We are community organizers born and raised in GR (or here 20+ years) with careers and rich networks in education, entertainment, and business. Rodney Brown and Victor & Kimberley Williams grew up in GR and met through family. Jazmyne Fuentes arrived in 1998 and started asking questions through her TV interview show Inner Compass. Never did the answers flow like they did once Dr. Robinson’s book arrived. We each saw the impact and knew a documentary would be the best way to spread these stories of African Americans blazing past all the shapeshifting roadblocks of Grand Rapids.

Together they formed the production company Grand Stand Pictures, as well as the nonprofit Grand Rapids Media Initiative and Film Incubator. The production company’s first project is the documentary, A City Within a City: #Managerial Racism in an All-American City. GR-MiFi’s first project is to provide apprenticeships for the making of that film.