Presenters from the Urban League, Legacy and Love LLC and the Grand Rapids African American Community Task Force asked the City of Grand Rapids to become a co‑champion of a renamed and expanded West Michigan Black Business Alliance, detailing work to connect Black‑owned firms to city contracting opportunities.

Eric Brown, representing the task force, outlined the advisory effort’s history and framework and said the group wants the city “to be the co champion in a line with primarily two strategies” — launching an organizational framework now housed under the Urban League’s umbrella and building a regional inclusive‑economy initiative using Brookings Metro methods to set conditions for growth. He asked the city to back the alliance with visible support that would unlock local, regional, state and philanthropic resources.

The presenters described a three‑phase Brookings approach: diagnose disparities, set institutional conditions for success and intervene with measurable programs. Keith Morgan of the Urban League highlighted implementation work on advocacy, marketing and shared calendars and cited three recent contract wins connected to the program: Prominent Properties (a $73,000 contract leading to two additional hires), Todd McLemore LLC (a $98,000 contract) and FCF Construction (a contract above $100,000 that added four employees). Morgan said those wins translated into “added value of almost $300,000 in revenue” for those businesses and represented roughly 43% growth over their prior reported revenues.

Presenters also described a business directory of more than 600 entries, event programming (20+ events and 771 participants), and plans to establish a set of KPIs. Brown said the alliance will expand membership beyond an initial 11 organizations and change the name from the Black Business Voice Advisory to West Michigan Black Business Alliance to better signal regional ambitions.

Commissioners pushed for clearer resource accounting and regional engagement. The presenters said the city supplied $50,000 in year one and $125,000 in year two (a total of $175,000 to date) and that other municipalities (Wyoming, Kentwood, county partners) had not yet contributed. Commissioners asked when the alliance would provide its seven‑page organizational framework and concrete KPI proposals; presenters said the framework would be delivered to staff (AJ and others) for follow‑up.

Commissioners also questioned the alliance’s regional branding while funding remains primarily city‑sourced. The presenters said they plan outreach to neighboring cities and counties, that the Urban League already serves a tri‑county area, and that the alliance intends to use pilot successes to recruit other public and private funders.

The presenters cited broader research context — including reports from the Kellogg Foundation and Brookings Metro — to argue that narrowing racial economic disparities could materially increase statewide output. The presentation closed with a request that the city act as a visible partner while the alliance finalizes metrics and resource‑sharing agreements.

The commission took questions but did not take a formal vote on the proposal. The presenters committed to providing the city the organizational framework and KPI options for follow‑up.