Sept. 27, 2017 • 17
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(from page 12) “Black Wealth 2020 right now is a movement. It’s an idea whose time has come. And people all over the U. S. are coming to this independently with varying degrees of success of course. With that, we need to institutionalize. We need to figure out what is the best approach and how do we go about this approach.” In New York, Sanders has pulled together a group of local people who meet bi-weekly and envision, discuss and strategize on how they will economically impact the South East section of Queens. The meetings are private, he said, mostly so that they will remain focused. “We have created three or four different committees - housing, banking, business and a marketing committee for the timing and strategy to get our message out,” he describes. “We have not spent much time going before the wider public as we are working out some of the finer points. We’ve been in this situation for 400 years. We can wait just a little longer.” Like the D.C. model, first, they are studying and gathering information, Sanders said. Then they will decide how to go about impacting the economic lives of the people in that area of New York. He said, viewing themselves as a “test case”, realistic change will be the key evidence of success. “In politics we do well what I call impression sessions where we announce some major victory that really isn't and, you know, we get the accolades and people believe that something is happening...But this
U. S. Rep. Maxine Waters is too serious an issue - the issue of our survival - is far too serious for impression sessions,” Sanders said. Simultaneously, back in D.C., the shared leadership team of Black Wealth 2020 continues to meet monthly. Attracting others with like minds, the group acts as a catalyst for economic growth. In addition to Morial and Sanders, among those who have met with the D.C.-based group are Jim Coleman, president/ CEO of Prince George’s County’s
(from page 15) Bayard can mean the difference actual assignment was for a project that could be done by a team of two or three students and each was required to put in approximately 10 hours,” she said. “But students got so personally involved in their projects that they each spent 30 to 40 hours working because they wanted to create a quality project and do something special for their clients.” ‘We take care of people’ According to 2015 data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 55 million people, like Bayard, rely on Medicare for some form of health care. Combined with economic and societal needs, health care and empathy for patients like
between life and death, Boling said. “One of the great things about VCU, is that we take care of people with complicated health problems and that also have limited resources and therefore need extra help in order to survive and thrive in the community. That requires us to think about the whole person,” Boling said. “The solution the students created was slightly different than what I imagined, but is fantastic. Solving these types of problems requires ingenuity, a willingness to look beyond the simply medical aspects of health care and engage with the barriers and constraints that society, poverty and illness impose, and find solutions.” Bayard couldn’t be more thrilled
Economic Development Corporation; Robert Greene president/CEO of the National Association of Investment Companies, which represents diverse-owned private equity firms and hedge funds; and Andy Ingraham, President/CEO, National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers (NABHOOD). Ingraham credits Black Wealth 2020 for supporting his efforts to connect with major African-American groups in order to encourage them with his new computer table. As a heartfelt added touch, Hofland affixed a handmade Star Trek emblem to the computer monitor, after learning that Bayard is a fan of the series. Bayard mentioned it in his thank you letter to Simons. “In our initial conversation, I expressed my admiration for the scifi series and [Hofland] remembered, created and blessed me with this work of art,” Bayard’s letter read. Though Bayard loves his indoor independence, he is ready to venture outside. A stint in a nursing home left him with a pressure sore that has restricted him to his bed since 2012. But, he’s been healing well, he said, and is ready to get out of the house and on with his life. “I will be able to get outside soon,
to hold conferences at black-owned hotels. “This has been ongoing with a number of African-American and other minority-owned organizations - about creating MOUs (Memorandums of Understanding) and a relationship so that they can use our hotels around the country,” he said. “At least $90 billion represents the total market value of the multi-cultural minority travel industry. And our goal is to get more of that business - not only in our hotels - but get more cities and more entrepreneurs to focus on gaining a share of that market.” Among the connections facilitated by Black Wealth 2020 is one between NABHOOD and Dr. Paulette Walker, who was then president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and also chair of the National Pan-Hellenic Council’s Council of Presidents, an umbrella organization for all nine Black Greek-lettered fraternities and sororities. In addition to discussing the use of black-owned hotels, Walker also passed the information to the Greek-letter organizations and has left information on the movement for her successor. “Having that kind of information was very helpful in terms of how we -when considering hotels, barber shops or whatever it might be can spread the knowledge and the information base. Because sometimes we have an information void,” Walker said. “The more people are aware of the concept of Black Wealth 2020 and are aware of what can be done, the more widespread the agenda can be.” once I get my new wheelchair,” he said. “When I am healthy, I am out the front door, almost as soon as I get in my chair.” Three days after being shot, Bayard was in the intensive care unit of Bellevue Hospital in New York. Oddly enough, his bleak surroundings that day are his motivation today. “When I was in ICU there was a baby who was born there and died. I was like wow, that baby’s whole life was just trying to breathe,” he said. “At that point, I would have felt really stupid feeling really sorry for myself. I asked God to let me walk. He said no. I asked Him for the strength to deal with what His will was, and He said yes.” © VCU NEWS