Black History Month: Investing In The Motor City

DETROIT (WWJ) -- One man is leading the way in making dreams come true for small businesses in Detroit.

37 year old Jason Barnett, vice president of Invest Detroit, helps run an organization charged with a $225 million fund meant to help Detroit's budding businesses.

"I'm able to work with up-and-coming entrepreneurs and existing entrepreneurs that are in the city of Detroit," Barnett said. "Our main focus is approximately 7.2 miles from the [Detroit] River, including Downtown, Midtown and the New Center area, which some people are now calling North End."

With a steep background in commercial and small business lending, Barnett -- a Kalamazoo College graduate who hails from Detroit's Cooley High School -- is a key visionary mind at Invest Detroit and he says he's blessed to be in that position.

"I'm just motivated in general just do to the fact that God has given me the opportunity to be a steward over business owners, over the funds that are supposed to be deployed by us here at Invest Detroit. So that motivates me every morning to be able to get up and know that I'm part of someone's dream, that I'm able to bring someone's dream to fruition."

WWJ Newsradio 950 celebrates Black History Month by recognizing our local African-American professionals and their heroes – you can hear these reports throughout the day: 6:23 a.m., 9:23 a.m., 12:23 p.m., 5:23 p.m. and 10:23 p.m.