Tag: Cornell Gorman

How investments in Black businesses can help close KC’s racial wealth gap

By Tommy Felts / November 25, 2022

Editor’s note: This story was originally published by The Kansas City Beacon, a member of the KC Media Collective, which also includes Startland News, KCUR 89.3, American Public Square, Kansas City PBS/Flatland, and Missouri Business Alert. Click here to read the original story. When Denisha Jones launched her business, Sweet Peaches Cobblers, in August 2020, it was just…

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Co-founders Cornell Gorman, Christopher “LOKC” Stewart, and Brandon Calloway, Generating Income For Future Generations (G.I.F.T.), cut the ribbon of the nonprofit's new business center on Prospect Avenue

A gift for KC’s East Side: Business center beats developers to Prospect, offering one-stop shop for entrepreneurs

By Tommy Felts / March 29, 2022

A new full-service business center and coworking space on Prospect Avenue will do more than just fill the former Blue Hills Community Services building — better fulfilling its goal to create a clear path to economic prosperity and wealth, said Brandon Calloway. “It’s always been the right time for a business center to open on…

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Cornell Gorman and Brandon Calloway, GIFT

Effort to grow startup capital for Black-owned businesses: Our work in KC has just begun

By Tommy Felts / January 18, 2021

A nonprofit that’s raised more than a quarter million dollars in eight months to provide grants to Black small business owners says a diverse range of Kansas City entrepreneurs already has asked for help — and their needs go beyond the obvious. “Normally when people think of Black-owned businesses here in Kansas City, most immediately think…

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Chris Goode, Ruby Jean's Juicery; photo courtesy of Timothy Linn, Rockhurst University

Pressed for cash: Ruby Jean’s gifted $10K second shot with new nonprofit’s debut grant

By Tommy Felts / August 13, 2020

Three months after its founding, one of Kansas City’s newest entrepreneurial support organizations might have just saved Ruby Jean’s Juicery from closing its doors for good.  “It’s amazing to see a dream come true and really get it done,” said Christoper Stewart, board president and founding member of Generating Income For Tomorrow (GIFT) — a newly…

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