How can we solve the problem of persistent poverty in low-status communities and end the brain drain that cripples local economic progress? We can plan development strategies focused on encouraging talented people to stay and help lift up their home towns.
Majora Carter is a real estate developer, urban revitalization strategy consultant, MacArthur Fellow and Peabody Award winning broadcaster. She keynoted one of the original six TED videos with nearly 3 million views. She is responsible for the creation and successful implementation of numerous economic developments, technology & green-infrastructure projects, policies and job training & placement systems, and is currently serving as Senior Program Director for Community Regeneration at Groundswell, Inc.
Majora Carter’s Speech Topics:
Reclaiming Your Community:
How can we solve the problem of persistent poverty in low-status communities and end the brain drain that cripples local economic progress? We can plan development strategies focused on encouraging talented people to stay and help lift up their home towns.
Just like successful companies have talent-retention strategies, Majora Carter argues that these communities need to do the same. Her 2022 book revolves around her practice of using real estate and business creation as a Talent-Retention tool similar to strategies she has used in corporate settings and apply them in underperforming communities. Currently, policies at government, philanthropy and finance favor concentration of poverty and poor outcomes while doing very little to retain talent or reduce brain drain.
Idea to Reality:
Majora’s strategies are useful within large or small companies, municipalities, other organizations, where good ideas often die because they are steered through various levels of information feedback channels poorly. Knowing where you & your idea are along the idea to reality timeline can increase chances of success.
Green the Ghetto:
With her inspired ideas and fierce persistence, Majora Carter managed to bring the South Bronx its first open-waterfront park in 60 years, and scored $1.25 million in federal funds for a greenway along the South Bronx waterfront. Learn about her efforts to “green the ghetto” and how we all deserve clean air and open space.
Videos:
Majora Carter’s Bio:
Majora Carter is a real estate developer, urban revitalization strategy consultant, MacArthur Fellow and Peabody Award winning broadcaster. She is responsible for the creation and successful implementation of numerous economic developments, technology & green-infrastructure projects, policies and job training & placement systems, and is currently serving as Senior Program Director for Community Regeneration at Groundswell, Inc. In early 2022, her book Reclaiming Your Community will debut.
Carter applies her corporate consulting practice focused on talent-retention to reducing Brain Drain in American low-status communities. She has firsthand experience pioneering sustainable economic development in one of America’s most storied low-status communities: the South Bronx.
How can we solve the problem of persistent poverty in low-status communities and end the brain drain that cripples local economic progress? We can plan development strategies focused on encouraging talented people to stay and help lift up their home towns.
Just like successful companies have talent-retention strategies, Majora Carter argues that these communities need to do the same.
She and her teams develop vision, strategies and the type of development that transforms low-status communities into thriving mixed-use local economies. Her approach harnesses capital flows resulting from American re-urbanization to help increase wealth building opportunities across demographics left out of all historic financial tide changes. Majora’s work produces long term fiscal benefits for governments, residents, and private real estate developments throughout North America.
In 2017, she launched the Boogie Down Grind, a Hip Hop themed specialty coffee & craft beer spot, and the first commercial “3rd Space” in the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx since the mid-1980s. This venture also provides a rare opportunity for local families to invest through SEC approved online investment platforms.
Majora is quoted on the walls of the Smithsonian Museum of African-American History and Culture in DC: “Nobody should have to move out of their neighborhood to live in a better one”.
Her ability to shepherd projects through seemingly conflicted socio-economic currents has garnered her 8 honorary PhD’s and awards such as: 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs, Silicon Alley 100 by Business Insider, Liberty Medal for Lifetime Achievement by News Corp, and other honors from the National Building Museum, International Interior Design Association, Center for American Progress, as well as her TED Talk with nearly three million views (one of six to launch that site in 2006).
She has served on the boards of the US Green Building Council, Ceres, The Wilderness Society, and the Andrew Goodman Foundation.
Majora was born, raised and continues to live in the South Bronx. She is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science (1984), Wesleyan University (1988 BA, Distinguished Alum) and New York University (MFA). After establishing Sustainable South Bronx (2001) and Green For All (2007), among other organizations, she opened this private consulting firm (2008) – which was named Best for the World by B-Corp in 2014.
While at Sustainable South Bronx, Carter deployed MIT’s first ever Mobile Fab-Lab (digital fabrication laboratory) to the South Bronx – where it served as an early iteration of the “Maker-Spaces” found elsewhere today. The project drew residents and visitors together for guided and creative collaborations.
In addition, Majora Carter launched StartUp Box, a ground-breaking tech social enterprise that provided entry-level tech jobs in the South Bronx, operating it from 2014-2018. Majora Carter has helped connect tech industry pioneers such as Etsy, Gust, FreshDirect, Google, and Cisco to diverse communities at all levels.
