For all of the statistics about race in Philadelphia, one is particularly sobering. In a city that is 44 percent Black, Black-owned businesses with payroll represent less than 3 percent of all businesses in our ecosystem.
And Philadelphia is not alone. In February, a Pew study reported that as of 2020, Black and African American people had a majority stake in just 3 percent of businesses nationwide. This is despite Black adults making up 12.4 percent of the U.S. population.
How to grow the density of Black businesses in American cities will be at the heart of The Citizen’s first-ever live recording of our How to Really Run A City podcast on Tuesday, May 23. Taking place at African American Museum in Philadelphia, the event kicks off the National Convening of Black Mayors, hosted by the African-American Chamber of Commerce of PA, NJ & DE.
How to Really Run A City podcast co-hosts — former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, and Citizen Co-founder Larry Platt — will speak to Black-owned business thought leaders. These featured guests will include Newark, NJ, Mayor Ras Baraka, along with Bruce Katz, director of the Nowak Metro Finance Lab at Drexel University. All have deep knowledge of the challenges, and success stories, of growing Black businesses in cities.
The audience is invited to ask questions of the panel.
Tickets for a limited number of Citizen readers are at a discounted rate of $75, with proceeds going to the African-American Chamber.
How to Really Run A City
How to Really Run A City, The Citizen’s newest podcast, launched last fall. Bloomberg Cities recently named the show one of Top 10 city-related podcasts to stream. Episodes have featured mayors David Holt of Oklahoma City, Kate Gallego of Phoenix and Libby Schaaf of Oakland. Listen to all the episodes here.
The live recording will take place from 7 to 8pm. Prior to that, from 5 to 7pm, attendees will enjoy food, drinks, music, networking, and can visit the African American Museum’s latest exhibition, Rising Sun: Artists in an Uncertain America, inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s comment after the 1787 Constitutional Convention: “Is the sun rising of setting on American democracy?”
We hope you’ll join us for this historic, interactive conversation about changing business ecosystems — for good.
Tuesday, May 23, 2023, 5–8pm at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, 701 Arch Street; $100 per ticket; $75 per each of the first 20 tickets sold through The Citizen (use code CITIZEN2023). Get your tickets here.
HOW TO REALLY RUN A CITY, THE PODCAST