The basics:

• Newark brothers launch 1st Street Partnerships to close AI access gaps
• AI training programs focus on entrepreneurs and underserved groups
• Partnerships include NJIT, Morgan State and Kevin Hart’s Gran Coramino
• Efforts aim to upskill communities and boost economic mobility

An Essex County venture launched by two brothers is working to ensure that underserved communities don’t get left behind in the artificial intelligence revolution. Growing up in Newark as the children of parents who immigrated from Nigeria, Monk and Ifiok Inyang witnessed firsthand the challenges that come with limited resources and how lack of access to technology exacerbates inequality.

The Inyang brothers believe the technology has the potential to break barriers for populations that have long lacked resources and opportunities. Making its use more accessible, inclusive and practical could be a way to upskill the workforce, drive economic mobility and close digital divides, they feel.

Since generative AI hit the mainstream in late 2022, almost every industry has been on a journey to understand its power, reach and capabilities. A growing number of studies suggest that generative AI is poised to transform roles and boost performance across functions, such as sales and marketing, customer operations and software development.

Anywhere from 20% to 40% of workers are already using it on the job and those who shift to digital skills roles are seeing wage increases of 23% to 45%, a U.S. Census Bureau Business Trends and Outlook Survey found.

According to a June 2023 analysis by global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co., generative AI could add up to $4.4 trillion annually to the global economy across various sectors, from banking to life sciences.

Launched in 2023, 1st Street Partnerships aims to future-proof equity by designing training programs on generative AI adoption that empower entrepreneurs of color by providing them with the tools and strategies needed to thrive.

Using a framework that Monk Inyang refers to as “Anchored Intelligence,” the model revolves around easing fears over AI and showing how the technology can make work more efficient, productive and human-centered.

“I think having access to quality education for people who care about that will have a ripple effect, especially with something like AI that creates what you do not even think of today,” the company’s CEO said, adding, “I tell people all the time – it allows you to punch above your weight dramatically. It allows me to punch above my weight as I’m building my own business.”

“One of the biggest aspects of what makes it so different from everything else that’s come before is that it’s driven by language and that is something that is native to everyone. So, the ability to manipulate it and have it do tasks that dramatically reduce the amount of time you spend on your work – or produce better, higher quality work – is something that would be, is already and will continue to be highly, highly desired in the workforce,” he said.

“There will be some that AI may come in and change the way that job is done completely, but … the ability to work with the technology and create is going to be highly sought after and something that would be required to continue to be competitive in the job market,” he said.

In many communities of color, members don’t have the same access to technology, which makes it difficult to learn about it – and benefit – from it.

Monk Inyang said, “What tends to happen and what we’ve seen in the past is that everyone learns or takes advantage of what they get exposure to … What we’ve seen with the internet, e-commerce and digital banking, the focus is not the same in those communities. A lot of times, there’s a combination of mistrust and misuse … and fear mongering, so there is confusion about what these changes are.”

“And so, all of that leads to a period of time where if the community’s not focusing on it, other people are kind of taking advantage of this and quietly amassing technical and practical skills,” he said.

Given the transformational change already underway thanks to AI, Monk Inyang said, “There now needs to be a massive push to catch up and get people back to where their contemporaries are.”

Monk Inyang began using AI while working in marketing at Anheuser-Busch and recognized its value.

“I kind of just really became obsessed with the technology and how different it was from everything else that we’ve used before,” he said, adding that its potential made it “a clear choice” for his next endeavor to involve bringing AI training to the community.

Partner up

As part of its mission to ensure AI adoption proceeds in an equitable manner, 1st Street Partnerships sees collaboration with academic institutions, government and organizations as crucial. In less than two years, it has developed relationships with Morgan State University in Baltimore and New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, as well as a luxury premium tequila brand founded by actor-comedian Kevin Hart.

At Morgan State, 1st Street Partnerships helped equip students in the fashion design & merchandising program with AI skills.

Monk Inyang said, “Each university is trying to grapple with how are they going to handle their AI policy. And it’s coming down to individual classes, so your professor can be really pro AI and start letting you know that you need to start learning how to use this. And then the very next class you take that the professor will say, ‘We’ll kick you out of the school if you find out that you use ChatGPT at all.’”

“With this professor, she wanted to bring in that training. So, I went to the school, met with the professor, met with the students and we did some virtual training to basically bring them up to speed on what’s happening with AI,” he said.

After that, students were asked to complete a project covering “everything that they’d need to do to start a brand — finding out their brand voice, finding out the market that they want to work in, finding out the fabrics and how much fabrics would cost.

“The idea, of course, was to do those things with AI, figuring out how to work through ideas, make mistakes and check your mistakes to get to that same final project. At the end, they presented it and it was fantastic,” Monk Inyang said.

After connecting with NJIT about a year ago, 1st Street Partnerships worked with the university on “an online self-paced AI credential they were making for the school and for the individual that wants to learn AI in a traditional online course,” he said.

“We designed almost half of the course, and that started our relationship as their AI subject matter experts,” he said. “That blossomed into us doing training on behalf of their corporate clients … at the New Jersey Innovation Institute.”

“And the bigger partnership that we’re hoping to do is workforce development, where 1st Street Partnerships would be doing the training and putting together a curriculum … and at the end you would get an NJIT AI practitioner micro credential that you’d be able to use on your resume and showing that you are good at actually using these AI tools,” he explained.

With Hart’s Jersey City-based Gran Coramino brand, 1st Street Partnerships is pitching in to further an initiative focused on helping small business owners in under-resourced areas.

After launching a grant program two years ago to address wealth and opportunity gaps that have long affected diverse entrepreneurs across the U.S. and Mexico, Gran Coramino has awarded funding to more than 100 individuals across 10 industries.

This year, The Coramino Fund expects to provide 50 diverse entrepreneurs with $10,000 grants. As one of the program’s newest partners, 1st Street Partnerships will offer grantees business advice – including training on how to responsibly and effectively incorporate AI into operations.

“A colleague that I worked with in the beverage industry was working there [Gran Coramino] and they reached out about working together on more traditional marketing,” Monk Inyang said.

When Monk Inyang suggested offering AI training to grant winners, he said Hart’s team “loved the idea.” He expects to begin working with recipients shortly after they’re announced this summer.

“We believe in community-based learning. When we do AI training, something that is really important for us is that it’s live as opposed to some video that you watch and you’re kind of halfway in and out of as you’re doing something else. When you’re doing it live with other people and you’re being encouraged to share the things that you’re seeing, the way you are viewing problems and what this context means to you versus that person’s context. It really clicks in those situations. And people have really strong ‘aha moments,’” he explained.

“I’m really excited about doing that with all those businesses because you’ll hear about a story from a hair salon in Miami and then a gym in Detroit or mom and pop grocery store or wherever it is. There’s just so much to share in these spaces. So, I’m looking forward to it,” he said.

There will be some that AI may come in and change the way that job is done completely, but … the ability to work with the technology and create is going to be highly sought after and something that would be required to continue to be competitive in the job market.
– Monk Inyang, co-founder and CEO. 1st Street Partnerships

1st Street Partnerships also recently pitched its services to a few other organizations, including San Francisco-headquartered rideshare company Lyft and Harlem’s Fashion Row, a New York City firm that provides business solutions to retailers committed to equity for Black and Latinx design talent.

Monk Inyang said, “The conversations are really, really strong, especially at Lyft, where they’re trying to figure out ways to improve the experience for their employees, as well as their customers. And we talked about a lot of the ways that AI can do that and then the importance of upskilling your workforce.”

“I’ll continue to be reaching out, looking to find organizations to partner with and help in that way. While it’s important in our communities, it has such an outsized impact that it has to be scaled to as many folks as possible, so people learn it in an ethical and effective way – so that it has the impact it’s supposed to have,” he said.

“I think there’s organizations by nature where it takes a lot before decisions are made that may have large impacts within the organization. When it comes to AI in general, a lot are just kind of in a wait and see or trying to figure things out in patchwork environment.”

That’s why the relationships 1st Street Partnerships has built are so important – because they help demonstrate how AI can “really impact lives without a large monetary investment. It’s just time and commitment,” he said.

“I think it’s something that will start a continuous wave of this wave of private and public and different type of partnerships to get information to people who need it,” he went on to say.

AI anxiety

The AI boom has fueled anxiety across all industries, with employees fearing ethical usage, legal risks and job displacement, according to new data from global tax and advisory services firm Ernst & Young.

A December 2023 survey of 1,000 U.S.-based workers found 71% are concerned about AI, 75% worry it will make their jobs obsolete and 65% fear the technology will ultimately replace their positions.

A lack of guidance from leaders on responsible usage is also fueling new anxieties. About two-thirds (65%) of employees are anxious about not knowing how to use AI ethically, and a majority are concerned about the legal risks (77%) and cybersecurity risks (75%), according to Ernst & Young.

Monk Inyang said, “I think anxiety is prevalent overall across the market and it comes from a lot of things. There is the worry of taking jobs and worry of what does it mean for creative work. The worry of what it means for education. Will people just depend on AI outputs? How do we know what we would do with it in this new environment?”

He also believes many people still have misconceptions about AI.

“There’s a group of entrepreneurs in every community, regardless of whether it’s underserved or not, who are tapped in and are using AI to every advantage that they have,” he said.

But, he added, “For the most part, these tech advances may be looked at with a side eye or with some hesitation because for everything – even with AI – there is a lot of snake oil and lot of hyperbole.”

“And at the end of the day, a small business owner is just trying to run their business. They’re trying to do the thing that they were passionate about that they wanted to do on a day-to-day basis. So, all of these things may feel like distractions … and so that makes sense for them to not really be on top of it the way other people are,” he said.

1st Street Partnership’s approach, Monk Inyang said, is “literally just bringing it to folks, showing them what it looks like, showing them how it takes away from the amount of time that you spend on these other things and gets you back to your zone of dreams that you’re incredible at.”

‘Transformative’ experience

In a recent testimonial, Anthony Diaz, co-founder and executive director of nonprofit Newark Water Coalition, shared, “1st Street’s involvement … has been transformative, allowing us to expand and scale our work with integrity and sustainability. I fully trust them with every project and know that their work is backed by careful thought and years of experience.”

Sumorwuo Zaza, CEO of software company Nicklpass, described 1st Street Partnerships as “more than just a consultancy.”

“They have been strategic thinkers and partners in the truest sense. Their approach isn’t just about solving a current issue but about paving the way for long-term success,” he explained.

For the brothers, 1st Street Partnerships is just one of many ways they’ve tried to empower their community over the years.

“When I first came out of college, my brother and I and a lifelong friend formed a nonprofit in Newark, the Brick City Alumni Group. And the idea of it was to connect Newark High School seniors and juniors with kids who had just graduated and were in colleges around the country. Because the experience of transitioning for me from Newark to Penn State in Altoona, Pa., was such a shock,” Monk Inyang said.

“We did that for a few years and it was very difficult. We had no money – we were 24-year-olds trying to save the world and learned a lot of lessons,” he said, noting the biggest takeaway was that they wanted to continue using their talents to help the community. That’s what brought us to AI and the idea of it because … it is an incredibly powerful thing,” he said. “And we want to concretely bring it to people in a way that is practical and in places that are accessible. So, it becomes something that’s available to people who really need it most at that moment.”

Currently a chief of staff for services technology at Mastercard, Ifiok Inyang’s experience includes serving as a trusted advisor to startups, nonprofits and Fortune 500 companies, such as Microsoft and Accenture. He was also recently elected as the first Black mayor of Riverdale Park, Md., after serving two years on the town council.

Monk Inyang’s background spans positions in corporate strategy, corporate finance and investor relations on Wall Street. He also wrote two bestselling middle grade children’s novels and had a stint as an actor in New York City before getting into the business world. He has served on the Montclair Board of Education since 2022 and was selected as board president earlier this year.

Monk Inyang said he got involved with public service because he “wanted to find a way to make an impact for the families that are not represented as much in these conversations on the public school side – especially in a community like Montclair, where there are so many parents who have access to resources and can bring attention to the things that are important to them. “I grew up in Newark and there was only so many things our parents could be balancing at any given time, so they were not able to advocate for me in those ways. So, when I had the opportunity and my kids coming into school in Montclair, I wanted to join that conversation and see how I can be of service,” he said.