WOVU JumpStart Fridays, Episode 11: The JumpStart Impact Program with Arleesha Wilson & Shanelle Johnson

JumpStart and WOVU 95.9FM have partnered to bring you JumpStart Fridays, a show focused on supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs in Cleveland. Over the coming weeks, you’ll hear from local business owners, business assistance and funding experts, community organizations and more as we dive into live and honest conversations about entrepreneurship. In episode 11, we catch

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Equity and Collaboration Must Lead In Cleveland’s Race toward an Innovation Economy

The month of February is the national marker to emphasize the stories, contributions, names, faces and experiences of Black Americans throughout history. I celebrate Black History Month with pride, yet I, like others, know that Black history is American history. Therefore, it is not in our best interest as a country to relegate it to

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WOVU JumpStart Fridays, Episode 10: Debt Crowdfunding With Dora Rankin And Monica Grays

JumpStart and WOVU 95.9FM have partnered to bring you JumpStart Fridays, a show focused on supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs in Cleveland. Over the coming weeks, you’ll hear from local business owners, business assistance and funding experts, community organizations and more as we dive into live and honest conversations about entrepreneurship. In this week’s episode, Monica

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WOVU JumpStart Fridays, Episode 9: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion In Small Business With Lamont Mackley and Shashonna Duckworth

JumpStart and WOVU 95.9FM have partnered to bring you JumpStart Fridays, a show focused on supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs in Cleveland. Over the coming weeks, you’ll hear from local business owners, business assistance and funding experts, community organizations and more as we dive into live and honest conversations about entrepreneurship. In episode 9, JumpStart’s Lamont

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WOVU JumpStart Fridays, Episode 8: The Business of Fashion with Charron Martin and Sharia Livingston

JumpStart and WOVU 95.9FM have partnered to bring you JumpStart Fridays, a show focused on supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs in Cleveland. Over the coming weeks, you’ll hear from local business owners, business assistance and funding experts, community organizations and more as we dive into live and honest conversations about entrepreneurship. In this week’s episode, two

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WOVU JumpStart Fridays, Episode 1: Diving Into Diversity Equity and Inclusion In Cleveland’s Tech Ecosystem

JumpStart and WOVU 95.9FM have partnered to bring you JumpStart Fridays, a show focused on supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs in Cleveland. Over the coming weeks, you’ll hear from local business owners, business assistance and funding experts, community organizations and more as we dive into live and honest conversations about entrepreneurship. In episode one, JumpStart’s

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JumpStart’s Core City: Cleveland and Northwest Ohio Impact Programs Will Split Prize Money Equally and Eliminate Upcoming Showcase Events

In February 2020 JumpStart kicked off its third Northwest Ohio Impact Program and its ninth Core City: Cleveland Impact Program. Then COVID-19 hit our communities and we were forced to pivot our approach for these two cohorts, continuing to teach virtual class sessions while altering curriculum to meet the rapidly evolving needs of all the

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Pride & Knowledge: A Conversation About Black History Month With JumpStart’s Lamont Mackley

Each February, the U.S. celebrates Black History Month, highlighting the rich heritage, extraordinary achievements and unique culture of African Americans throughout our nation’s history. As our 2020 celebration comes to its conclusion, we sat down with JumpStart’s Chief Inclusion and Outreach Officer Lamont Mackley for a conversation about life before Black History Month, how the celebration

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Daron Henderson Takes $10K Grand Prize At Core City: Cleveland Entrepreneur Showcase

On Wednesday, December 4, Core City: Cleveland Impact Program participant Daron Henderson delivered the winning pitch for his business, Lo-Key Entertainment during the program’s culminating entrepreneur showcase—taking home the top prize of $10,000. Lo-Key Entertainment offers a variety of premium entertainment services including DJing, uplighting, photo booths and promotional printing. DJs from Lo-Key have performed all over the

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Lamont Mackley Joins Fellow Community Leaders for WVIZ/PBS Discussion on Diversity and Inclusion

On October 15, JumpStart’s Chief Inclusion and Outreach Officer Lamont Mackley sat down with Brian Hall from Greater Cleveland Partnership and Vanessa Whiting, Board Chair of MetroHealth and President of A.E.S Management for “An Inclusive Economy: What Does That Mean?” part of the Cleveland Connects series. Sponsored by PNC Bank and produced by cleveland.com, The

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Hispanic Heritage Month 2019: Talking Culture, Community and Curiosity with Marcia Moreno

Each year from September 15 to October 15, the U.S. celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month. The celebration spans two months because Sept.15 marks the anniversary of independence for five Latin American nations (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua). Mexico and Chile also celebrate their independence later in the month while Columbus Day—also known as

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Accelerate success by promoting open exchange of ideas

Last summer, I attended the Greater Cleveland Partnership’s annual Diversity Professionals Conference, where I had the opportunity to participate in a series of interactive sessions that put a spotlight on how cultural orientations shape an individual’s perception of the world and how these orientations can play out in a workplace setting. One of my key

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