Business Owners:

1. Do you need help making your idea a business?

2. Is your business established but you need to understand how your business can get access to capital for new equipment or products?

3. Do you understand how intellectual property impacts your business?

4. Are you ready to take your business to the next level?

This program is for you! Sign up coming soon.

July is a great month with one How Excellent We Are GR Instagram Live Series Interview this Thursday and yet another interview on July 25 at noon with Stephen Smith! Stephen Smith is the Owner of Muse GR, a local photographer, curator, and educator at Grand Rapids Public Schools, Grand Valley State University, and GRCC.

Join us July 11 for another great How Excellent We Are GR Instagram Live interview. This episode will be featuring the great executive director of Baxter Community Center, Sonja Forte.

Join us at NIA Centre for an exciting Black History Trivia Night on June 20th. The top three winners will receive a special prize! Secure your free tickets online today on Eventbrite by searching "NIA Centre." Don't wait—spaces are limited and expected to fill quickly.

NIA Centre is partnering with the City of Grand Rapids to participate in Community Master Plan Round 4! This will be an open house-style event with posters listing recommendations and collecting feedback on what is being proposed. Please join us in providing feedback on the draft recommendations of the plan, related to Great Neighborhoods, Balanced Mobility, Desirable Development Character, Strong Economy, and Vital Business Districts.

This immersive audio-exhibition aims to highlight the Black experience through a social justice lens, featuring music from local artists, and visual projections that reflect diverse cultural narratives and historical artifacts provided by GRAMMA.

Jamon Alexander is the president and CEO of the West Michigan Center for Arts & Technology. This interview will be full of information on how Jamon got into his position as the CEO/president and how his experience has been navigating this position as a Black man.

This Trivia Night is a super fun way to end Black History Month. The event will include competition, laughter, and celebration. In addition to that, the top three trivia winners will receive a special gift!

Join NIA Centre along with many other great organizations for a special Black History Month screening of the documentary Black Man with director Jon Wesley Covington! Donations are accepted at the door to help benefit Grand Rapids Youth Services Programs. This will be a film you won’t want to miss!

This program aims to provide emerging and existing African American business owners with entrepreneur education courses, micro-enterprise loan courses, intellectual property, and contracts courses that will benefit their business in the short term and the sustainable scalable future.

The city of Grand Rapids is creating a new Community Master Plan (CMP) that will define the vision of how our city will grow and develop over the next 20 years. A CMP can address topical concepts related to land use such as equity, housing, environmental justice, and economic development. The last plan is from 2002 and it’s time for a new one.

This great How Excellent We Are Grand Rapids Instagram Live interview is something you will not want to miss. Dr. Keli Christopher is the founder and chief executive officer of the fantastic STEM Greenhouse. To tune in to this great interview follow us on Instagram @niacentregr, we will be going live January 18 at noon!

NIA Centre’s How Excellent We Are GR Instagram Live series guest will be another great entrepreneur, who is making her mark in the restaurant industry here in Grand Rapids. Kalene McElveen is the owner of Tastefull Vegan Frozen Dessert LLC. We will be live on our Instagram page @NIACentregr from 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM EST on December 7!

A book signing event hosted by NIA Centre presenting the powerful newly released book entitled The Big House by Ovell Barbee.

This November, NIA Centre is featuring a special guest entrepreneur on the How Excellent We Are GR Instagram Live series. Kayla Morgan is the founder of Resilient Roots Wellness where she is a self-proclaimed self-love activist. She is on a mission to create safe spaces for all to change the narrative of their lives by practicing “I am” affirmations and developing their authentic yoga practice. This will be a great episode about health, wellness, and life as an entrepreneur that you won’t want to miss!

The second How Excellent We Are GR live stream guest will be artist Laura T. Wilson. She is an amazing contemporary artist that specializes in oil and acrylic painting with a large focus on positive African American images. The Instagram live will take place on September 28 at 12:00 PM EST on the NIA Centre Instagram page @NIACentregr.

Don’t miss out on our upcoming Instagram live series. September’s excellent guest is Deandre Jones founder and CEO of Jump Ahead L3C. We will be live on our Instagram page @NIACentregr at 12:00 PM EST on September 14.

On Saturday, August 19, 2023, we are hosting the NIA Centre Summer Jazz Concert & Fundraiser. This is NIA Centre’s first major fund development event to support our organization’s work in serving the underserved, communities of color, and the broader Grand Rapids community. We are committed to ensuring that the cost of the event is accessible to as many community members as possible, particularly the African American community.

Tickets are now available! Please click the link below to order your tickets NOW. 

Are you working hard to establish your brand? Are you an artist who composes music? Are you a sculptor, are you a painter? Is your intellectual property protected? Do you know how intellectual property impacts the business of art? Let's have a discussion on June 27th from 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM at NIA Centre, 300 Commerce Ave SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49503. Space is limited so make sure that you RSVP as soon as possible. This is a free event!

Join us live June 8th at 12:00 PM on our Instagram channel @NIACentregr. We will be interviewing Jessa Challa:

As a Conscious Technologist, Jessa combines her technological experience with a deep sense of awareness, ethics, and responsibility. She integrates her GIS and software development skills to create purposeful solutions. Jessa strives to create community resources that create positive impact in Grand Rapids and contribute to a more connected and conscious world. 

Please join us as we continue our new Instagram live series, “How Excellent We Are GR.” Our first interview will be with Entrepreneur Kareem Scales! The interview will start promptly at 12:00 PM EST, May 26, 2023, on our Instagram Channel @NIACentreGR.  We look forward to having you join us.