Tauzzari Robinson, CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Flint

Tauzzari Robinson

Tauzzari Robinson, CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Flint, is described as an exceptional leader and individual who continually makes a remarkable and concerted influence on youth in Flint and Genesee County. Growing up as a Club member in Orrville, Ohio, Tauzzari knows firsthand the positive impact the Boys & Girls Club Continue Reading

Kara Ross of the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan

Kara Ross

The Food Bank of Eastern Michigan staff, led by President and CEO Kara Ross, has continued to rise to the challenge to help feed those who are facing hunger. Throughout the pandemic, it has maintained an open line of communication with faith leaders, schools, health care facilities, soup kitchens and other partners to assess how Continue Reading

Joshua Spencer of Cafe Rhema

Joshua Spencer

Like other restaurants, Café Rhema closed its doors to customers in mid-March. Owner Joshua Spencer determined it was time to get creative and figure out not only how to survive the pandemic, but also to continue serving the community. Partnering with the local faith community, he went about figuring out how to provide meals to Continue Reading

Jason Waggoner

Jason Waggoner

At the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown, local musician Jason Waggoner started performing on his Facebook Live feed. It was basically on a whim with the hope of getting a couple of viewers. Soon, people discovered that this hour of good, live music provided them with an escape from worries about the virus. Now he Continue Reading

Exterior shot of the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Flint

An iconic, historic building set to begin life anew as downtown Flint’s Hilton Garden Inn

“Awe.” “Appreciation.” Those are some of the responses the professionals involved with repurposing the former Genesee County Savings Bank building in downtown Flint hope to see from visitors when the long-vacant structure debuts as a Hilton Garden Inn in October. “I love working on historical buildings and the fact that we’re trying to preserve them,” Continue Reading

Employee works in a beer distributor warehouse

Half-billion dollars in Paycheck Protection Program funds retains nearly 60,000 jobs

They’re just three letters, but what they represent may very well have spelled the difference between success and failure for some Genesee County businesses during the COVID-19 shutdowns, observers say. The federal PPP, or Paycheck Protection Program, pumped a total of more than $550 million into 3,862 Genesee County businesses when the U.S. Small Business Continue Reading

Fletcher Rheaves, owner of Great Lakes Facility Management

Black business owners working to make a difference in the community while coping with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic

For L’Oreal and Steven Hartwell, owning the Dawn Donuts shop at Pasadena Avenue and Clio Road is about more than making a living – they’re also aiming to inspire nearby residents to follow their dreams. Fletcher Rheaves not only employs nearly three dozen people at his Flint-based Great Lakes Facility Management janitorial services company, but Continue Reading

Downtown Swartz Creek

Grand Blanc and Swartz Creek declared ‘Redevelopment Ready’ More local communities expected to seek the MEDC certification

Ask economic developers what they expect from local units of government, and they’ll probably answer something like this: “Transparency. Predictability. Efficiency.” Thanks to the state’s Redevelopment Ready Community (RRC) program, some Genesee County municipalities are achieving exactly that type of balance in their daily development activities. RRC, administered by the Michigan Economic Development Corp., aims Continue Reading

Mechanic works safely with gloves and mask

Businesses forced to rethink ‘normal’ operations amid COVID-19: Preparing for worklife after the ‘Stay Home’ order lifts

More frequent hand-washing breaks and other enhanced sanitation practices. Supplying face masks for employees to wear on the job. A sharp increase in the use of videoconferencing. Those were among the practices implemented by area businesses that continued to operate in at least a reduced capacity as the economy otherwise drastically slowed in the wake Continue Reading