Photo by Zen Chung
Startup competition
Applications for the sixth round of Empire State Development’s $3 million Grow-NY food, beverage and agriculture business startup competition are being accepted through May 15. Launched in 2019, Grow-NY offers food and ag-tech startups nationally and from around the world the opportunity to win up to $1 million, as well as dedicated business mentorship and introductions to the region’s leaders and resources to connect them to potential partnerships and other strategic opportunities.
The initiative has resulted in economic growth and entrepreneurial opportunity in upstate New York over the past five years. Applications for Round Six must be submitted by 5 p.m. EST on Wednesday, May 15. In August, up to 20 finalists will be assigned mentors and enter the business development phase. One finalist will receive a top prize of $1 million; two others will be awarded $500,000 prizes; and four more will receive $250,000 prizes.
Credit conditions
While bank economists expect credit conditions to continue to weaken compared to the extremely strong position of the last few years, their outlook for the first half of the year is notably more optimistic, according to the American Bankers Association (ABA)’s latest Credit Conditions Index. The Index improved to its highest level in six quarters as members of ABA’s Economic Advisory Committee (EAC) – including chief economists from North America’s largest banks – expressed cautious optimism about the prospects for the U.S. economy this year, according to the Q1 2024 report.
With job growth expected to continue, inflation forecasted to linger above the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target, and interest rates expected to trend lower later this year, the near-term outlook for U.S. consumers remains positive. The report indicates, however, over the next two quarters credit conditions for consumers will continue to weaken, driven mostly by concerns about credit quality rather than credit availability. At the same time, most EAC members still expect business credit quality to deteriorate over the next six months, nearly half expect business credit availability to improve.
Workers job search trends
In a survey commissioned by ResumeBuilder.com, 18 percent of workers who have returned to the office say they are currently looking for a new job and 36 percent say they plan to start job searching this year. Workers are seeking out new jobs for several reasons: 70 percent say they want a higher salary; 56 percent say they want better benefits; 50 percent say they want more growth opportunities; 43 percent say they want to work fewer days in the office; 32 percent say they want a better company culture; and 27 percent say they want different responsibilities.
Conducted in February via SurveyMonkey, the survey polled of 557 full-time U.S. workers nationwide, balanced to reflect age, gender, and income demographics. Fourteen percent of respondents say they prefer to be in the office once per week; 17 percent say twice per week; 20 percent say three days per week; 11 percent say four days per week; 15 percent say they would prefer to be in the office full-time; and 17 percent of respondents say they would prefer to work fully remotely.
Web-based entrepreneurship
During an hour-long conversation with the Dudley Eagles Mastermind Group, African American Literature Book Club (AALBC) Founder Troy Johnson, talks about the challenges of running a web-based business and why it matters to us all. Launched in 1997, AALBC is the oldest and largest web site dedicated to books by, or about, people of African descent. IN his interview, Johnson covers Black entrepreneurship as it relates to Google, Amazon, AI, and social media. View Johnson’s interview at Watch on YouTube.
Health
Black Health Matters (BHM) once more brought its celebrated health summit series to Atlanta earlier this month. The Black Health Matters Winter Health Summit & Expo was held on March 2nd at the downtown Atlanta Loudermilk Conference Center as a free hybrid (in-person and virtual) event offering attendees a singular wellness experience, connecting dynamic experts on chronic illness and healthiness, patient advocates and celebrity guests with the public.
Attendees benefited from free health screenings and immunizations, presentations on chronic disease management, fitness sessions, entertainment and more. Complimentary breakfast, lunch and parking will be offered, along with FREE giveaways and prizes. Founded in 2012, Black Health Matters is the leading evidence-based, chronic disease management and wellness resource for African Americans.
Culture
AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange , the award-winning series Black Public Media (BPM) and WORLD, debuts season 16 on April 1. The series, renowned for its powerful documentaries, rebrands as the public media home for both documentary and narrative films about the global Black experience. In addition to real-life stories about fights for criminal and environmental justice in America, this season shines the spotlight on Kenya, with two prize-winning narrative films on redemption and resilient joy.
AfroPoP premieres on WORLD, the Black Public Media YouTube channel and the PBS App. New episodes premiere weekly on WORLD through April 22, and PBS Plus will distribute the series to PBS affiliate public television stations across the country beginning April 1. View the sizzle reel at https://bit.ly/APOP16SizzleReel.
The International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD) in partnership with Collage Dance Collective presented the 34th Annual International Conference and Festival of Blacks in Dance, “Can’t Turn You Loose: A Love Letter to Black Dance” in January in Memphis, Tennessee. The conference and festival boasts the broadest international gathering of Black dance professionals, agents, artistic directors, artists, choreographers, company managers, executive directors, historians, presenters, scholars, teachers, and many others, who come together to share ideas, cultures and experiences.
The all-ages dance experience in January attracted more than 900 attendees from Canada, England, Germany, Jamaica, Norway, Trinidad and the US, who attended a total of 19 hours of dance classes a day. The conference and festival were also able to award over $500k in scholarships to at least 400 of recipients
