MBEI ORGANIZATIONAL FOCUS FOR 2005 / 2006

MBEI Metro West Urban Music Fest
As a component of MBEI Events, this proposed three-day event is designed to be a major annual urban tourism event that would occur every summer in downtown Grand Rapids and be promoted as a contributor to the goals of Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm’s Cool Cities Initiative.

The Fest (patterned after the best elements of the Milwaukee Music Festival and the Detroit Electronic Music Festival), is to occur every summer on a weekend that falls between July 15 and August 15 and will be known generically as “THE FEST” and will provide a three-day, sponsor-supported lineup of world-class musical artists on five distinct stages spread throughout downtown Grand Rapids (as well as the main exhibition hall of DeVos Place for additional indoor performance space).  The five stages will correspond to the five main genres of popular urban music and will feature:

1. CARIBBEAN MUSIC (REGGAE/DANCE HALL/MELENGE/SALSA/RHUMBA
2. JAZZ
3. HIP HOP
4. HOUSE MUSIC/ELECTRONICA
5. R & B

In addition to the five-stage, three-day lineup, The Fest will also feature admission-controlled “official” events on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings of The Fest Weekend (including celebrity-hosted cabarets, danceparties with the DJ’s from WGCI-Chicago, WJLB-Detroit and other renowned DJ’s, fashion show cocktail parties at the Grand Plaza Hotel, etc.).

MBEI Cross Culture Modeling Company
As a component of MBEI Businesses/Products, the primary purpose of MBEI Cross Culture Modeling (MBECCMod) is to create income opportunities for our Model Associates as well as generating operating revenue for MBECCMod and MBEI.  The secondary purpose is to contribute toward MBEI’s greater goal of engaging a future that is replete with unity, camaraderie and prosperity for all people through utilizing the universal languages of fitness and multi-cultural allure.   MBECCMod will become another tool to aid in MBEI’s struggle to make an asset out of unity and a forum for the nurturing of cross-cultural understanding.   MBECCMod will constitute one of many spin-off components of the Health / Fitness / Sports Division of MBEI.

Key features of MBECCMod that will serve to set it apart include:

1. NO Participation Costs for Registered MBECCMod Associates.
2. Compensation for Registered MBECCMod Associates will result in 75% going to the Associate and 25% going to MBEI, (this we believe is our way of creating a win-win situation for all involved within MBECCMod).
3. MBECCMod will not preclude any MBECCMod Associate from signing with any other agency.

In addition, MBECCMod is designed to also be beneficial to the outside agencies that sub-contract it.  This value refers to the tax-deductible opportunity that results from outside agencies being able to write off up to 80% of their compensation for MBECCMod services as a contribution to a component of a non-profit organization.  This creates an additional incentive for the outside agencies to utilize MBECCMod (in addition to the access to multi-cultural models in one location).

The Associates themselves, in addition to being the images that promote the products and marketing of the outside hiring entities will also function as multi-cultural ambassadors of goodwill for MBEI as they also become the images that promote MBEI’s events, products and services, especially when being featured with sister businesses such as MBEI Calendar Company.

MBEI Golf Classic / MBEI Ron Scott Junior Golf Program
As a component of MBEI Events, MBEI has formulated a three-day weekend of events in MBEI’s headquarters metro area - entitled MBEI Golf Classic (The Classic) - that would revolve around a high-profile celebrity / pro am golf tournament.  The Classic itself will take place at one of Metro Grand Rapids’ top-drawer links facilities while the remaining satellite events of the weekend will take place in downtown Grand Rapids at VanAndel Arena and the new one-million square-foot DeVos Place Convention Center.

The MBEI Ron Scott Junior Golf (RSJG) program is a component of the MBEI Golf Classic (the Classic) subsidiary of the 501(c) Michigan Black Expo, Inc. (MBEI) society enhancement organization.  This program is designed to be the year-round youth outreach component of the Classic subsidiary .

Founded by Holland MI resident, Mr. Ron Scott, and recently integrated into the structure of MBEI Golf Classic, the RSJG program teaches urban, at-risk youth the techniques, rules, proper etiquette and the history of golf as well as exposing the youth participants to various opportunities relating to the industry and positive life-lessons that they will be exposed to by interaction with the positive adult golfers they will have the opportunity to interact with.  RSJG is also designed to assist the participants in building social skills, self-esteem and confidence through its youth golf clinics and ongoing programming that will culminate annually in the Ron Scott Junior Golf Tournament during The Classic weekend.

MBEI Youth Music Institute (YMI)
As a component of MBEI Services, the Youth Enhancement Division will implement and manage several programs for the enrichment and empowerment of Michigan’s at-risk urban public school youth (Grades K-12) that are designed to function in tandem with Grand Rapids Public Schools.  The first of eight to twelve such programs will include Youth Music Institute, a charter program for focused introduction and training in the History, Vocal, Instrumental, Writing, Studio/Production, Distribution/Marketing and Legal aspects of the music industry (with an emphasis on Urban Music - i.e. Jazz, R & B, Hip Hop, House Music, Melengé, Reggae and Salsa).  This component will serve as a springboard for the creation of an associated urban recording label operated by YMI students with the assistance of YMI staff.

MBEOnline / www.mbei.org
As a component of MBEI Businesses/Products, the primary mission of MBEOnline / www.mbei.org is to be the primary vehicle for the entire MBEI organization to:

1. Disseminate MBEI-related information to its constituents and employees.
2. Function as the expediting vehicle for e-commerce for MBEI-branded events, products and services and for non-MBEI-branded events, products and services wishing to reach MBEI’s Africentric audience.

The secondary mission of MBEOnline is to contribute toward MBEI’s greater goal of engaging a future that is replete with unity, camaraderie and prosperity for all people through utilizing the internet medium and MBEOnline to create an informational source and tool to aid in MBEI’s struggle to make an asset out of unity and a forum for the nurturing of cross-cultural understanding.

WMBE - FM /  XM /  Satellite Urban Radio Station
As a component of MBEI Businesses/Products, WMBE - FM/XM/Satellite Urban Radio will function to address one of Metro Grand Rapids’ longest standing cultural deficiencies in retaining and attracting talented Africentric and “creative-class” people - the fact that the GR region continues to be the largest urban area in America without a 24-hour R & B / Jazz radio station minimally on the FM band.  WMBE will be patterned after the highly successful programming of the likewise non-profit-controlled urban radio station WHUR - FM (controlled and operated by Howard University in Washington D.C. / the #1 R & B radio station in the Nation’s Capital).  WMBE will also function as an internship vehicle and learning environment for students of the Youth Enhancement Division’s future Youth Telecommunications Institute (YTI).  Besides providing the most world-class source for news and R & B and Jazz music as possible, WMBE - Urban Radio, with a sufficient radius to include Lansing, Kalamazoo and the Lakeshore, will also become the mechanism for tying together this greater trade area’s Africentric listeners into what is happening in Metro Grand Rapids and making it possible for it to function as West Michigan’s hub for entertainment and music that appeals to Africentric listeners of all cultures.