E12: Community Building For Us, By Us

Blacklining Forum

Glynn Lloyd has been a pioneer in the field of transformative urban economic development for over 25 years. He is the founder of City Fresh Foods, a nationally-renowned food service business, and over 20 years grew it on average 15% annually to an 8-figure revenue. He is also a founder of the Urban Farming institute (UFI), a community-led nonprofit supporting the development of the urban farming industry in Massachusetts and helped establish the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts (BECMA), a coalition of black business, community, religious and labor leaders working together to improve economic indicators in the Black community. Recently, Glynn has been appointed to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Economic Development Planning Council. The council is responsible for crafting a strategic plan to guide Massachusetts economic development policy over the next four years.

Currently, he is the Executive Director of Mill Cities Community Investments (www.mccinvest.org), the first Black-led community development financial institution (CDFI) in Massachusetts. Glynn is also the founding Executive Director of the Foundation for Business Equity (FBE). The Foundation’s award-winning initiative, the Business Equity Initiative (BEI), is executing a unique approach to scaling up local Black and Latino enterprises to close the racial wealth gap (www.fbequity.org).

In this fast-paced conversation, Glynn shared his insights on what's involved with building community and how that work is sustained. During our conversation, he reveals tidbits about his mindset, explains how money works, and discusses the importance of sustainability at both the individual and community level.