Expanding Their Networks

How can Boston’s young professionals and small businesses, particularly young adults of color, leverage more equitable access to local, community, and government leaders? Suffolk University hosted the 2024 Fierce Urgency of Now (FUN) Festival at Sargent Hall on September 17 to answer that question.

The festival, which was organized by City Awake, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s young professional network, gave young professionals the chance to connect with some of those leaders and have meaningful conversations during a daylong series of panels.

This year’s festival opened with a discussion on the importance of encouraging young professionals to live and work in Boston and the steps needed to get there. The panel featured Lauren Jones, Massachusetts secretary of labor and workforce development, and Nikko Mendoza, undersecretary and chief of staff for the executive office of housing and livable communities, with James Rooney, the chamber’s president and CEO, serving as moderator

“We in Massachusetts—and certainly Governor Healey and the team here—want to make sure that talent stays here and is connected to our workforce,” Jones said. “We want to make sure that employers in high-growth industries like healthcare and human services, advanced manufacturing or life sciences are able to access the talent that is needed.”

Mendozza discussed the recently passed Affordable Homes Act, which will allocate $5 billion over the next five years to help address Massachusetts’ affordable housing shortage. “We are considering all options, from young professionals like you who are renting or who are thinking about buying your first home or condo, to a young family that wants to expand and buy a larger home, to older folks who want to age in place in their communities,” she said. “The Affordable Homes Act is an opportunity to supercharge housing production of all kinds.”

Other sessions explored topics like financial empowerment, rising above redlining, paving paths for women of color, and joining a public board or commission.

Sandy Lish, co-founder of The Castle Group; Imari Paris Jeffries, CEO of Embrace Boston; and Robert Lewis, Jr., CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Boston examined the concept of allyship and its importance in professional and personal development. Allyship, they underscored, is not transactional, but involves long-term, genuine relationships.

“The allyship I want is to be around people who inspire me,” Lewis said. “I want to be around people who are bold, people who aren’t afraid to be disruptors. That’s the great power of allyship: You can be mentored in so many ways by so many folks.”

Planting a SEED

The festival wrapped up with a panel discussion on SEED, the Suffolk Entrepreneurship and Educational Development Collaborative. Now in development stages, SEED will provide consulting services to Boston small business start-ups, particularly those owned by women and entrepreneurs of color, drawing on the expertise of Suffolk faculty, administrators, and alumni.

SEED is “a first-of-its-kind, interconnected, multidisciplinary educational consulting clinic,” said Chaim Letwin, professor of management and entrepreneurship at Suffolk, who is a driving force behind the program.

The panelists included Nicholas Vadala, director of the Suffolk University Consulting Clinic; Mark Nestor, chief information officer at Suffolk; Thomas Sullivan, JD ’94, accounting and business instructor at Suffolk; Dat Le, BSBA ’12, MSA ’13, co-founder and managing partner at Motta Financial; Kim Ring, founder of Ring Communication and marketing instructor at Suffolk; Christopher McKenna, JD ’97, office managing partner in Boston at Foley & Lardner LLP; and Rashida Constantine, chief human resources officer at Suffolk. They offered insights on key areas such as accounting challenges for small businesses, marketing strategies, human resources compliance, intellectual property challenges and legal issues in early-stage companies.