About Us
Our Story
Michigan Black Expo, Inc.(MBEI) was germinated on April 9 of 1994 and incorporated on May 9, 1995 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and is designed to 1] establish Metro Grand Rapids as the west coast of Michigan’s regional hub of African-descended intellect, culture and commerce to compliment the Detroit hub in the east and 2] to engage employment creation, racism abatement and the bringing together of a majority of people by creating a perpetual non-profit industry out of MBEI-branded society enhancement events, products, services and institutions that collectively embody the most positive elements of the African-descended Experience.
Our Mission
To engage a perpetual society-enhancement industry of Africentric institutions, services, events and products that are shaped and informed by the Heritage, History, Intellect, Dignity, Grace, Fortitude, Unity, Camaraderie and Prosperity guideposts of the Ancestors of the African-descended Experience
MBEI Executive Summary
MBEI was founded originally to administer a series of annual state-level events to create a permanent funding source for Africentric economic development and social change throughout the State of Michigan. MBEI’s purpose now has expanded to include consolidating Michigan’s Africentric buying power with culturally unified MBEI-branded events, products and services as well as positioning the youth (with an emphasis on at-risk youth) to be the focus of new media- and creativity-based economies for the State of Michigan. Through MBEI’s Youth Enhancement Division (YED) programs that are championed by Urban Media/Youth Enhancement Council (UMYE) and its Youth Urban Media Education Initiative (YUMEI) – including URBRadio, Youth Correspondents Corps (YCC), Youth Federation (YFed), Youth Music Institute (YMI) and Youth TeleCommunications Institute (YTC) – MBEI will be able to put the youth in a position to better achieve the bright futures that they deserve by cultivating and harnessing the enormous creative capital that is latent inside each of them.
Over, Under, Around and Through with Dignity, Grace and Fortitude since 1995….
Meet Our Board of Directors
Mr. Rudolph R. Treece III
President and Co-Founder
Mr. Taalib El Amin
Immediate Past Chairman
and Co-Founder
Mr. Ned Andree
Chairman
Dr. Kojo Quartey
Vice Chairman
Our Community Partners
Meet The UMYE Council
| T.A. El Amin, Michigan Black Expo, Inc. / Michigan Black Chamber of Commerce | |
| Rudolph R. Treece III, Michigan Black Expo, Inc. | |
| Michael Mohan, Native News Network / Michigan Black Expo, Inc. | |
| Kevin Murphy, Past Director, WYCE-FM / Community Media Center – Grand Rapids | |
| Dr. Kojo Quartey Monroe, County Community College | |
| Herb Early, A+ Insurance Partners – Grand Rapids | |
| Arnie Smith Alexander, Grand Valley State University/TRiO Upward Bound Program | |
| Dr. Randal Jelks, University of Kansas | |
| Marques Beene, Building Bridges Initiative – Grand Rapids | |
| Paul Mayhue, Wil-Hue Consulting / Voices Not Heard Initiative – Grand Rapids | |
| Bill Brock, Brockfolio | |
| Dr. Lawrence Redd, Rhythm and Blues University – Houston TX | |
| Jason McMillan, Radio / Telecommunications Industry – Grand Rapids | |
| Anthony C. Kanu, Ikan Power, Inc. – Grand Rapids | |
| Merin Johnson, Entrepreneur / Author / Community Activist – Flint MI | |
| Robert VanWieren, Clerical Imaging Industry – Grand Rapids | |
| Frank Grant, Former Station Manager, WKWM – Grand Rapids | |
| Joseph Howard, Grand Valley State University | |
| Beau McDonald (Emeritus) | |
| Ruff Ryders Motorcycle Fellowship | |
| Dr. Davia Downey, Grand Valley State University | |
| Tami VandenBerg, The Pyramid Scheme Venue / Well House Homeless Support – Grand Rapids | |
| Kristian Grant, Fashion Industry Entrepreneur – Grand Rapids | |
| Dr. John “Turk” Logan Jr. , Logan Communications, Inc. and WTRK.biz Online Radio | |
| Zeno Toscas JD, Thomas M. Cooley Law School – Grand Rapids | |
| Bruce Bailey, Bruce Bailey House Music – Detroit | |
| Brian Flippin Flippin Life Coaching – Grand Rapids | |
| Amir Pakray 2017 MD, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine | |
| Shawn Beene, The Potter House – Grand Rapids | |
| Amy Vissman, Keller Williams Realty – Grand Rapids | |
| Chris Brown Digital Concierge – Grand Rapids / Digital Media Instructor, Kendall College of Art and Design | |
| James “JD” Sullivan Areopagitica, LLC – Grand Rapids | |
| George K. Heartwell Former Mayor, City of Grand Rapids | |
| Samuel Rennie Grand Valley State University | |
| Richard Johnson, We$hare Crowdfunding – Dallas TX | |
| Gretchen Vinnedge Grand Rapids Community Media Center | |
| Dale Dieleman (Emeritus) | |
| T Smith III (Emeritus) Writers Guild of America – West (WGA) / Producers Guild of America (PGA) – Los Angeles (Emeritus) | |
| Comprenew – Grand Rapids / Tent Schools | |
| Ned Andree Dutch Nigerian American (DNA) Genealogy Initiative – Grand Rapids | |
| Marcus Thomas All Marcus Productions Media Company dba Morph Media Square – Grand Rapids | |
| Dawn H. Wade Smith T Smith III Youth Media Production Legacy – Los Angeles | |