It’s always tough being a trailblazer, to be among the first of a minority — and of the female gender as well — to move into a field that historically has been a province dominated by white males, and white males of privilege at that. So when Shelia Wright and Angela (Angie) Bennett proposed to start Frontline Development Corporation (the region’s first home developers headed by two amazingly capable black women) naturally there were going to be doubters, naysayers and perhaps even an outright hater or two.
When I asked this dynamic duo the obvious question, “Did you have help?” their answer was instantaneous and unequivocal: “Yes,” they replied. “God has helped to guide us for every step of our journey.”
Of course such an answer will not be satisfactory to some, especially those jaded individuals that will continue to insist that some earthly (rather than heavenly) being, some powerful individual(s), must have played a critical role in enabling two black females to be groundbreakers in the highly competitive business of residential development.
And the answer to that query also is “yes,” but with this caveat: Everyone — and I do mean everyone — who has ever been successful in any field or endeavor has, at some point, received some form of help or assistance from someone along the way. No exceptions. And for those who state, “No one has ever helped me!” might I suggest that perhaps they should look within themselves for the answer? Maybe they just weren’t deserving of any help.
But both Sheila Wright and Angie Bennett do deserve all of the help that comes their way since they have worked very hard all of their entire lives to prepare themselves for this, as well as other opportunities that surely will come their way. Any help they have received they surely have earned and deserve. Both started out as young mothers who had to juggle parenthood and breadwinning while advancing their education in order to advance their careers. They’ve paid their dues — and then some.
Ms. Wright holds a juris doctorate degree from Cleveland State and also holds an MBA from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. She has been, among other things, the executive director of the Cleveland chapter of the NAACP, and is the president of The Good Community Foundation. However, what she emphatically states she is most proud of is her work with young mothers via the “Moms First” organization where she serves as a mentor for other young mothers.
Ms. Bennett, a graduate of the Case Western Reserve School of Law, is a practicing attorney with the law firm of Cavitch Familo & Durkin and also holds an MBA from Weatherhead. She stepped down from a seat on the Ohio State Board of Education to assume the role of director of the Oak Leadership Institute, a charter school that was located in Hough. She currently is the director programming and development at the Cleveland Police Foundation and serves as administrative director of DigitalC, an organization dedicated to making Cleveland’s digital future equitable for all, especially children.
Frontline Development grew out of their desire to live in new homes, but new homes in a black community. Neither of them wanted to be “arm’s length” liberals — successful black women who move to one of the tony suburbs surrounding Cleveland but then travel back down to the ’hood to help those of their race still in need of assistance. No, they are more dedicated than that.
Cleveland, akin to many other cities around the nation, has no shortage of black folk who desert their roots by relocating to white communities where their political power is diluted and indeed they often are not wanted as neighbors. But sensibilities are changing within the national black zeitgeist. The chimera of an integrated society is losing its luster as more and more persons of color have come to the stark realization that until whites are ready and willing to have blacks as neighbors, residential apartheid will continue to exist in America unabated, and indeed, if this is a problem, then it’s up to whites to solve it, not blacks.
These two strong black women were both were born in the inner city (Shelia in Glenville and Angie in East Cleveland) and they are adamant about living where they can do the most good to assist in the uplifting of their race — to serve by example. They are forward-thinking developers who are not simply going to build new homes in a black community on the upswing — they’re also going to proudly reside in the homes they build.
Next: Part III — Come Home to Hough
From CoolCleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author at http://NeighborhoodSolutionsIn