Focus

EVENTS Emerge! Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Fashion Show in Virtual Harmony

By Audrey J. Bernard

New York Fashion Week’s fall/summer collections are held in February during Black History Month and the Emerge! Fashion Virtual Runway Show, which was celebrating a decade of delivering fashions from top Black and African designers, was one of the first to sashay down the “Reimagined” virtual runway with a beautiful display of designs created by Black designers from the United States, London & Africa!

The Emerge! 10th Anniversary fashion extravaganza was hosted by Claire Sulmers of Fashion Bomb Daily, with special guest presenters Andre’ Leon Talley (former Vogue contributor), and Fern Mallis (creator of New York Fashion Week).

Emerge! 10th Anniversary designers unveiling their newest designs via creative vignettes included Terri Stevens of Funkinbeautiful Designs (Chicago), Scalo Designs (Johannesburg), Jesu’ Segun London, Orla Couture (Lagos, Nigeria), Haus of L.A. (Los Angeles, Chicago).

The virtual event also featured congratulatory remarks from fashion & style notables, an excellent performance by Yanna Cello, a nostalgic look back over the 10 year history of Emerge!, and special clips from Emerge! In addition, EMERGE! Design Talk, which covered today’s fashion challenges, featured London-based designer Ozwald Boateng, urban street wear designer Karl Kani & iconic model Pat Cleveland.

Each year the Fashion Innovator Award is presented to a fashion leader, visionary, and innovator who has paved the way for other artists in the industry and who has made a huge impact in the fashion industry. Fashion Bomb Daily’s Claire Sulmers presented the coveted award to celebrity stylist & “image architect” Law Roach for his impact

Dionne Williams, Terry Stevens Funkinbeautiful Designs

in shaping the global fashion industry. “Stylist and Image Architect, Law Roach, undeniably transforms celebrities into fashion icons and I am grateful to him for accepting this award,” stated Sulmers.

“I am so excited about the anniversary show,” says Dionne Williams, creator and producer of Emerge! Fashion Show. “When I created Emerge 10 years ago my purpose was to highlight the creativity and art that designers create for the runway. I am always at awe at the talent and gifts that designers bring to light.”

Sponsors for the show included AMBI Skincare, Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, LAMIK Cosmetics & ORS Haircare and GFNTY. The virtual event streamed on GFNTV. com and on www.Emergerunwaynyc.com. GFNTV is a premiere online video network, which also streams live on various platforms including ROKU & Apple TV. (Photos courtesy Emerge!)

About Emerge! Brands

EMERGE! A Fashion Runway Show, EMERGE! Design Talk, and the Fashion Innovator Award are all brands of, or are created and produced by Dionne Williams of D. Williams Public Relations Group. These have become among the top emerging designer platforms during New York Fashion Week, and have been consistent in providing national outlets for emerging designers to showcase their work. Hundreds of designer submis-

Jesu'Segun

sions are reviewed by an elite designer committee, which selects some of the top designers from around the world to be featured and/or honored.

HARLEM COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS

Brooklyn Museum Youth Discussion on Black Artists

by Howard Giske

The Brooklyn Museum is conducting weekly live Instagram chats @bkmteens every two weeks by youth leaders in the Brooklyn Museum apprentice program. They teach outdoor events, camp groups, and groups in the summer and on weekends. The next bkmteens discussion will be held Friday, March 12 at 3pm. Salvador and Jaylon discussed Black artists and their relationship to social empowerment. The program is also called BKM Teens Flyday Friday: Black Art, Artists and Police Brutality. T

Salvador asked Jalon who are his favorite black artists. Salvador mentions Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Kehinde Wiley, but is disappointed that he cannot recall many Black artists, even though Salvador remembers that art and artists were a lot of his family life when he was growing up. Salvador

Salvador and Jalon aith Ringgold at Bklyn Mus.

asks the question, is art “whitewashed”? Salvador recalls that some posters in the Black Lives Matter movement and various protests were very moving works of art. He thinks about Black artists, Kehinde Wiley, and Faith Ringold... His connection to Ringgold was very strong. He said “Faith makes art, community, and that is really important. In my community, some communities everyone knows each other, mine is kind of like that , not that close... but very special.

Faith Ringgold, born 1930 in Harlem, New York, is a painter, and especially known for her painted quilts. Currently, Ringgold is 90 years old and lives in Englewood NJ. Ringgold started working on quilts in 1980s, and like “Tar Beach 2” they relate to daily life in New York City area. Ringgold’s first story quilt was named “Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemima?” and she had a strong influence on Salvador when he was growing up. “Also Basquiat... I have really good connection to his art too. Basquiat was the first artist that me and my siblings grew up with., and that our parents put us on too. I have been growing up with Basquiat, I saw a movie about him, and books about him.”

They opened up a discussion of the relationship of art to protest. Jalon says that police brutality happens every week, but often people don’t know about it. Salvador recalls the case of George Floyd, and why he was targeted. In New York, Jalon remembers the case of the death of Eric Gardner in Staten Island when he was in the 3rd or 4th grade, while at

Tar Beach 2, by Faith Ringgold.

that time Salvador was in the 8th

or 9th grade. Both of them don’t recall experience blatant racism, even though sometimes they get followed around by store owners when they are wearing a hoodie. Hey, they were only there to buy an Arizona Tea!

It would be good if art could be incorporated in protests, it is an interesting idea. If people had a lot of fun in a protest creating art, then maybe it would be more in harmony with other people and easier for the entire population to relate to a human rights protest.

Bloc Power Startup Expands Energy Retrofit Projects

BlocPower, a Brooklyn-based climate tech startup that has “greened” more than 1,000 aging, inefficient buildings in NYC (incl. +200 in Brownsville), today announced it has closed a $63 million Series A round that will help the company expand and scale its inner-city energy retrofit projects (currently in 24 cities), create green jobs, improve the quality of life for urban city dwellers and protect the planet. Below is a press release with more background on BlocPower and the Series A funding.

What’s also significant is that BlocPower can now make these retrofits available to building owners with zero up-front costs, thanks to an innovative financing solution it created with input from the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group in which owners repay the loans entirely from the cost savings from

Mr. Donnel of Bloc Power

lower energy bills.

Founded in 2014 by CEO Donnel Baird, BlocPower was inspired by his experience working alongside the Obama administration on an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act project. The goal was to hire and train unemployed union workers to “green” buildings around the country but, at the time, the costs of retrofits overwhelmed savings from the shift to clean energy.

BlocPower has overcome these challenges by leveraging advanced technologies, innovative electrification equipment and structured finance to provide green heating and cooling to America’s aging urban buildings. As a Public Benefit Corporation, BlocPower partners with utilities, government agencies, and building owners to identify unhealthy, energy-wasting buildings to retrofit. BlocPower’s machine learning platform determines which retrofits will produce the most energy savings at scale and uses the cloud and IoT to gather data and remotely monitor energy consumption.

To fund these projects, BlocPower created an innovative financing solution that enables small and medium sized building owners to bring much needed energy efficiency improvements to their properties with no out-of-pocket cost. Backed by up to $50 million from The Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group and $5 million from Inclusive Prosperity Capital, this structured financial product covers the installation and maintenance of air source heat pumps, a proven high-efficiency technology that uses electricity to cleanly provide both heating and cooling, and which is more cost effective than even natural gas systems. By installing modern, efficient, all electric heating and cooling equipment, BlocPower improves indoor air quality and reduces fossil fuel use, saving building owners 20 to 70 percent on energy costs.

Bloc Power ad.

So far, BlocPower has completed retrofits in more than 1,000 buildings in New York City and has projects underway in 24 cities, including Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Oakland. The company will soon offer Environmental Justice Impact Green Bonds to other institutional investors to help finance BlocPower’s future green retrofit projects.

“BlocPower is proving that it is possible to have commercial solutions that improve public health in underserved communities, create quality jobs, and lower carbon emissions,” says Margaret Anadu, Managing Director and Head of the

Bloc Power icon

Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group. “We are so proud to have supported Donnel and his team through the Launch With GS entrepreneur cohort and now through both equity and debt capital to further expand their reach.”

AUDREY’S SOCIETY WHIRL

The New York Urban League Centennial Celebration will be virtual elegance

By Audrey J. Bernard

The New York Urban League (NYUL) is One Hundred Years old! As one of the oldest civil rights organizations in the nation, the flagship affiliate of the National Urban League continues to challenge existing inequities of our society and the League’s work in the areas of economic development, education, and advocacy have impacted generations of underserved New Yorkers. Through direct service delivery, advocacy, referrals, community capacity building, information dissemination and technical assistance, the League accomplishes its mission to help people face and overcome barriers to full participation in American society.

Founded in 1919 to provide opportunities for Blacks migrating from the rural south to New York City, NYUL has helped workers and families gain access to jobs, schools, and opportunity. In addition, the organization has opened the ranks of many industries to Black workers and helped thousands of African American students become first generation college students.

Now 100 years later the League will celebrate its Centennial and the 55th Annual Frederick Douglass Awards Dinner Gala – virtually – filled with pomp and purpose! This year’s Centennial Celebration will take place Tuesday, March 16, 2021, and will be virtual elegance at its best! The gala will kick off with a reception at 6:00 pm, followed by the program at 6:30pm, and end with a celebratory after party with music by MC Lyte. The gala will raise funds to support new and expanded programming and community services to further the League’s mission and fund Whitney M. Young, Jr. Scholarships.

“During our celebration, we acknowledge esteemed honorees that have a steadfast commitment, dedication, and influence that have led the charge for advancing the rights of generations of underserved African Americans and salute their seminal work elevating communities, expressed Arva R. Rice, President and CEO, New York Urban League. “The Centennial Gala is a signature moment in the centennial celebration. The Gala will raise funds to support new and expanded programming and community services to further the League’s mission.”

The 2021 awards recipients include: Legendary sportsman Hank Aaron, Posthumous (Major League Baseball Hall of Famer, Civil Rights Advocate); Michael Dowling (President and CEO, Northwell); Raymond J. McGuire (former Vice

Hank Aaron Michael Dowling Crystal McCrary

Chairman, Citigroup, running for Mayor of New York City); and Daniel Schulman (President and CEO, PayPal) will receive NYUL’s most coveted honor – the Frederick Douglass Award. Film producer and social justice advocate Crystal McCrary will receive the Ann Kheel award, named for the civic leader and founder of the Frederick Douglass Awards.

The Centennial Gala will be co-hosted by Deborah Roberts, Senior National Affairs Correspondent, ABC and Al Roker, Weather and Feature Anchor, TODAY and Co-Host of Third Hour, TODAY. The gala will feature the popular Text-to Pledge hosted by Chuck Nice. Comedian Special Performances and Remarks will be provided by Keyon Harrold, Celebrated Jazz Artist, Spike Lee, Film Director, and The Hon. Andrew Young, Politician, Diplomat, and Activist. For more information please call event producer Dwight Johnson of Dwight Johnson Design at 212/889-4694.

Vernon E. Jordan, Jr. is Honorary Chair of the Centennial Celebration Gala and is joined by Honorary Committee members: Billye Suber Aaron l, Harry Belafonte, The Hon. Bill Bradley, Naomi Campbell, The late Hon. David N. Dinkins, Bethann Hardison, Iman, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Tonya Lewis Lee, Spike Lee, Hal Steinbrenner, Deborah Willis, David Winfield, Cole Anthony and Ella Anthony.

“The 55th Annual Frederick Douglass Awards Dinner Gala will enable us to commemorate our Centennial while acknowledging an esteemed roster of honorees who have a steadfast commitment and dedication to influence change and by advancing the rights of generations of African Americans. We salute their seminal work in empowering communities and changing lives,” said Ward Corbett, Board Chair, New York Urban League.

Members of the Board of Directors include: Ward Corbett, Chairman; Chadwick Roberson, Treasurer; Anwar Ismael, Secretary; Arva R. Rice, Bill Washington, Maja Hazell, Amal Alibair, Lloyd Chinn, Andrea Donkor, Douglas F. Eisenberg, Malcolm Ellis, Bryant Fields, Andrew Hall, Eric Lerner,

Raymond McGuire Daniel Schulman

Eu’nice McCoy, Barrington Rutherford, Helen C. Shelton, Darryl C. Towns, Teresa Wells. The Advisory Council includes the late Hon. David N. Dinkins, Bruce Gordon, Hon. H. Carl McCall, Raymond McGuire, and Victoria Rowell.

Gala sponsorships aid NYUL’s COVID-19 and educational response efforts, provide resources and virtual programming to those affected by COVID-19 and support the League’s COVID-19 Emergency Fund, which offers grants to students and families in the organization’s employment and youth services and other much-needed programs. In addition, the League is launching a Small Business Center to support African American business owners hit by the epidemic and creating a Diversity Lab to help corporations better show and serve the communities in which they do business.

“As our City and nation rise to the challenges of COVID-19, racism, and economic uncertainty, the New York Urban League’s work is more vital than ever before,” added Arva R. Rice, President and CEO, New York Urban League. “In our first century of fighting for social justice and racial equality, we have helped more than one million people achieve their potential. In this next century, we aim to improve upon that footprint and increase our engagement.”