Let's Read. Let's Grow. Let's Build the Future.

Tonight, I get to do something that still doesn't feel routine to me, no matter how many rooms I've stood in front of over the last three decades: I get to talk about Project 2030: The Agenda for Black America with a community that actually wants to build something with it.

The Joseph P. Bundy Book Club has been doing this work for a while now under a simple but powerful banner "Revitalizing Through Community Engagement." It's the kind of organization that reminds you why books matter in the first place. Not as decoration on a shelf. Not as a credential. As tools. As blueprints. As the start of a conversation that turns into action.

Tonight's session is centered on two chapters I care deeply about: "Nia: The Purpose" and "Historical Rhythms: The Compromise of 1877 and Project 2025." I chose those two on purpose. You can't talk honestly about where Black America needs to go without reckoning with where the deals were made that shaped where we've been. History doesn't just rhyme, it repeats itself in policy, in broken promises, in the quiet compromises that get made in rooms most of us are never invited into. Understanding 1877 is understanding 2025. And understanding both is the only way Project 2030means anything more than a title.

I wrote this book alongside people I deeply respect, Dr. Denise Smith, Rev.

Johnnie Sellers, Shara Morrow, Stephanie Yarborough, Gloria Cooper-Blue, and Anthony Caulsey-Jackson, with a Foreword from Clayton Harris III, because I didn't want this to be one voice pretending to have all the answers. I wanted it to be a blueprint, stitched together from people who've actually done the work in their own lanes: education, business, culture, policy, health and wellness, community organizing. That's the only kind of agenda that holds up.

It means something to see Project 2030 sitting in the Top Ten on Amazon's Best Sellers list for General Sociology on Race Relations. It's not lost on me that Project 2025 is still holding the #1 spot on that same list, that's the reality of the landscape we're writing into, and it's exactly why this book needed to exist in the first place. We're not just responding, we're offering our own agenda.

Join the presentation today at 5pm CST/6pm EST via Zoom:

Website: www.zoom.us Meeting ID: 832 5971 8193

Passcode: 701710

Welcome to the Movement: Project 2030 and the Work Ahead

Hello everyone, I know it has been a while. Today, I would like to welcome the over 7,000 new members who have joined us on this blog. We are glad you are here, and we want you to feel like this is your space. Bring your ideas. Bring your energy. Bring your questions. We are building something together, and the strength of these communities across the country depends on the people willing to show up and contribute.

Why Project 2030 Exists

Project 2030: The Agenda for Black America was born out of an idealistic view, but an idealism grounded in action. It is a roadmap for how we make the Black community stronger across six interconnected areas: education, health, wealth, political power, technology, and criminal justice reform. Its central focus, though, is you. It was written with you in mind, and with a simple question at its core: how can you make a difference on the block you live on, in the schools your kids attend, with the local businesses you can directly support, and with the politicians and policies you have the power to influence?

Let's break down what strength looks like in each of these six areas.

Education

A strong community starts with schools that prepare children not just to compete, but to lead. That means classrooms where AI and emerging technology are not just something students learn to use, but something they learn to build, and eventually own. Imagine a high school coding elective that ends with students holding equity in an app they built together, or a partnership between a local school and a tech incubator that gives students real ownership stakes in what they create. That is the kind of educational model that changes generational trajectories, not just test scores.

Health

Our neighborhoods should reflect the health of our community, not the neglect of it. There should not be more dialysis centers than urgent care offices. There should not be more liquor stores than grocery stores with fresh produce. Strengthening health means pushing for walkable neighborhoods, community health screenings, mental health resources that are actually accessible, and local advocacy that holds providers and city planners accountable for what gets built, and what doesn't, in our zip codes.

Wealth

Wealth building starts with ownership. Black entrepreneurship should be thriving, not surviving. That means supporting Black owned businesses with your dollars, mentoring a young entrepreneur instead of just following them online, and pushing for policies that make small business lending and capital more accessible. There should not be more liquor stores than banks in our neighborhoods. When we say wealth, we mean equity, ownership, and the ability to pass something down.

Political Power

Local politics shapes daily life more than most people realize, from school board decisions to zoning laws to who gets a small business grant. Political strength means showing up to city council meetings, knowing your alderman or commissioner by name, and organizing around the policies that affect your block specifically, not just the headlines. You do not need to run for office to have influence. You need to show up consistently and hold people accountable.

Criminal Justice Reform

A community cannot build wealth, health, or political power while its people are being pulled into a system designed to extract rather than rehabilitate. Criminal justice reform means pushing for fair sentencing, bail reform, and real reentry programs that give returning citizens a genuine shot at employment and housing instead of a lifetime of closed doors. It means supporting local organizations that offer legal aid and expungement clinics, showing up for school board conversations about the school to prison pipeline, and holding local law enforcement and prosecutors accountable through the same civic engagement we bring to any other policy fight. Strength here looks like fewer of our young people funneled into the system in the first place, and real pathways back for those who have already been through it.

Technology

This is where I talk in the book about how we are living on "digital plantations." We are creators of a massive share of the viral digital content online, the trends, the culture, the engagement that platforms are built on, but we do not own any of the platforms we are posting on, and we receive almost nothing in return for that labor. Technological strength means teaching our young people not just to consume and create content, but to build and own the platforms, the code, and the intellectual property. Ownership is the difference between contributing to someone else's wealth and building your own.

This Is Not a Coffee Table Book

Project 2030: The Agenda for Black America is not something you read once and set on a shelf. It is a living, breathing document meant to be used, to empower you, your neighbors, and your community, over and over again, as the work evolves.

Join the Conversation

On Wednesday, August 19 at 6:00 PM EST, Project 2030 is the topic of discussion for the Bundy Book Club. where Rev. Roi Johnson will lead this week's important opening session.

Wednesday, August 19th at 6pm ETSTJOIN ZOOM MEETING

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83259718193?pwd=Eg9osw3g8LlwbVwcjw9iZgkbcc3JNU.1

MEETING ID: 832 5971 8193

PASSCODE: 701710

Invite some friends, bend some pages, and join the discussion on how we make the Black community better, with 2030 as our mile marker for progress.

See you there.

-Sean T. Long

Author

Black History Month Turns 100—Now Let’s Make It Count Where It Matters Most: Our Wallets

Black History Month Turns 100 with These Pioneers

This year marks a powerful milestone. One hundred years ago, in 1926, Carter G. Woodson launched what we now know as Black History Month, originally as Negro History Week—not to be symbolic, but to be instructional. His mission was clear: Black history must be studied, understood, and applied.

A century later, the assignment hasn’t changed.Remembrance without reinforcement is not progress. And the most direct form of reinforcement we have today is economic support.

Why Supporting Black-Owned Businesses Is the Work

Black History Month isn’t only about remembrance—it’s about responsibility. Every February, we honor the builders, innovators, and risk-takers who carved space where none was offered. The truth is simple and uncomfortable: history without economic support is symbolism without power. If we want Black excellence to endure, we have to fund it, amplify it, and show up for it—consistently.

This year, that call to action is clear.

Showing Up Where It Matters: Fashion, Beauty, Ownership

Three living examples of modern Black ownership deserve our immediate, intentional support.

Tayion's Montee Holland

Montee Holland and the Tayion Collection

On February 5, Tayion steps onto one of the most visible stages in American retail: Macy’s Harlem Fashion House at the NYC flagship store. This moment isn’t just a show—it’s a test. A test of whether Black consumers, Black leaders, and Black institutions will rally behind a brand that has carried our culture into rooms where access is earned inch by inch.

Runways create headlines. Sales create leverage. Support means attendance. It means purchases. It means posts, shares, and referrals. When Tayion wins, it opens doors for the designers coming behind him.

Essation's Stephanie Luster

Stephanie Luster and the Essations brand

For over four decades, Essations has been rooted in healthy hair science, professional education, and Black ownership—long before “textured hair” became a marketing buzzword. This is what legacy looks like when it’s built the hard way: formulation by formulation, stylist by stylist, generation by generation.

Supporting Essations isn’t nostalgia. It’s reinvestment in proven Black manufacturing, distribution, and leadership.

Actively Black's Lanny Smith

Lanny Smith and Actively Black

Actively Black represents the next evolution of Black ownership—where culture, wellness, and economics intersect. As an activewear brand unapologetically rooted in Black identity and excellence, Actively Black proves that we don’t have to dilute who we are to compete at the highest levels. Supporting brands like this keeps ownership, storytelling, and scalein Black hands.

When we invest in Black-owned brands across fashion, beauty, and lifestyle, we’re not just buying products—we’re underwriting ecosystems.

Why This Matters—Beyond February

Black America has never lacked creativity. What we’ve been denied is consistent capital alignment—the habit of backing our own with the same energy we give to outsiders who profit from our culture.

Every purchase from a Black-owned brand does more than move inventory:

• It sustains jobs

• It validates ownership

• It strengthens negotiating power with retailers and distributors

• It keeps intellectual property in our hands

This is how culture turns into infrastructure.

The Call to Action

This Black History Month, do more than repost quotes.

• Support Tayion on February 5—online, in-store, and on social via www.macys.com

• Buy Essations products and recommend them to professionals and families by visiting www.essations.com

• Visit Actively Black and support by buying their high quality products at www.activelyblack.com

• Name Black-owned brands out loud—visibility is currency. Share other brands.

• Commit to year-round support, not seasonal solidarity

History is watching how we move right now.If we want Black businesses to last, we have to act like stakeholders—not spectators.

Let’s do the work.

Let’s fund the future.

-Sean T. Long

Author: Project 2030: The Agenda For Black America