Money. Michigan Chronicle’s Pancakes & Politics 2023 Season Opens with Big Projects and Big Impact!

By Sherri Kolade

The Pancakes & Politics Speakers’ Forum, presented by The Michigan Chronicle, has earned a stellar reputation as the region’s top forum for discussing contentious issues affecting residents of Southeast Michigan, which includes Detroit and the majority of the state’s businesses, industries, and population.

The Forum I, “Big Projects - Big Impact,” held on Thursday, March 16 kicked off the first of four Speakers’ Forums in 2023.

Held at the Detroit Athletic Club, Dennis Archer Jr., Chairman & CEO of Sixteen42Ventures, the parent company of numerous enterprises, including Ignition Media Group, is returning as the Forums’ seasoned host and moderator.

Partners in Platinum Sponsorship for Forum I represent DTE, Signal Restoration Services, and Walker-Miller Energy Services. GM is the Overdrive Series Presenting Partner, and Business Leaders for Michigan is the Broadcast

Property Is Power!

FHA Insurance Rate Cuts Provide More Opportunities for Black Homeownership

Presenting Partner.

The first Forum brought together two panelists who engaged in lively debates regarding the massive initiatives that their companies are undertaking in the city and region, as well as how these projects will significantly affect Detroit’s economic revival. The panelists were Bud Denker, president of Penske Company and Kofi Bonner, CEO of Bedrock, LLC.

Denker created and now serves as the chairman of Penske Company, a diversified provider of transportation services with businesses engaged in a variety of business sectors, including professional racing, truck leasing, retail automotive, and transportation logistics. The historic Detroit Grand Prix has brought in over $45 million in annual total spending for the area under Penske and Denker’s direction. Economic analyses indicate that the Detroit Grand Prix, which will take place on the streets of Detroit from June 2–4, 2023 after being held on Belle Isle since 2012, will generate an estimated $11 million in expendi-

I am pleased to share the news about an exciting decrease in mortgage insurance premiums. Starting on March 20, 2023, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) will reduce annual mortgage insurance premiums by 0.3 percentage points from 0.85% to 0.55% for most new borrowers.

Mortgage insurance premium (MIP) payments are required on all FHA loans, regardless of down payment, to allow for more flexible qualification requirements, ture, which will be beneficial to over 260 businesses.

“Detroit is seeing more investment, construction, and job growth than it has in a half-century and the announcement of this $2.5 billion development takes things to a new level,” said Mayor Mike Duggan, in a Henry Ford Health-issued statement. “This partnership between Henry Ford Health, the Pistons, and Michigan State University represents an incredible investment in our city. Detroiters will have not only a new stateof-the-art hospital and medical research facility, but also more opportunities to live, work and play right here in this neighborhood.”

Hiram E. Jackson, the publisher of the Michigan Chronicle and CEO of Real Times Media, is the creator of Pancakes & Politics. Before organizing the event, Jackson felt frustrated by the lack of a significant Black presence or significant Black voices at the table when regional stakeholders were making significant public policy decisions about issues about transportation, education, eco-

Our Community Laundromat, LLC is more than a place to wash clothes.

The facility in Detroit’s Bethune Community neighborhood aspires to become a beloved space where residents can receive clean clothing and valuable community resources. Mayor Mike Duggan and city leaders today held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the laundromat, marking the 145th brick-and-mortar opened by Motor City Match.

“I hope that my business helps the community understand there is a safe space to wash their clothes. The laundromat itself does not just focus on the laundry, but Detroiters as members of the community,” said laundromat owner La Cesha Brintley. “What you give for your laundry services, you will get back. We’re going to pour back into the community,” said Brintley.

The spacious facility was constructed by minority developers and features more than 40 washers and dryers to accommodate loads of various sizes, comfortable seating and an array of fabric detergents and softeners. Machines receive around-theclock service to ensure they always function at their best. Pickup and drop-off services are also available.

But separating Our Community Laundromat, LLC from its peers are its initiatives to support the local community. The facility’s “Wash and Read” program awards children who finish reading books coins for their family’s laundry services. The idea came to Brintley after witnessing the pandemic’s effects on early literacy due to heightened stress, disruptions and remote learning hurdles.

“The pandemic has left so many children behind that we’re going to push reading every day,” said Brintley. “Every coin that is brought into Our Community Laundromat, part of it will be used to reinvest into the community itself.”

The laundromat also provides senior citizens priority over their services every Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. During these hours, seniors can participate in social activities accompanied by food and entertainment. In addition, there is a space nomic development, workforce development, and other matters directly affecting Detroiters and others in Southeast Michigan.

“I thought it would be interesting to establish a town hall meeting type forum with the leaders in the community, where there would be significant participation and feedback from Black people in the city and region,” Jackson explained. “And it was critical that the Michigan Chronicle hosted the forum, set the agenda, asked the tough questions, and attracted the panelists. And we wanted the forums to be held at the Detroit Athletic Club in downtown Detroit.”

Pancakes & Politics 2023 will continue the virtual “Overdrive Series,” which was first introduced in 2022 when the speakers’ forums were presented online due to the epidemic, to reach a wider audience. At the Michigan Chronicle’s Studio 1452 in downtown Detroit, the “Overdrive Series,” sponsored by Busi- for small businesses to utilize as a pop-up shop, free of charge, to showcase product. For Brintley, who has decades of experience in health care, the laundromat is an extension of her life calling to be a servant of the people.

“Small businesses are what help make the fabric of a community and nowhere is that more the case than what La Cesha is doing with Our Community Laundromat,” said Mayor Mike Duggan. “She’s not just providing an essential business service,