm hearing high drainage fees. High drainage fees and the property taxes don't match up with the property values and the repair programs to get them to a stable level and help people feel comfortable where they are. Those are the two most pressing issues and lastly, I'll just say this Total engagement and total leadership are not connecting the leadership right now. I think it's proven in how many candidates are in this race. Leadership is not unified about who and what we're about when it comes to having a seat at the table. Everybody doesn't have a seat at the table right now.
Speaker 3:So let's talk about these priorities. I see that you have homes as your third priority one home for every family and you mentioned two things that we are concerned about stormwaters, drainage fees and sewer backups but you didn't mention housing. You're not hearing that.
Speaker 4:No, no, no. That's to your point earlier when we talked about accelerating everything without meeting the court, without meeting some of the foundational things. And back to your question, because I like answering my first hundred days is start to plug the drain. We cannot continue to grow without plugging the drain. What does that mean? There needs to be one home for every family. I want to reach every family in order to make sure that we start to attack the real core issues.
Speaker 4:How do we have 10% of Detroit public schools population homeless and not start to move the needle on curing that? We have to really look at making sure that we get at least 500 families off the streets in the first 100 days Now, with as many vacant houses, as many vacant schools, as many vacant buildings and other partners that want to come to the table. I believe that's very possible and so plugging that drain. When I go down to the Rosa Parks Terminal, I see all the seats filled, when it's cold outside, with homeless people because we don't have the proper warming, shelters or individuals engaging them to meet the mental health crisis that we are currently under, or any other lack of information that's being shared, and it might be pure mobility or transportation.
Speaker 3:You know what I?
Speaker 1:mean you can have people who have mobility. You're listening to Jonathan Barlow, candidate for mayor of the city of Detroit. We have to take a quick break. We'll be right back with more of this conversation. Interested in renting space for corporate events, meetings, conferences, social events or resource fairs? The Mass Detroit Small Business Hub is a 6,000 square feet space available for members, residents and businesses and organizations. To learn more about rental options at Mass Detroit, contact Nicole Perry at nperry at ecn-detroitorg or 313-331-3485. I'm Rolando Bailey of Outlier Media and, authentically, detroit, and I'm Jair Stays of Daily Detroit. Detroit, we've got something special coming up that you won't want to miss.
Speaker 2:That's right. Orlando. At 10 am on Sunday, june 21st, we're bringing together Detroit's mayoral candidates for an in-depth community forum right in the heart of the East Side.
Speaker 1:This isn't your typical candidate event. We're talking real issues, real solutions and real talk about Detroit's future.
Speaker 2:Join us at the East Side Community Network at 4401 Connor Street in Detroit from 10 am to 2 pm.
Speaker 1:We'll be joined by my authentically Detroit co-host and community leader, donna Givis-Davidson, to moderate this important discussion.
Speaker 2:Space is limited, so make sure to RSVP through the Eventbrite link in our show notes. Oh, and on that form, there is a spot for your voice to be heard, to help shape our questions and the conversation.
Speaker 1:That's right. Whether you're a longtime resident or new to the city, come by ECN on June 21st. It's your chance to hear directly from the candidates who want to leave Detroit. Welcome back to Authentically Detroit. We are talking to mayoral hopeful Jonathan Barlow about what his vision would be under a Barlow administration, donna.
Speaker 3:You were saying that people didn't have proper information. The woman whose children passed away in the parking garage went to the city. She went to many places. She even came here in December looking for help and we gave her all the information there is. The city acknowledges that there is a three-month wait on average for a homeless family to get into any kind of shelter. That her barrier was mental health right, Maybe it was. I don't know what her mental status is, but I know she's poor and she could not afford housing. What is your vision for helping to address those people who simply cannot afford to live and house their families right now?
Speaker 4:I don't think we do enough call to actions to the community or to our stakeholders or partners. I believe if you told me we have 5,000 homeless children, I believe I can go get 10 churches tomorrow to house at least 20 of them. I can find homes for the family and put those housing opportunities through a verification process and get those children off the streets. I've never been. I've been in ministry. We talked about me being a minister at Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church. I've never been. I've been in ministry. We talked about me being a minister at Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church. I've never received a wishlist from the city to cure one of its core issues, such as homelessness. Or when the homeless prevention plan was released for the state of the city, no churches were engaged prior to that.
Speaker 3:I was a founding executive director of Vanguard Community Development Corporation with Edgar Vann and I can tell you that I was part of a lot of faith-based initiative conversations we're talking about in the early 2000s, right, and in those conversations most of the pastors I talked about who were engaging in housing were expected to do housing in the same way other people do. We're going to get grants and funds to do this. I didn't see too many and we've been. I mean, faith-based is not new. A thousand points of light was George Bush right. We talk about that, but the nitty gritty is a little bit more difficult. So I'm interested in hearing how you could get 500 homes for children, because I know that it was really difficult. We had homeless people even then. How do you see yourself being able to sort of translate these needs into programs from churches?
Speaker 4:See, I hear exactly what you're saying with regards to how our churches mobilize when called upon. I witnessed it with my grandfather when he created Moses. Although it was one of largest community organization efforts and continues to be, there's still a reluctancy from certain churches and certain pastors to link in and join in, and the reason why is because they've become so selfish and so stuck on their one island that they're not willing to engage with everyone. I love Pastor Van. I love all the work that he's continued to do. I love how he started Vanguard, but I also love his succession model, in which he's been able to evolve and have that Vanguard operation and organization continue to thrive without his total hands on.
Speaker 3:His hands are on. I was running it.
Speaker 4:I'm saying again I hear you, I hear you. I just want you to know no, no, no.
Speaker 3:When I was executive director, I was running it yeah, yeah, yeah and. I'm sure he would even acknowledge that. So let's move forward. Yeah, yeah, let's move forward.
Speaker 4:I only say that because of my recent interactions with Reagan and the people that's over there recently, but again, again, it's not to take it away from anyone that's done anything. What I am saying is this I remember when Brother George was working with Grand Home from a state level and how the churches came together. Do you know? Have you ever been to Love Rising? No, it's a Lutheran church, as I sound a Lutheran, the accent common, which is a Lutheran African-American arm right Love Rising has literally housing in their church downstairs Nobody is engaged in properly from the city.
Speaker 4:To really engage, to really hold homeless or be an extension of the homeless prevention, you have to know the structures or been in these churches to be able to make the proper ask or be able to understand the pastor and how the church denomination operates in order to see how they engage. So I'm not saying any work before was not done properly. What I am saying, though, is that I have a deeper relationship with a lot of these institutions in which not only them, but, I can tell you, certain individuals within our communities have prime real estate in which they're doing nothing with, they're not in position to develop, and so those structures are very good bones in which we can create some short-term housing for these families to get off the street and have some consistency. And that's how I believe that the community can be called to action in order to really do the things necessary to make us village again, but also to plug the drain and fill in the gaps where we're missing.
Speaker 1:Executive at a corporation or at the top of the city and being an advocate, an advocate for justice, an advocate for the least among us. I'm hearing you say you're an advocate. I'm hearing you say that you would advocate for the least among us, but you're also seeking the chief executive seat of the city of Detroit. The chief executive seat of the city of Detroit, do you foresee any tension in serving the population that you've identified in your conversation with us, versus corporations, versus developers? You talk about the many different structures that are owned by speculators speculators who have a lot of money, speculators who could pay all of the fees when it's time to pay the fees and to pay off the taxes when it's time to pay the taxes. Or speculators who the city would do business with when they want to engage in a land swap for even bigger development, all of which have taken place within the last decade. Right, talk to me about how you see that tension and how you foresee navigating it.
Speaker 4:So when I mentioned earlier prime real estate locations by those legacy Detroiters I meant like a property in Eastern Market, a property by Riverside Marina and other properties that again a property on Alexandria and in class.
Speaker 4:These are legacy Detroiters, african-american Detroiters, that have the opportunity, if we wrap our arms around them, to produce some very high-profiting establishments and businesses. When you talk about the tension, I'm pro-growth. My whole policy approach is pro-growth. That means pro-business and pro-community and it's a very interesting balance that's created when you can sit in the boardroom, like I do, or sit with other municipalities and talk about what it is that the community needs, but also truly understand what is the baseline and what are the real takeaways and outputs that the industry or the sector needs to thrive. Sometimes the sector or the industry needs you as a mayor and as a leader to go seek out and to speak up for them in order for them to make the deals and to create that atmosphere for them to thrive. And when they get handcuffed they start stripping away from the community, offering less employment and doing the things that can very well increase the difficulty for the community to thrive.
Speaker 1:Do we see that now, though? I wonder how you see what's going on now with a lot of corporations' relationships with communities that they are entering in or communities that they are building in. We could talk about the Detroit Pistons and Henry Ford facility. We can talk about FCA, chrysler or Stellantis, which is right behind this building, and the promises of these jobs, these community benefits processes, with neighborhood advisory councils that yield almost nothing of tangible impact to Detroiters who have been around for a long time. I'm really interested to hear how number one, how you see these processes. Are they working, are they not? Do you like the current community benefits ordinance that's on the books, or would you make some changes to it?
Speaker 4:To me the ordinance is one thing and the agreements are something else.
Speaker 1:But the agreements come because of the ordinance. They wouldn't engage in this process to reach agreement without that ordinance. So they're connected.
Speaker 4:So get this in 2017, because when did the CBO come online? Who was it? 2016,?
Speaker 1:2017? 2017.
Speaker 4:2017. Do you know why it came online in 2017?
Speaker 1:You tell us why we have an idea, why?
Speaker 4:Well, get this. There was so much pressure being put on the medical marijuana industry in 2017. That was the time that I put two initiatives on the ballot and pass legislation. I was creating the most community benefits agreements within that industry in order to protect the citizens and the communities from any emerging market just coming in and ripping them apart shreds. When the CBO got put on the books, it was only because of that type of how should I say? Approach to the industry that they start duplicating that.
Speaker 4:And so, in my honest opinion, because we created even more social equity programs and things in Grand Rapids and we continue to do it across the world, and we're right now helping those start the Detroit Cannabis Industry Association I'm already in industry in order for the association to thrive and then to continue to give back to the community, and so I believe it is a tug of war that continues to happen, but I think it's holding them accountable. We don't have anyone in leadership that continues to be a voice for making sure that the follow up is done and that those we need a voice, jonathanathan, but we also need policy, and so there is no.
Speaker 1:The current structure of accountability right uh, that exists has so many loopholes that developers and corporations build it into their performance to pay the penalties for not adhering to said benefit or said agreement. The Neighborhood Advisory Council process is a political one. It is not one that is steeped in equity in a space where they're trying to actually hear and find agreement with residents, is slanted in the favor of whoever is developing and is promising whatever benefit that will come right. So I'm hearing you answer that, but I'm thinking about, like mr king and mr henderson on the east side, who sat at the neck for the stelantis plant and fought every day a fruitless fight right and watch stelantis bill, make these promises and break them and are able to pay for the I think one fine the air quality fine was $5,000.
Speaker 4:The fines definitely don't add up to what's really, and so I'm channeling a. Jerry.
Speaker 1:King and responding to what you're saying, and he will say make it, make sense to me because it doesn't.
Speaker 4:So here it goes the tax incentives that are given to that corporation are not indexed and tied to the outputs that we're expecting. That's one of the biggest issues right now is that you have to tie those incentives and index them to the outputs.
Speaker 3:I mean, there was not even a hiring guarantee.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:They just said the first interviewed would be there, and I want to point out that Henderson and King didn't even have time to hold the city's feet to the fire. This process happened in six weeks. It was the fastest process, the fastest community benefits process. You've seen. There's a distinction, though, between the community benefits process in the marijuana industry, which is governed by state law, and the community benefits process which is part of Detroit city policy, which is governed by a city ordinance, which is governed by a city ordinance. And I will say this we listen. I have no arguments with those people who work for the marijuana enterprises, because they have shared with us some of their money quite generously. Okay, I appreciate their contributions.
Speaker 3:And I think that that would actually be really cool if we had these corporations that were coming in here who were required to share profits and to invest in the neighborhoods, and that's just not happening in ways that feel equitable. But I want to go to another part about business investment right, because part of my biggest tension is downtown. I love going downtown, I love hanging out on the Riverwalk, but it's not fair. Let's be really honest.
Speaker 3:The Downtown Development Authority captures tax dollars and can only spend those dollars downtown, and last I saw it was like $68 million in a year going into a tax capture that is kept in a feedback loop downtown where it becomes richer and richer and richer, and by state law those dollars cannot be spent in the rest of the community.
Speaker 3:So if you give any of the downtown developers a tax break, it's not coming out of the general fund, it's coming out of this little private fund that's operated by the downtown development authority. So when we say that you can take care of residents and businesses at some, to a large extent and, by the way, those dollars they're not just coming out of the Detroit General Fund supporting recreation and street cleaning and all of the basic services, they're also coming out of public schools and libraries. So we have to acknowledge the fact that you can only spend $1 one time. You can't spend it twice. It can't be $2. And that means if I'm giving all of my dollars to you, there's fewer dollars left for somebody else. Yes, we have to make choices.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:As mayor, how would you make choices and balance the interests of residents, who need city funds, and corporations, who want city funds?
Speaker 4:I think you're totally on point when you start to talk about there has to be a give and take when it comes to how the circulation happens. We've explored the expansion of the Downtown Development Authority to complement the community innovation hubs that we're building. Community innovation hubs that we're building. I believe that we have a great arts and culture environment that can expand and attract international and national events to really start to look like a how should I say it?
Speaker 4:When you go to other cities like Atlanta and Houston, you see more of a multiple downtown scenario and it doesn't always have to be high, high rises, but it does need to be that intentional focus and strategic investment into those business improvement districts, like I said before, inside of our communities.
Speaker 4:And so who I've been talking to is like, for instance, the Six Mile community who wants to be the avenue of fashion. But when you look at how the avenue of fashion on six mile might meet up with the avenue I mean the avenue of food on six mile versus the avenue of fashion on liver noise when those two intersect somewhere around liver noise and six mile, you start to have a university, two districts fashion and food and you can start to call that, start to make that a business improvement district so that everything comes together for that reinvestment. If they're not prepped and ready for that investment, it's not going to happen, and so you really have to look at the factors and the components that they have in place, complement them, support it with the community innovation hub, streamline through the one-stop business centers and really get everybody working together.
Speaker 3:Okay, let's talk about guaranteed basic income $10,000 a year for Detroit taxpayers. Everybody gets it.
Speaker 4:So I spoke earlier I'm glad you asked that question about this $10000 family for tax payers. My vision right now and my strategy and my approach says reach every family, create a citizen dashboard for every taxpayer and every resident to start to navigate the nuances of the city. That means that at that point I start to build a profile for every individual and every family in order to understand what programs they qualify for and what it is that, how it is that we need to engage them and win. And so, with that, there's a number of incentives and vouchers that will be offered, especially for our firefighters, policemen, teachers, to hope to ease the pain and ease the weight of the drainage fees with the water bills, the utility fees with DTE, the tax fees and the interest rates.
Speaker 4:And I'm creating what is already being created by our largest competitor internationally, which is China. China has already moved into a civic model for their economic structure. It's a status system, which means that if you give back to the community, then you're rewarded and you start to elevate your status. That's the future. When robots start making robots and work starts to lessen. It's about what are you doing for the community, what are you doing for the holistic community, and so that's where we have to start to move to, and that's what that means $10,000 for every family through a number of vouchers and essentials and programs, and they're probably already offered, but we have to start to profile the families and hold their hand to get them through the process.
Speaker 3:So do I get $10,000?
Speaker 4:If you qualify, I mean I'm here, I'm here. You might want to put an asterisk.
Speaker 3:Because I was kind of excited about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know the president of the United States has the US Constitution to uphold and signs bills into law from the legislature or vetoes them. The city of Detroit has our own constitution, our city charter, to uphold and to sign ordinances into law that's put on its desk by the city council, or to veto them. Tell me what your main takeaways are from our current city charter and how the office of mayor and a Barlow administration fits into that.
Speaker 4:So, going back to my extensive legislative background, my work with multiple mayors across the country, hoping well, not hoping, but actually working with them in lieu of hoping them to get engaged, to go after more federal funds and increase their capacity, because sometimes smaller mayors or mayors of smaller cities don't have the capacity to go after the funds that they really need. I truly believe that, when it comes down to how my administration views the charter, I view the charter as an evolving document, and the reason why I say that is because there's some things that this season and this era of Detroit calls for that just doesn't work. So, for instance, how do you expect to turn around communities without touching the schools? That's almost impossible.
Speaker 1:So you want mayoral control over school.
Speaker 4:Well, I believe that if the relationship is not a working relationship and a consistent working relationship, then we end up falling short and no one's able to point the finger at anyone, and so what I do suggest is, day one, to meet with the school board and the school superintendent in order to make sure that we have a working relationship, and, if not, I will use my power to start to move towards having a hybrid relationship in order for me to have influence over the school.
Speaker 3:What would using that power look like?
Speaker 4:Using that power means that the superintendent is accountable, is continuing to be performance based, like every other department in the city.
Speaker 1:Accountable to whom, you or the Detroit Public?
Speaker 4:School Board Accountable to Detroit. Public school board accountable to the hybrid school board that will so you would, you would create this we will put an initiative on a ballot to very well split the school board seats to appointed and elected, so that the citizens have their same control, but there's an influence of the mayoral uh, similar to the commissioners like the police, commissioners, police commissioners.
Speaker 3:So so you would reduce the autonomy of that. You said that you thought that the charter was an evolutionary document, and so you would go through a process to change the charter.
Speaker 4:I wouldn't go through a process to change the charter fully. I'm looking at—.
Speaker 3:I mean to change aspects of the charter that you don't think work. Yes, to change the charter fully. I'm looking at I mean to change aspects of the charter that you don't think work.
Speaker 4:Yes, to change aspects, as I get and you're saying you use the ballot initiative as the process for doing that Definitely, and I think that the citizens have done it before as I did in 2017, and should be aware of their power. A lot of citizens ultimately get disengaged and get deterred because they feel that their power is stripped from them every election, and so, unless you can engage citizens in a way that tells them listen, if this is not working, you have the power to change it, and you don't have to wait till the next election cycle. You have to start to show them and hold their hand through that process, and I believe I'm the only one who's done it and can do it as a leader.
Speaker 3:Okay, so you differentiate that from the legislative work that the two other candidates have. You're saying that the people have legislative influence.
Speaker 4:I'm a community organizer first.
Speaker 3:All right, and you know, honestly, people have over the years suggested that perhaps I should run for mayor or whatever and I said never in my life, right, I love being on this side so I can fight the people in power. Why do you think your position would be better inside of the structure as opposed to outside, doing what you've already been doing?
Speaker 4:Oh, I like the way that you framed it. Either one. I do both See every year in Congressional Black Caucus. I'm the one that's going down there and making sure that everything and who we need to talk to and engage nationally that it can tie back to us here in Detroit, and so my advocacy work is constant. I'm always doing advocacy work.
Speaker 4:I don't release all my affiliations to all my government relations and public affair firms or lobbying firms that come and get me to do headhunting jobs or fixers or fix situations. That's really my day-to-day work. I sit there and wait for someone to call me to fix their problem legislatively, policy-wise, innovative-wise, to get them out the crux or the ditch that they found themselves in, and so I'm constantly lobbying in an unregistered and an informal way to make sure that I advocate, because the doors are always accessible and open to me. On the flip side, yes, I believe that that approach says that if these legislators and these elected officials and decision makers aren't moving at the speed that we need them to move, then we use Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals approach to say listen, come before the people commit to what you're going to do and we're going to hold you accountable. If not. We're going to have to move on our own and get this done.
Speaker 1:You're listening to Jonathan Barlow, candidate for mayor of the city of Detroit. We are coming up on time and I just want to give you the opportunity, Jonathan, to address our listeners with the last word. Why should the people vote for you?
Speaker 4:Well, Orlando and Donna, I truly appreciate you all for having me today.
Speaker 1:Thanks for coming on. Thanks for saying yes.
Speaker 4:It's been such a great and wonderful experience. The questions that you all have asked. I've done the most interviews out of all the candidates probably about 15 so far. I'll probably end up with 20, 25 by the end of next month and so I truly believe that my campaign and my candidacy stands for one simple thing fresh, clean energy. There has never been a candidate that has come to the table and had the amount of experiences that I've had, both in DPS, community, faith-based business, nationally, internationally, sector to industry.
Speaker 4:No one can even touch programming or say that they can call someone right now that designed autonomous cars or taught them how to predict fog two hours before it comes.
Speaker 4:And so when you really look at the future, when you really look at the leader who's going to set the course and set the tone for the next 50 to 100 years, because this is such a critical time in our era you have to really think about where do we want to be tomorrow and who's poised and positioned to do that.
Speaker 4:Because if we get stuck in another argument or another debate between leaders, if we don't have someone that can be a peacemaker rather than continuing to warring and continuing to play favoritism and the same people get the same money and then no one else can get any resources, then you need to pick someone like me. I'm John Barlow. I'm going to bring the most money, jobs and homes. I want to reach every family family and I want every Detroiter to win. And that comes from the bottom of my heart, because I love Detroit, I care about its people, and there's no one and no one else that I believe can say all that and truly back it up. And so that's what I come to do again. Donna and Orlando, you all are the best. I continue to say. Media at this level means the most to the world right now, and just look out for the Detroit Film Office that I plan on having when I become mayor.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Jonathan Barlow. Listen, if you have topics that you want discussed on Authentically Detroit, you can hit us up on our socials at Authentically Detroit on Facebook, Instagram and X, or you can email us at Authentically Detroit on Facebook, Instagram and X, or you can email us at authenticallydetroit at gmailcom. It is time for shout-outs. Donna, do you have any shout-outs?
Speaker 3:Indeed, I do. I'll shout-out to Julia Link and Sparkle Berry for an amazing community baby shower last Saturday Community baby shower.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness, y'all never close over here.
Speaker 3:We don't, right. Y'all never close over here, we don't. And you know I don't have to come to everything, but I had to get the food because I forgot to order it. So I had an opportunity to come in. The space was absolutely beautiful. It's hard to even express how much labor went into that, from Gloria getting, you know, clothing and toys from her church. There were clothes for the entire family here. We had 70 mothers register oh that's amazing. Clothes for the entire family here we had 70 mothers register oh that's amazing. I'm not sure how many actually showed up, but we had 70 mothers register. And you know, the excellence in service is just something I just can't overstate. When you have people coming to a place where they are not only getting stuff for free but they're also treated with dignity and love and feel warmly embraced, it's the best of all worlds. So I'm super proud of our team for pulling this off. You know, sparkle came to me and she says what is the budget for the community baby shower? And I was like zero.
Speaker 1:And we figured it out.
Speaker 3:They had to raise the money. They had to do the work of getting the donations. Great job.
Speaker 1:That's what we do at ECM. That's how. Ecm has functioned forever. Listen, I would like to shout out and I forgot to give this shout out the other week former guest of Authentically Detroit I think she's been on a couple of times the now Dr Aya Waller-Bay, who successfully defended her dissertation on trauma narratives in college essay admissions. She's a sociologist with a PhD from the University of Michigan. Dr Waller-Bey, we see you and we are so, so, very proud of you. Jonathan, do you have any shout?
Speaker 4:out. I shout out, I want to shout out all the other mayoral candidates. I don't think that we come together enough, candidates. I don't think that we come together enough pre-election, during the election or after the election. I've seen too many new candidates over the course of time drop off and not stay active and engage after they lose. And so I just shout out all the candidates for taking up the initiative to run. But I also challenge all of us to and shout you out to say let's come together after this regardless, and that means all elected officials, because I think that really moves the needle forward and shows how democratic and how much we hold democracy at the highest level.
Speaker 3:I appreciate that. I think that's an important point. This is the first contested election that we've had in the city of Detroit for over a decade, really, and there's this is the time for ideas to be workshopped and put out into the space so that people who are running for mayor who have become mayor has a whole new set of ideas to work from and voters can say you know what?
Speaker 3:I like this candidate, I like this part of this candidate, but we can also hold people accountable, Like on my side of the street. I'm taking all these ideas so I can know how to advocate. So I want to thank you for your willingness to step out there and also for coming to this show.
Speaker 1:All right. We thank you all. So much for listening and until next time, love on your neighbor. We finally got a piece of the pie. It's so fried in the kitchen, the beans don't burn on the grill. Took a whole lot of crying. I'm Orlando Bailey of Outlier Media and Authentically Detroit and I'm Jair Stays of Daily Detroit. Detroit. We've got something special coming up that you won't want to miss.
Speaker 2:That's right. Orlando. At 10 am on Sunday, june 21st, we're bringing together Detroit's mayoral candidates for an in-depth community forum right in the heart of the East Side.
Speaker 1:This isn't your typical candidate event. We're talking real issues, real solutions and real talk about Detroit's future.
Speaker 2:Join us at the Eastside Community Network at 4401 Connor Street in Detroit from 10 am to 2 pm.
Speaker 1:We'll be joined by my Authentically Detroit co-host and community leader, Donna Gives-Davidson, to moderate this important discussion.
Speaker 2:Space is limited, so make sure to RSVP through the Eventbrite link in our show notes. Oh, and on that form, there is a spot for your voice to be heard, to help shape our questions and the conversation.
Speaker 1:That's right. Whether you're a longtime resident or new to the city, come by ECN on June 21st. It's your chance to hear directly from the candidates who want to leave Detroit.
