For the St. Louis American
Tom Bailey, President and Founder of the Missouri Black EXPO, brought his inspirational and empowering event to Kansas City the weekend of December 3 and 4.
The event kicked into high gear on Friday with an early morning press conference where local news stations showed their support of St. Louis and listened intently to Bailey’s overview of the core features of MBE. In his speech, Bailey noted past problems with similar expo events in the Kansas City area and vowed to restore the principal of ethical business practices to the city. He also acknowledged the needs of the Kansas City youth and subsequently made empowering KC youth his primary mission.
“When I was first presented with the invitation to bring our EXPO to Kansas City, I felt honored. I felt a tremendous obligation to bring to the Kansas City community keys to success, guides for instilling pride, hope and vision in their young people and a strategy for neighborhood empowerment,” Bailey said.
“We at the Missouri Black EXPO were keenly aware of the battles with youth violence that Kansas City communities are fighting everyday. Therefore, we specifically designed our Black America Today panel around the topic. We brought in prominent and influential ministers and community members to discuss strategies, techniques and methods by which to get their youth activities involved in positive, educational activities.”
Mabel Simms, a 65-year-old great grandmother of fifteen, said she was pleased with the topic and set up of the forum and that she learned vital information to share with her family.
“This year alone, I believe Kansas City has had more homicides than any other city and it’s scary. I was scared to even get in my car this morning to drive over here, but I knew that we had to come together to work on this problem, because it does affect us all,” Simms said.
“I’m so glad I did because after listening to those educated ministers and panelists, I came out of there with some very powerful information that I’m going to share with my grandbabies. I have five in high school right now and I pray for them everyday, but now I feel like I can really help them with some sound advice for everyday living.”
MBE was founded with the purpose of exposing attendees to outstanding resources in the areas of youth development, health awareness and community development. The cultural job fair on Friday proved fruitful for those that turned out. Local, regional and national companies, organizations and schools were present for the opportunity to meet qualified minority applicants to increase diversity in the workplace.
Bailey said that he wished that the turn out had been greater because it would have been a validation that his goals of business development in Kansas City were indeed realized.
“The Missouri Black Expo has a lot of work to do here in Kansas City and we clearly see that. We know that because of the uneasy history of Expos in Kansas City, people may have been skeptical, but we are confident that through continued outreach efforts to the Kansas City community, we will touch them, one by one, and restore a positive light onto the Expo,” Bailey said.
Sponsors such as the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the Missouri Lottery, SWOPE Health Center, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Carter Broadcast Group and Saturn all had useful information to help MBE patrons lead successful lives.
MBE also featured St. Louis celebrities as well. At the conclusion of MBE on Sunday, local radio station Hot 103.3 Jamz proudly announced Potzee and DeAndre Perryman who both made the drive to Kansas City to show support St. Louis style. Other musical guests included Atlanta’s latest crunk connoisseurs D4L who performed their latest hit ‘Laffy Taffy’.
The weekend long MBE event was held in Bartle Hall, the famous Kansas City Convention Center. In comparison to other convention centers, Bartle Hall is extravagantly large, boasting more space than its competitors both here in St. Louis and neighboring Kansas City. Bailey said the Kansas City event was a success and he hoped to continue to inspire and educate the community through annual MBE events.