Five metro Atlanta entrepreneurs were just a little more thankful Thanksgiving week as they were surprised with a special donation from Wells Fargo Bank. 

The surprised donations were a part of the bank’s $1.5 million  investment into the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE) for the new Wells Fargo Learning Center for entrepreneurs. The presentation was made during the center’s pop-up holiday market. 

“On behalf of the 3,000- plus employees in the Atlanta region, we are really proud to be a supporter of the Russell Innovation Center For Entrepreneurs. We were an inaugural supporter,” said Michael Donnelly, Wells Fargo North Georgia Regional President in announcing the next level donation.The bank shares in its mission to empower black entrepreneurs.” 

According to Wells Fargo executive Tai Roberson, senior VP, Philanthropy and Community Impact, the grant will provide mini-grants to RICE stakeholders (members and allow RICE to spread its reach beyond Atlanta and Georgia to assist over 10,000 entrepreneurs of color across the United States. 

The  investment will help to fund 50 small business micro grants for RICE stakeholders. These grants, ranging from $2,500 to $10,000, will help eliminate significant barriers that hinder access to funds for these businesses, Roberson said. 

Wells Fargo asked management at RICE to select five of its entrepreneurs stakeholders to receive a surprise donation at the presentation. 

The stakeholders receiving the special donations were:

– KaCey Venning, co-founder of  HEY! Helping Empowered Youth which provides academic and educational services to Black youth in Atlanta. (helpingempoweryouth.org)

– Marsha Francis, founder of STE(A)M Truck is an innovative educational nonprofit that is helping to eliminate educational disparities with access to hands-on STEAM learning in local systems. (steamtruck.org)

– Evana & Zoe Oli, co-founders of Beautiful Curly Me is a brand that encourages young girls to love and be confident in who they are with dolls, books, and accessories.  For every doll purchased, one is given to an underserved girl. (beautifulcurlyme.com)

–  Louis Deas, CEO of Try Deas and Other Treats produces a variety of pecan and other nut treats. (trydeas.com)

– Tony Cruver, CEO of Cruvie Clothing Company which provides custom order embroidering on clothing. (cruvie.com)

“As a RICE Stakeholder, I’ve had the privilege of scaling my business in ways that I couldn’t imagine when we started,” shared Louis Deas, CEO of Try Deas & Other Treats. “Month after month, I’ve been able to access invaluable resources that have propelled my business forward and I’m excited for the opportunities that will come as a result of this investment.”

The other stakeholder businesses participating in the holiday pop-up market also received a surprise purchase of their products by the bank which had 25 members of its staff attending. 

Roberson thanked the City of Atlanta and Invest Atlanta for being good partners in Wells Fargo’s mission to advance and aid small businesses. 

The RICE grant is part of Wells Fargo’s $420 million Open For Business Fund which was started after the first two years of the pandemic. Some of it were funds received back from the federal government for COVID-19. The bank decided to take those funds and reinvest them into small businesses across the country. 

According to Donnelly, some of the successes from that OPEN FOR BUSINESS FUND, it has supported over 203 thousand small businesses to help create or preserve over over 254 thousand jobs. Of those businesses 73 percent were owned by racially or ethnically diverse individuals, 72 percent were low to moderate income. 

“The donation is consistent with our unwavering commitment to advance economic equity, to create more opportunities for small businesses and to be more clear to drive positive change. That is what we want to do and what we want to be known for,” Donnelly said. 

“As I look at the rendering for the new Wells Fargo Learning Lab, I know that there is a black architect that designed it, there’s going to be a black general contractor that builds it, there’s going to be a black contractor that will manage the program and a black technician that will install all of the equipment,” said RICE CEO Jay Bailey. 

“This is our space – unapologetically guys. The one place where we can come and have our conversations. Everything you see in this building is provided by black entrepreneurs,” he added. 

The Russell Innovation Center of Entrepreneurs (RICE) is located in the old headquarters of the Herman J. Russell Company located at 504 Fair Street, Atlanta, GA 30313.(russell center.org.) 

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Tens of thousands of foodies from metro Atlanta and from around the southeast enjoyed a culinary extravaganza of food, wine, and adult beverages at the annual Atlanta Food & Wine Festival held at Old Fourth Ward Park in Atlanta (Sept. 20-24). The festival has become one the signature food and wine festivals in the southeast. Nearly 150 renowned chefs, sommeliers, mixologists, and industry insiders took part in the weekend-long event, which showcased the best of what the southeast has to offer.

Images are by Stan Washington of The Atlanta Voice.

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The beverages produced by the Simplicity Beverage Company of Atlanta may be the only teas and lemonade that are officially approved by a medical doctor.

That stamp of approval comes from Dr. Bianca Kiovanni, the creator and owner of Simplicity Beverage Company. Kiovanni is a stakeholder in the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (R.I.C.E), an institution designed to aid entrepreneurs.

Obviously, Dr. Kiovanni loves a challenge because she chose one of the most highly competitive industries in the U.S. – the beverage industry to launch her new business. 

According to industry statistics compiled by Zippia, the non-alcoholic beverage industry is valued at an astounding $760 billion. In 2022, revenue from non-alcoholic beverage sales was around $447 billion. 

The company sitting at the top of the non-alcoholic beverage mountain for more than a century is – you guessed it – Atlanta’s own The Coca-Cola Company with 42 percent of the market. 

In breaking down the top five beverages sold in the U.S. Teas come in at number five with seven percent of the market, preceded by milk (7%), soft drinks (10%), coffee (14%) and the beverage we all don’t drink enough of – water (bottled and unbottled) at the top.

Dr. Kiovanni’s first line-up of “healthy” teas and lemonades (more flavors are planned to be released later this year)  are not the traditional flavors you will find on your supermarket shelves. Her “complex” flavors are: Fulfill-Mint, a blend of green tea, mint and honey; Guava Goodness, a blend of guava and lemonade; Basil Breeze, a combination of lemon and basil; and Island Time, a fusion of pineapple, lime, lemon and a secret spice. 

The recipes for the teas and lemonades went through several variations and were tested repeatedly, Dr. Kiovanni said of the beverages which have no artificial flavors or preservatives. 

The beverages are in limited retail distribution but can be ordered from the website at: www.simplicitybeverage.com. 

The following is an edited version of the interview for space purposes. 

Atlanta Voice: You know you pick one of the most competitive industries to start a business in. Did you think about any other industry dealing with the health industry in order to go into instead of the beverage or you were locked in on the beverage and you knew that’s what you wanted to do?

Dr. Bianca Kiovanni: I was locked in on the beverage and knew what I needed to do. You know everything if you think these days, everything is super competitive. What doctor (with 20 years of experience) do you know is out here making drinks? What company do you know that’s actually genuine and honest about creating a product that’s actually decent for people? It’s a lot of competitiveness. But when you look at who’s adding chemicals, who’s cutting corners, who’s lying on their labels, I really don’t have that much competition. And I’ll tell you what, somebody may have tons of decades of experience in sales and marketing. But I know for a fact nobody has the credentials I have.

AV: From the time you settled on the idea to start a beverage company to actually starting it, how long was that? 

BK: More than 10 years.

AV: Was it a start and stop process?

BK: It was a start and stop process, because I was building my practice at the same time. So I would dabble in it. You know, I wrote the recipes for S\implicity.  It’s been more than a decade ago. I would write the recipes. And then I would tinker with them. And I don’t like this and I don’t like that. But I had to teach myself how to write a recipe. How do you scale a recipe? Because making a pitcher of something at the house is totally different than the hundreds of gallons we make now. So I had to learn all of that. I had to do research on bottles. What kind of bottles do I want? What kind of size do I want? You know, what kind of caps do I want? What colors? There was a lot of nuance. The good thing was I was pretty clear about what I didn’t want and so it just became a matter of finding what I was looking for.

Launch Time

A native of Detroit, Dr. Kiovanni said she received invaluable inside information from her first co-packer that decided to close its doors just as she was preparing to launch her brand in 2018. Fortunately, a friend told her of another co-packer in Georgia. The first shipment of 1000 bottles went out in November 2021. 

BK:In the state of Georgia, you can’t produce a retail beverage for sale out of your home. So I have a co-packer. A co-packer is a facility where you provide your recipes and then they mass produce your products for you. So I’m fortunate to have a black co-packer ( Pure Delights) in Tucker, GA.  It’s one of the greatest companies you’ll never know about.

Our businesses fit hand in hand together. The facility is big enough where I could scale my business probably five to 10 times over. No problem.  It’s been an amazing experience. And a lot of people I talk to in the food and beverage industry, they can’t stand their co-packer. I love my co-packer. It’s been a game changer for my business.

AV: So was it like when those first bottles rolled off the assembly line?  

BK: It was exhilarating. It was exhausting. It was annoying. It  was like giving birth to an inanimate baby. It really was Because they produce beverages where they do the actual production. It is literally freezing in there. He had bottles from other companies, like on pallets, stacked up to the rafters and I said one day, he’s going to order my bottles in pallets like he does these other ones. I remember when it was finally time to bottle the drinks. And I actually have footage on my website and I have it in my phone of when the first drinks rolled off of the production assembly line. I would have cried but it was so cold and I was so tired. I didn’t have the energy to do it.

The Beginning

AV: When did you decide to go into medicine? How many years ago?

BK: Oh, gosh, that was more than 20 years ago, I’ve always had a passion for healthcare, I’ve always had a passion for helping people. It was more like a calling than anything else. It was just something that  has always been inherently in me. And I knew going in, it was gonna be a lot of work. And I just met that challenge, you know, head on. And it was working in healthcare that led me to my beverage company. So for me, the two are inextricably linked. And the reason why is because in practice, and working with people, you know, talking about lifestyle and health and wellness and things like that, no one takes into consideration what they drink. You know, you’ve got over the road truck drivers, going into some of these gas stations getting 96 ounces of high fructose corn syrup, yellow dye number five, red number eight, blue 72 and everything else, and they think that it doesn’t count. Well, it’s like, Well, sir, where do you think your diabetes came from? Right. You know, same thing with coffee. Just a lot of you know, a lot of different things. And I’m like, I’m not saying we all have to drink water all day, because that’s definitely not realistic. But why all the chemicals while the dye is why all the garbage? Why?

AV: Where did you attend college?

BK I went to undergrad in Alabama. So I went to Alabama A&M University. So I am an HBCU grad. I did my graduate studies in Atlanta. And I finished my graduate program in St. Louis, Missouri. So I split my program up between two different states at two different institutions in two different parts of the country. ;/

AV: There was a generation of women probably before you that were encouraged to marry a doctor, not become a doctor. Was that ever in your circle back in Detroit or your parents or someone who encouraged you to go that route instead of trying to go the route of becoming a doctor? 

BK: No. My parents, thank goodness I was a product of married parents. My parents  pushed education. My parents stressed excellence. They stressed for all of us, you know, my siblings included write your own ticket. Because if you write your own ticket, you don’t have to do just anything. That’s funny that you bring that up because I have two brothers and a sister. And you would have thought my father raised four boys. Because my father was like, well, we’re not going to do  the damsel in distress thing. We’re not doing that. So he made sure before I left his house, I knew how to cut grass, change a tire, I could change oil, like he was for equal opportunity in the skills arena, if you will.

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For a young company  like Atlanta-based Beautiful Curly Me any good publicity is vital to its continued growth. But when a seemingly routine TV interview turns into a surprised check presentation it then becomes a godsend. 

During an interview with the local TV show Atlanta & Company at the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE) (6/20), Evana and Zoe Oli,  mother and daughter business partners were caught totally off guard when former Atlanta Hawks guard Lou Williams showed up to present them a check from Verizon for $10,000. 

The mother/daughter duo looked as if they weren’t sure it was all real. The team at the Russell Center decided to surprise the two who are member stakeholders at the center. The check is from Verizon’s Small Business Digital Ready program and partner LISC. 

Zoe, the 11 year-old CEO said the grant is right on time. 

“I’m going to use every cent to expand my company, my social impact and expand the line of dolls this Christmas,” she said. 

Williams heard about the young CEO through his mother who was impressed after a brief meeting with her. The three-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year awardee said it’s important to support our youth and their dreams. 

“She’s a young entrepreneur, doing a lot of positive things. I think it’s important especially with young people to have a vision, to have goals that they want to accomplish in the future,” Williams said. “Any time that people like myself in the community can give a young person a hand I think that’s important.”

Zoe’s path into entrepreneurship began four years ago when she was seven years old. When she was six her mother bought her a black doll, “I loved that doll but it didn’t have curly hair like mine,” she said. 

After several failed shopping attempts to find a black doll with the desired hairdo, she decided to  make her own but not just for herself but for other girls who wanted the same thing. 

“We are all about instilling confidence in young black girls through beautiful black dolls like Bella, (the first doll),” she said.

According to Verizon communications officer Burnadette Brijlall, the telecom giant started their Digital Ready program two years ago because they recognized that many small businesses were having a difficult time competing in today’s digital economy. 

“We saw that small businesses had a need for influence marketing, tax support, how to get a website, etc., “ Brijall said. “All of these resources are so important to small businesses who need help getting into the digital economy. How do you take your business from being just brick and mortar to having an online presence.” 

The project is serving “tens of thousands” of small businesses, Brijall said.” With women and minority owned businesses we felt it was important to help these businesses thrive in the digital economy.”

“ It’s not just about the grants that the program offers, but learning how to make your business better. There is coaching, mentorships, meet-ups, guidance on the platform and we will be  holding sessions across the country this year,” she added. 

(This article is provided through a grant from RICE.)

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Fiserv, Inc., (NYSE: FI)  the international financial tech service company not only loves but believes in Atlanta. Based in a Milwaukee suburb, the company is putting its money where its mouth is. 

In addition to the funds already invested into businesses in the metro Atlanta area, Fiserv is bringing its Back2Business program back to Atlanta and expanding its commitment to supporting black and minority-owned businesses. 

The Back2Business program is a $50 million fund to support minority-owned small businesses through grants, coaching and access to technology and networking opportunities. An additional $1 million in grants will be awarded to qualifying businesses in metro counties: Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Clayton, Cherokee, Douglas, Gwinnett, Henry and Fayette. The businesses will be able to apply for grants up to $10,000.

“Small businesses are the backbone of our communities, and providing resources through programs like Back2Business helps ensure their success in today’s economy, “ said Neil Wilcox, Fiserv’s Director of Corporate Social Responsibility. “Increasing our investment in Atlanta will strengthen our local community, contributing to an ecosystem in which small business owners can thrive.” 

Grants will be administered in partnership with the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO), a leading national voice for underserved entrepreneurs. Small businesses can find out more about the grant and apply at aeoworks.org/Fiserv. Applications will be accepted until all grant money is awarded.

AEO is one of the leading voices of innovation for microfinance and microbusiness. It states their mission is to create economic opportunity for underserved entrepreneurs throughout the United States.

Joining Fiserv at the event were organizations that support the growth of small businesses in metro Atlanta, small business owners and three Atlanta entrepreneurs who have received assistance from the financial giant and the Russell Center.

Testifying that Fiserv does practice what it preaches were Tiffany Moore of Chef Tiffany Moore Gourmet Foods, Kris Hale Dope Pieces Puzzle Company and Kerri-Ann Thomas of Brooklyn Tea. 

Hale told the packed room  that the grant and the support was pivotal in the success of her business. “I used the grant to solidify the business portion of  my plan, getting my trademarks and copyrights complete,” she said. 

Thomas shared how the grant received by Brooklyn Tea helped keep the business going, paving the path for expansion, while Moore noted the ability to grow her brand.

“The Back2Business grant that Brooklyn Tea founders Jamila and Ali Wright received in 2020 helped to keep their doors open during the height of the pandemic,” Thomas said. “Because of the support they received through such financial turmoil, they were able to keep their company afloat, paving the way for partners such as myself to join the Brooklyn Tea movement and open a store in Atlanta.”

“The Back2Business grant helped me start thinking globally about my brand,” said Moore, a native of Atlanta. “Having the support of a company like Fiserv was the additional push I needed to execute plans I thought I would have to wait on longer.”“

Hale also spoke about how the support of Fiserv and RICE have helped her business grow.

“The Fiserv Back2Business program has been paramount to the growth of my business,” said Hale. “The continued support and opportunities to work with organizations like RICE keeps us going and shows a deep level of buy-in and dedication to truly helping small businesses scale and grow.”

All three of the entrepreneurs strongly encouraged the use of the Fiserv Clover system. 

According to Fiserv, Back2Business has contributed more than $1.5 million into Atlanta’s small business ecosystem, including 139 grants to small business owners.

After giving a brief history of the namesake of the center – the late builder Herman J. Russell, Bailey told the audience, many of whom were visiting the center for the first time, that RICE is a special place for entrepreneurs and they won’t find another place like it anywhere in Georgia. 

“At RICE, we are boldly disrupting barriers to economic wealth that many Black businesses face in today’s society,” said Jay Bailey, President and CEO of RICE. “We are taking expedient action with community-minded organizations, like Fiserv, to do more to lift equality for those who need it most.”

As a global leader in payments and financial technology, Fiserv helps clients achieve best-in-class results through a commitment to innovation in areas including account processing and digital banking solutions; card issuer processing and network services; payments; e-commerce; merchant acquiring and processing; and the Clover® cloud-based point-of-sale and business management platform.

For more information visit:

Fiserv – www.fiserv.com

Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs –  www.russellcenter.org

Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) – aeoworks.org.

(This is sponsored content  provided through a grant from The Russell Center written by The Atlanta Voice.)

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Grameen America may not be a household name in Georgia, but it soon will be with the recent opening of its Atlanta office.

Grameen America is the fastest growing nonprofit microfinance organization in the United States. Atlanta is the 25th U.S. city where the fund has set up operations. The office is being funded through partnerships with The Studio@Blue Meridian, Truist Foundation, Investor and philanthropist Robert F. Smith and Regions Bank which donated $1million. 

Widely known as the richest African American, billionaire investor Smith gave the welcoming remarks at the ribbon-cutting ceremony which was held at the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs in southwest Atlanta. The fund is still searching for office space. 

“This program is so important. While 11.6% of the US. Population lives in poverty, that rate jumps to 18.8% for black women,” Smith said. “ And we all know that owning a business is one of the most efficient ways to produce generational wealth and escape the cyclical nature of poverty.”

Although black women in America continue to outpace black males when it comes to starting businesses, Smith adds: “But only one and a half percent of black women own a business. This is due partly to the barriers they must overcome to launch their ventures, including the fact that they are 20% less likely to be able to fund their business with bank loans, and typically, they receive less than 1% of annual venture capital invested.”

Smith is no stranger to Atlanta. When he started his remarks he joked it was “good to be back in the city of my graduation.”  In 2019, Smith was the commencement speaker at Morehouse College and paid off the tuition debt of the 135th graduating class. 

The founder, chairman and CEO of VISTA Equity Partners Smith has established a Student Freedom Initiative to enable thousands of young people to graduate from historically black colleges and universities free from the “shackles of debt.”

“Some of you may know black women owe 22% more on average than white women in student loan debt,” Smith said. 

Atlanta is known for its strong women entrepreneur base, so it was a natural that the organization would eventually set up shop here. The fund started making inroads into the metro area in June 2022. 

In a release, Grameen America stated it has “disbursed over $420,000 in affordable capital through 210 microloans to 169 financially underserved women of color living in the  metro Atlanta area and surrounding communities. Thanks to this partnership, Grameen America will be able to expand its reach into the local community to support a greater number of under-resourced entrepreneurial women.

The new branch will also receive technical and other forms of assistance from local community partners, including The City of Atlanta’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative, Startup Atlanta, Cathedral of Faith, and On the Rise Financial Center.”

“Atlanta has long been a leading hub for entrepreneurship and growth, and a city with a clear need for access to affordable capital and financial services among women and especially Black women,” said Andrea Jung, President and CEO of Grameen America. “We’re proud to bring a variety of funding and technical assistance partners together to help connect women of color with financial services while positively impacting and sustaining their local communities.’

Several of the funded Black and Hispanic women business owners attended the ceremony. 

Grameen America provides low-income women business owners with loan capital, financial education, asset- and credit-building, and peer support. Since 2008, Grameen America has reached more than 170,000 women living in underserved communities across the United States and recently achieved a record milestone of investing over $3 billion in capital to emerging entrepreneurs. The organization’s repayment rate is over 99% and its members have achieved an average credit score of 653 through participation in the program.

Jung pointed out in her remarks that the Atlanta area is a leading metro in the Southeast with significant growth over time. However, data shows that growth has not always been inclusive or equitable in reaching all members of the region. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18.5% of people in Atlanta live in poverty, compared to just 12.8% of all Americans. The city, which is nearly 50% Black, also has the highest rate of income inequality of all large cities in the country. While Atlanta has one of the highest percentages of Black-owned businesses in the U.S., many entrepreneurs rely on personal wealth to start or build their businesses and have limited access to affordable capital.

(For more information on Grameen America and how to apply for a loan go to: www.grameenamerica.org)

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The questions and suggestions were coming fast and furious from the audience of eager and enthusiastic  entrepreneurs at a recent CEO Breakfast at the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (R.I.C.E.). 

The mixed group of female and male business owners from metro Atlanta were offering suggestions to Russell Center President/CEO Jay Bailey who was fielding the questions and comments like an all-star catcher for a professional baseball team.

“How about a rooftop garden?”

“The center needs a cafe.” 

“How about profiles of the stakeholders on the display monitors?”

“How about certification classes?”

“What about a workout area?”

Casually dressed in an Atlanta Braves cap, a Russell Center sweatshirt and jeans, Bailey had asked the group of entrepreneurs known as stakeholders for ideas and suggestions to take the Russell Center to the next level.

 “I want you all to understand that I want us to build something that can’t be found anywhere else in America,” he said. When brothers come down from New York or anywhere they are going to say, ‘We don’t have anything like this.’”

The Russell Center is located in the old headquarters of the Herman J. Russell Company at the corner of Fair Street and Northside Drive. The Center comprises over 52,000 square feet and Bailey said it is already bursting at the seams. Plans are underway to expand the center, parking and to convert two rooftops into usable space. 

The Center is a dream of the late builder who was instrumental in building modern Atlanta. 

“Entrepreneurship helped my dreams come true. I want the same for other young people looking to make good lives for themselves, Russell stated. “I’m a lifetime believer that for America to continue being great and provide enough jobs for its people, the only path is fostering a national entrepreneurial spirit.” 

As the question-and-answer period drew on, the suggestions became bigger and bolder to which Bailey responded that some of their ideas were already in the works and some of the others will take a bit more time. “Let me remind you that just like you, we are a start-up. We’ve only been at this for 26 months,” he said. “Just be patience with us.” 

“But I hear you and  know it can’t be programming for programming’s sake. If your companies are not moving, if they are not growing, if they are not making the connections that they need to make, then we need to scrap everything and start over,” Bailey continued. “If we build it and it’s not working then what’s the point?”

When it came to the suggestions of bringing in more established CEOs or high level corporate executives, Bailey stressed over and over that those ideas can be implemented within the “tribes” and that not everything has to flow from top down.  

The “tribes” consist of companies who are operating in the same industry. According to Bailey there are currently nine tribes  at the Russell Center which include retail, construction, media, product sales, and business services.

“We realize we have 359 entrepreneurs we are supporting, so how do you make a large number feel smaller?” Bailey said in an explanation of the tribe concept. “For example, all of us within the media industry, we have very unique and specific things related to our industry that may not relate to the general information we may have in course work, or with our Catalysis programming. We had to create a forum for all of our stakeholders within a particular industry to share ideas, best practices, etc.”

A tribe would consist of veterans in that industry and those who are just starting out. 

“So this is how we build community, it’s how we build this covenant among each other,” Bailey said. 

(For more information about the Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs go to:www.russellcenter.org)

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If high gas and food prices haven’t eaten up the last bit of your stimulus check, you may want to use those remaining funds to attend a few of the many concerts that will hit Atlanta this month.  

There are so many concerts on tap in metro Atlanta that you could be out every weekend evening this month. Most of the musical acts have been off the stage for two years, and they are anxious to perform live again. 

This is just a sample of what’s scheduled. (See more information online with The Atlanta Voice Arts & Entertainment Calendar.)

The Decatur Arts Festival in downtown Decatur is back with more artists, music, food and activities for the kids, Friday, May 6 – Sunday, May 8. North of Atlanta, the Dunwoody Arts Festival will run May 6-8 in Dunwoody. 

The following weekend in North Atlanta, the annual Chastain Park Spring Arts & Crafts Festival runs May 14 – 15 (4469 Stella Dr. NW).

Known for his solo R&B hits and his affiliation with the 70s group LTD, Jeffery Osborne presents his jazz side at Clark Atlanta University’s annual Jazz Under The Stars, held on campus, Saturday, May 7.  

The Mable House Amphitheater in Mableton (west of Atlanta) will show off its soulful side all summer long. It kicks off the first weekend in May (7) with Atlanta’s own Bobby V, Mario and Lloyd. The very next day it hosts the Peach Music Festival: An Evening of Jazz. R&B singer Tank performs on the 14th, followed by the silky smooth voice of Will Downing on the 21st.

It’s a good thing there is no roof over the Mable House stage, because the funk bands War (“Slippin’ to Darkness”) and the Ohio Players (“Heaven”) take the stage the next day on the 22nd. Cameo (“Single Life”) will close out the month at Mable House on the 29th. 

Maybe you are in the mood for a dance performance. The Atlanta Ballet presents “Strike Your Fancy ( 13-15th) at the Cobb Energy Center in Cobb County.

Marlon Wayans will bring his brand of comedy to the Center Stage in Atlanta on the 14th. The renowned violinist Itzak Pearl performs with the Grammy award winning Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on the 20th. But if that is a little too tame, you can wild out with Nick Cannon and his Wild ‘N Out crew that same night at the Lakewood Amphitheater. 

The long-running top rock group The Dave Matthews Band (who sells out everywhere they play) will grace Atlanta on the 21st at the Lakewood Amphitheater. 

The last weekend in May ends with a BANG! My favorite Latin group, Gipsy Kings, returns to the Chastain Park Amphitheater on the 28th. The Atlanta Caribbean Festival will take place in downtown Atlanta and Forest Park. Lalah Hathaway performs at Mable House (28th). Over at Lakewood, you will find Erykah Badu/Miguel/Wale/Ann Marie/DVSN/Dende/Lucky Dave/Lloyd/Meta and others (28th).

As much as I would like to avoid the crowds and the traffic that Memorial Day Weekend, you will find me at Piedmont Park for the free annual Atlanta Jazz Festival, sponsored by the City of Atlanta. The festival features a stellar line-up of Atlanta-based and national acts. Check out this line-up:  Saturday, May 28, 2022- 1 pm – Kebbi Williams and The Wolfpack  3 pm – T.C. Carson 5 pm – Tia Fuller’s Intersections 7 pm – Masego – 9 pm – Herbie Hancock

Sunday, May 29, 2022 – 1pm – Joe Alterman 3 pm – 4X Grammy Nominated The Baylor Project -5 pm – Warren Wolf & The Pack  7 pm – Kenny Barron 9pm – Eddie Palmieri Afro Caribbean Jazz Septet

Monday, May 30, 2022 – 1pm – Julie Dexter 3pm – Naia Izumi 5 pm – Makaya McCraven 7pm – Kathleen Bertrand 9 pm – George Benson

You will have one week to rest up because June is also chock full of sights, sounds, food and fun. 

Enjoy!

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During an election year, everything is fair game and every place is a potential battleground.

That is clearly evident when the Georgia General Assembly is in session.

As an incumbent  Republican governor Brian Kemp is facing an unprecedented challenge for his seat from his own party – and a popular Democrat challenger waiting in the wings. 

Kemp decided this week to choose Georgia’s classrooms for his latest battleground  with the introduction of Senate Bill 514.

Having previously said he supported the local school districts to decide mask mandates. However, if Kemp’s bill passes it would allow parents to decide if their child should wear a mask in the classroom through June 23, 2023. 

The bill states that school districts couldn’t require face coverings unless parents could opt their children without giving a reason. It also states that no student can be disciplined or get a worse grade if their parent says they don’t have to wear a mask. The measure was introduced by Republican Sen. Clint Dixon of Buford. 

“We’ve got to continue to move back to more normal operations,” Kemp said during a news conference. “We trust our parents every day on whether to send their kids to school or not, if they’re not feeling well, if they have a fever. We can certainly do that in terms of masks at this point in the pandemic.”

Naturally, the bill has parents and educators against it and for it. 

Atlanta Public School system parent Maria Diedrich can’t wait for the bill to pass. 

“My kids will be unmasked, day one,” Diedrich, who has three children in APS. 

“What have we done to our children to put them in this position of silencing them for two years, and a school board, and a superintendent thinks that’s acceptable and it’s not,” Diedrich said in an interview with CBS 46 Atlanta.

She said that districts are hiding behind data that doesn’t accurately portray the current COVID snapshot in schools.

Although he supports no classroom masks that didn’t stop his leading GOP opponent Perdue from attacking Kemp. 

“Brian Kemp only does the right thing when we spell it out first,” Perdue said Monday in a statement. “Why didn’t Kemp stand up for parents’ rights two years ago when this pandemic began?”

Masks in the classrooms became a hotter potato when a photo of an unmasked Stacey Abrams was taken with a Decatur elementary school class where the students were all masked.  

Abrams’ campaign initially said she wore a mask to the school and only removed it to be better heard by students watching remotely – and for pictures on the condition that everyone around her kept theirs on. In an interview Tuesday on CNN, Abrams said, “Protocols matter and protecting our kids is the most important thing, and anything that can be perceived as undermining that is a mistake and I apologize.”

Although he never referenced her by name, Kemp did make several references to Abrams. 

“I’ve been a local control governor working with our school systems to help get kids in the classrooms. I have great respect for that,” Kemp said. “But I also believe that when you have schools out there that have a mask mandate that then allow visitors to come in unmasked, what is the point?”

Seth Bringman, a spokesperson for Abrams, likened Kemp’s actions to when he tried to block cities from imposing mask mandates earlier in the pandemic, an attempt that became embroiled in legal questions about whether Kemp had the power to do so.

“Brian Kemp picked fights with mayors across Georgia who were trying to help keep their people safe, and now it appears he wants to pick fights with schools,” Bringman said in a statement.

Two metro Atlanta teachers (first names only) told The Atlanta Voice they are not happy about the bill or with Kemp. 

“The governor is clueless. We have had students exposed or infected with COVID several times this year,” said Bonnie, an elementary school teacher in the Rockdale County public school system.”I have a student quarantined for the third time this school year alone. 

“I feel the mandatory masks have been the only thing that has protected me from COVID. Now he wants to lower the guidelines and risk our lives and health? I cannot wait for Election Day to replace him with someone who relies on science to make decisions that will jeopardize everyone involved,” she added. 

“I think it’s bull! I understand people may not want to wear a mask, I personally don’t myself, but how are you going to protect people?,” asked Jameria, a teacher in the DeKalb County Public School system.”What will be the protocol for when a child is sick? What is the protocol for when a teacher gets sick? Will we have built in COVID days? How can you make teachers go into a work environment without protection? 

A survey by the state Department of Public Health earlier this month showed at least 44 of Georgia’s 180 school districts then required masks in at least one school, as well as at least 16 independent charter schools. The Atlanta Public School System, DeKalb and Rockdale are included in those districts that require mask mandates. 

Kemp had earlier discouraged masks but said he would ultimately leave the decision up to local school districts. That’s in keeping with a generally decentralized public education culture in the state.

Georgia last week recorded about 5,800 COVID-19 cases in children ages 5 to 17. That’s down sharply from more than 13,000 the week before, but still far above the roughly 1,000 cases in school-age children that Georgia was recording in early November.

(Additional reporting by Jeff Amy, Associated Press)

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Noted award-winning, and sometimes controversial, filmmaker Spike Lee said he is in disbelief. He leans back on the couch in a side room of one of Atlanta’s oldest hotels, The Clairmont, and rubs his brow just so lightly about his signature glass frames.

This weekend also marked Lee’s 40th homecoming week, which he immortalized in his second major length film “School Daze.” It is also the last film he shot in Atlanta.

“I didn’t even know this until I got here, but this May will be my 40th class reunion. Forty muthafreakin’ years, I mean s—!” Lee said with doubt in his voice.  ‘The statement of “Time waits for no one is true.”

In October alone, Lee had been back in Atlanta several times to receive awards for his body of work in film—one named in his honor at Morehouse’s inaugural social justice film festival. 

Lee was also honored alongside other noted African American filmmakers like Oprah Winfrey, Halle Berry, Denzel Washington John Singleton with a soundstage with their names on it at the lavish, star-studded opening of Tyler Perry Studios.

“You graduate, get married, have kids, you work,” Lee said. “My daughter Satchel is 24 and my son Jackson is 22. They were just little babies! They are adults now! Not everyone who graduated 40 years ago is still here. It (time) goes quick!”

Editor’s Note: Our reporter Stan Washington has known Lee since they were student members at now-Clark Atlanta’s WCLK-FM—Lee was enrolled at Morehouse, Washington attended Clark—sat down during last week’s Morehouse Homecoming festivities for more than just an interview but to catch up on people we both knew from some 40 plus years ago.

When you look back on your years at Morehouse what are some of the things that bring a smile to your face?                                                                                                                                                        Lee: When I directed the coronation my senior year, the first one in the Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel. Intramural softball when we finally beat the football team. I can simply say “School Daze.” “School Daze” (his second film) is simply four years of homecoming weekends that’s stuff all happened. It’s all there.”

In the next 20 years, do you think you will come back to Atlanta and shoot something? It’s been a long time since “School Daze.”

Lee: I’m definitely going to be shooting on the Spike Lee Soundstage at Tyler Perry Studios. You can put money on that! And I would like to say to Tyler, thank you very much for blessing me. Many of us were assembled to see what you have done. It’s never been done before. I was speaking to Denzel (Washington) last week and we agreed that we have never seen anything like that before. We both felt that we were blessed to witness this. I’ve got nothing but love for my brother Tyler. It was one of the greatest moments of my life.

Some of the people you worked with in the past also got honored with their names on a soundstage like Ozzie Davis and Ruby Dee.

Lee: Denzel, Halle Berry. Discovered Halle.

The amount of talent that was there that night…

Lee: I don’t think that there has ever been an assemblage (sp) of black artistic power in one space ever!

Has it gotten easier or harder to make movies at this stage of your career?

Lee: Still hard! Unless you are a Spielberg or a Lucas, cats like that – it’s still a struggle.

But why is it a struggle for Spike Lee after all these years?

Lee: Well, people look at the box office and I’ve never had a film that made over $20 million. So, I’m not complaining. I’ve never felt that anything should be gifted to me. I’ve never run away from hard work. So, I just keep swinging.

Have you accomplished most of what you have wanted to do in film, so far?

Lee: No, I have many more stories to tell. I’m 62 years old, (Japanese film director) Akira Kurosawa made films into his 80s, so I’ll be behind the camera for another 20 years – at least.

The state of the industry when it comes to the distribution of product has changed tremendously. How do you feel about that?

Lee: Streaming has changed everything. It has given people opportunities to do movies and series that otherwise may not have been possible. The biggest example is the new epic film “The Last Irishman” by Martin Scorsese. Every studio had turned him down because of the budget ($200 million) but Netflix gave him the money.

Have you thought about releasing a film just for streaming?

Lee: Well, my new film, which is in post-production, is called “The Five Bloods.” It is about seeing the Vietnam War through the eyes of black Vietnam vets. That is a Netflix film. We will have a limited theatrical release before it streams on Netflix. It will come out in 2020 and star Chadwick Boseman, star of “The Black Panther.”

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