“As the CEO of the BrwnGrlz Collective, I have firsthand understanding of the challenges and opportunities that entrepreneurs and small businesses encounter in our community. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and are major contributors to driving innovation, creating jobs, and fueling economic growth. However, small businesses face significant hurdles, especially when it comes to accessing the resources and support needed to thrive.
At the BrwnGrlz Collective, we recognize that hiring good people is just the first step. Empowering our team members requires providing them with the support and training they need to develop their skills and excel in their roles. This investment in our people is crucial to ensuring the success of our businesses. I have also come to recognize the critical role that technology plays in driving economic growth and fostering innovation.
Access to essential tech platforms is not a luxury; it’s a necessity for small businesses to remain competitive and adapt to the rapidly evolving digital landscape. Regrettably, numerous small businesses face constraints in providing comprehensive training programs similar to those available to larger corporations. However, technological advancements offer a means to bridge this gap and empower small businesses. Leveraging social media platforms allows enterprises to connect with fresh audiences through avenues like online promotion and social media engagement. By strategically utilizing these
digital channels, small businesses can extend their influence beyond local boundaries and access untapped markets.
Legislative measures that restrict access to digital platforms pose a significant threat to the success of small businesses in our community. As a business owner deeply invested in the economic development of our state, I urge policymakers to approach any proposed laws with careful consideration of their impact on innovation and economic growth.
We must focus on fostering innovation and ensuring that our community maintains its competitiveness on both a national and global level. It is critical that we enact policies that support the continued success of small businesses and empower entrepreneurs to thrive in today’s digital age, not undermine their ability to function.”
Desiree Artemus
CEO, BrwnGrlz Collective
This is still the season when many of us are celebrating graduating seniors and cheering young people on as they chart their next steps. What kind of world will their generation create? Sixty years ago, as President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke to college students at Ohio University and the University of Michigan in May 1964, he spoke publicly for the first time about the idea of a “Great Society”—and told students that young people could be its builders.
Two weeks later President Johnson spoke at the University of Michigan’s commencement ceremony. Once again he told the students that America had the opportunity to move “upward to the Great Society” in their time, and said their imagination, their initiative, and their indignation could be the tools needed to create it. He also defined the “Great Society” more fully in that speech, and he began by saying:
“The Great Society rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we are totally committed in our time. But that is just the beginning. The Great Society is a place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his mind and to enlarge his talents. It is a place where leisure is a welcome chance to build and reflect, not a feared cause of boredom and restlessness. It is a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community. It is a place where man can renew contact with nature. It is a place which honors creation for its own sake and for what it adds to the understanding of the race. It is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than the quantity of their goods. But most of all, the Great Society is not a safe harbor, a resting place, a final objective, a finished work. It is a challenge constantly renewed . . .”
The Great Society is one where all children and young people — and adults — will be able to find joy and thrive. It’s fitting that President Johnson shared his vision with young people first. Some of the ideals President Johnson envisioned in the Great Society and the policies needed to support them came under attack almost immediately, and many have remained under attack in one form or another ever since. Just days ago, we saw the House Agriculture Committee voting to advance a farm bill proposing changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which children, young people, and families in big cities and rural communities across the country rely on to help with nutritious meals, that would cut SNAP benefits by an estimated $30 billion over ten years. This is a far cry from the vision of a society “where no child will go unfed.” We see ongoing resistance to the call to end poverty, and new pushbacks against the call to end racial injustice. But at the same time, we also see how far we have come, and how in each new generation young people set a new standard for where we will go next.
If creating a great society is still a challenge that is constantly being renewed, young people are still ready for the challenge — and their imagination, initiative, and indignation are still the right tools for the task. I hope they will never be discouraged by the unfinished work but will always keep building.
Marian Wright Edelman
is Founder of the Childrem’s Defense Fund.
