Flint Marks First MBBA Capital Connect Cohort in Statewide Expansion

Flint has been forced to endure a decade of crises that tested the survival of its families and its businesses. From the water crisis to waves of economic disinvestment, the city has been treated as an afterthought in conversations about Michigan’s future. Yet this month, Flint was chosen as the first city outside Detroit to host the Michigan Black Business Alliance’s Capital Connect program. The decision signals a statewide recognition that Black entrepreneurs in Flint—and cities like it—deserve the same tools, resources, and access to capital that have too often bypassed them.

The moment was marked with the graduation of Capital Connect Cohort 13, a group of eight Flint entrepreneurs who completed the 12-week accelerator. For three years, the program has helped Detroit business owners secure more than $6.5 million in funding. With Flint now added, MBBA is expected to push that number past $7 million. Beyond the figures, the decision to expand north up I-75 is a declaration: Black businesses in Flint are not invisible, and closing the racial wealth gap cannot happen without them.

Charity Dean, MBBA’s president and CEO, called the milestone proof of a model that can be replicated across the state. “With the success of our first Capital Connect cohort in Flint, we’re proving that our model works beyond Detroit,” she said. “This is part of our broader vision to ensure that Black business owners across Michigan, not just in major cities, can access the capital and coaching they need to grow and scale.”

Flint has more than 1,800 Black-owned businesses, yet far too many remain shut out of traditional capital markets. Studies show that Black business owners are denied loans at twice the rate of their white counterparts. When they do receive financing, it is often at higher interest rates and with less favorable terms. Nationally, Black founders have received less than two percent of venture capital in the past decade. For Flint entrepreneurs, the barrier has been compounded by years of systemic neglect. That is why a program like Capital Connect arriving in the city matters: it places Flint into Michigan’s broader economic recovery conversation not as a charity case but as a hub of talent and innovation worthy of investment.

Cohort 13’s graduating businesses reflect both Flint’s creativity and its resilience. They include culinary ventures like The Poke Bowl, Paw Paw’s Pickles, and Lord Laird’s Premium Lemonade; fashion and branding outfits like King’s Klutches and Prestige Promotions; community-focused services like Marsh Personal Protection Service and Drinks of Essence Bartending School; and cultural leaders like TC McClain Enterprises. Each business entered the program with ambition but often without access to the kind of technical assistance and lender connections that can make or break growth. They left with fundable loan packages, approved financial projections, and a seat at the table during Funder Night, where lenders ranging from Huntington Bank to First Independence Bank reviewed their plans.

For many of these entrepreneurs, this was the first time their ideas were formally vetted in financial rooms that have historically closed their doors to Black business owners. That access is one of Capital Connect’s most powerful offerings—not just the training, but the normalization that Black-owned businesses are viable, fundable, and essential to Michigan’s economy.

The choice of Flint was no accident. It was made possible through partnerships with organizations already embedded in the city’s fabric. 100K Ideas, an innovation hub based downtown, served as an anchor partner. Kesten Coulter, the space manager there, said the collaboration with MBBA multiplies the impact of what is already on the ground. “This partnership is important because it allows us to offer even more resources and opportunities to the community we support,” he said. “Every little thing we have going on has value, and with MBBA and other ecosystem partners, that value is multiplied.”

The African American Advisory Committee of Genesee County, co-chaired by business owner La’Asia Johnson, also played a critical role. Johnson, who runs Elle Jae Essentials, emphasized the importance of Flint’s inclusion. “To see the opportunities that MBBA has offered in Detroit now brought to Flint is an amazing expansion for Black and Brown businesses,” she said. “It shows them what’s possible, not only in our community, but across the state.” Johnson added that the significance of the expansion is heightened by the city’s history of struggle. “After everything Flint has endured—from the water crisis to economic challenges, our businesses deserve equitable access to the resources they qualify for.”

The larger significance of Flint’s cohort lies in what it says about the state’s commitment—or lack thereof—to economic equity. While Michigan leaders often tout growth and recovery, data paints a stark picture. Black households in Michigan hold a fraction of the wealth of white households. Black-owned businesses are less likely to survive beyond the five-year mark, in large part due to undercapitalization. Programs like Capital Connect cannot erase these structural disparities overnight, but they can chip away at them by directly linking entrepreneurs to capital providers and equipping them with tools to navigate financial systems that were not built with them in mind.

The fact that Flint entrepreneurs are now in this pipeline is significant for another reason: it challenges the narrative that statewide innovation and growth are confined to Detroit, Grand Rapids, or Ann Arbor. Flint has long been written off in policy conversations, treated as a cautionary tale instead of an investment priority. By expanding here, MBBA is helping to shift that framing—Flint is not just surviving, it is creating, innovating, and demanding a fair stake in Michigan’s economic future.

For the graduates of Cohort 13, the journey does not end with Funder Night. Each carries the weight of proving what can happen when access and equity align. Their success will not only shape their own livelihoods but also ripple into job creation, community investment, and cultural pride. For Flint’s young people watching, it is a reminder that entrepreneurship is not reserved for outsiders; it is alive in their own neighborhoods.

The work ahead is steep. Systemic inequities in lending, wealth accumulation, and infrastructure will not be erased by one cohort or one program. But Flint’s milestone is a proof point. It shows that intentional, community-driven solutions can open doors where barriers have stood for generations. It also places pressure on policymakers, banks, and civic leaders to scale these efforts, not stall them. If equity is the goal, Flint cannot be the exception—it must be the model.

As MBBA looks to expand Capital Connect into other Michigan cities, Flint’s experience offers both hope and a challenge. Hope, because it demonstrates that with the right partnerships, training, and capital connections, Black businesses can thrive even in places long written off. A challenge, because it raises the question of whether the state is ready to fully commit to dismantling the racial wealth gap or whether this will remain the work of community organizations alone.

For Flint, the graduation of Cohort 13 was more than a celebration. It was an affirmation that the city’s entrepreneurs belong at the center of Michigan’s economic strategy. It was a reminder that equity is not abstract—it is access to loans, to coaching, to networks, and to the belief that Black businesses deserve to grow. And it was a promise, carried forward by eight entrepreneurs, that Flint’s story is still being written—this time not as a tale of crisis, but of possibility.