Mayor Ras J. Baraka and Rainbow PUSH Coalition President and Founder Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr., Municipal Council President Mildred Crump, and Rainbow Push Wall Street Project Executive Director Chee Chee Williams hosted the Rainbow PUSH Wall Street Project & City of Newark Economic Summit yesterday at the Paul Robeson Campus Center of Rutgers University-Newark.
The summit addressed how minority-owned businesses can succeed in the 21st century economy, with specialized sessions on the importance of technology, innovations in urban economic development, addressing disparities for minority-owned businesses, programs to help minority-owned businesses succeed, and innovative efforts to re-skill workers. In addition, there was a youth tech seminar for high school and college students, led by Isaiah Little.
The Mayor, Reverend Jackson, and Rutgers University-Chancellor Dr. Nancy Cantor delivered welcome greetings. Mayor Baraka also served as a member of a Panel of Mayors, moderated by Council President Crump. Other mayors on that panel were Hillsdale Mayor Angela R. Garretson, Plainfield Mayor Adrian O. Mapp, and Logan Township Mayor Frank Minor.
Other speakers included State Senator Ronald L. Rice and Power Patterns of Innovation CEO Sarah Miller Caldicott, who is also the great-grandniece of inventor Thomas Alva Edison.
