This summer, a new Story Map of Black-owned businesses in Johnson County was created. It connects users to a rich and ever-growing directory of businesses and entrepreneurs in the eastern Iowa corridor and challenges us to understand the connection between economic opportunities and social justice. Our speakers will help us understand historic barriers faced by BIPOC people interested in starting a business, and why tearing down these barriers matters to all of us.

Speakers:

Daria Fisher Page, Clinical Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Community Empowerment Law Project in the legal clinic at Iowa Law

Matthew R. Gilbert, attorney-at-law, entrepreneur, coach, and Founder and President of Iowa C.O.R.E. Inc., Economic Development Chair for the Iowa-Nebraska NAACP

Travis Kraus, Associate Professor in the University of Iowa School of Planning & Public Affairs and Director for the Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities, a community engagement program that helps create more sustainable futures while enhancing teaching and learning at the University of Iowa

Tracy Jon Sargeant, Executive Director, Multicultural Development Center of Iowa

This program is cosponsored by the Iowa City Public Library and the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies.