Local The Gathering Spot and Greenwood Inc. have called a truce

BY ITORO N. UMONTUEN

Monday morning, Greenwood, Inc. and The Gathering Spot have jointly announced a resolution to resume operations, thus ending their legal disputes.

Before the announcement, there was a statement from the community of members which lays out a cavalcade of demands which requests Greenwood completely remove itself from the daily operations of The Gathering Spot due to what they describe as, “a blatant disregard for our history and culture,” in addition to a misrepresentation of Greenwood’s leadership structure and business model.

Here is a snapshot of their demands:

•Greenwood Inc. remove Ryan Glover and Paul Judge from the business, force the repayment of any unearned benefits, and forfeit any unvested equity that either have in the company

•Greenwood Inc. form a relationship with a banking partner that has Black leadership Greenwood Inc. bring Black leadership into its C Suite

•Greenwood Inc. publicly disclose all shareholders in the company

•Greenwood Inc. provide an accounting, to the public, of any money spent in bonuses and salary payments to employees

•Greenwood Inc. provide a list of Black vendors with which it currently works – if any such relationships exist

•Greenwood Inc. share any plans it has to acquire a banking charter

•Greenwood Inc. provide an accounting, to the public, of any money from the almost $90 million dollars it has raised that has been spent with Black businesses, vendors, consultants, and communities – if any such payments exist

•Greenwood Inc. provide an accounting, to the public, of any grants made to Blackled organizations and entities – if any such payments exist

•Greenwood Inc. hire a Chief Equity Officer, or other similar role, to ensure that the interests of the community that Greenwood claims to serve are taken into account with all executive decisions

•Greenwood Inc. lay out its 5 and 10 year plans to create wealth in the Black community

Shortly thereafter, Greenwood, Inc. and The Gathering Spot have jointly announced a deal to resume operations and therefore ending their disputes. The announcement says:

Greenwood and The Gathering Spot today announced jointly that we have resolved our outstanding business disputes and will continue to uplift Blacks and minorities by building community and supporting financial freedom around the country.

“We are ready to finish what we started, in the same spirit that we began with and continue to build and grow with our community,” said Ryan Wilson, CEO of The Gathering Spot.

Moreover, both companies say they are pleased to put this issue to rest and move forward. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but both Greenwood and The Gathering Spot are displaying a united front with the outcome.

According to the announcement, this signals the end of a period of friction between the two companies and opens a new chapter of collaboration and shared visions, albeit with very few details plus more questions from members and the concerned public alike.

BY ITORO N. UMONTUEN

The Atlanta Open got underway in earnest Sunday night with a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) exhibition match between two highly regarded players, Leylah Fernandez and Coco Gauff. Both women are currently ranked in the top 100. Even though Gauff won the match 6-3, 6-3, Coco had fun while playing in front of her hometown fans at Atlantic Station.

“I feel it’s great,” exclaimed Gauff. “I mean, the support that we got today was insane. “They’ve made me the person who I am 100%. Moving from Atlanta to South Florida was a big change, but I love the culture here in the city. Being a Black woman in tennis and having the support from all the people in Atlanta means a lot to me truly.”

Fernandez, is a 20-year-old left-handed player from Montreal, Quebec and she is currently 86th in the world in singles and ranked 21st in doubles. Meanwhile, Gauff is currently ranked 7th in the world in sin - gles and 4th in the world in doubles.

“Today’s match was a fun one,” said Fernandez. “As an exhibition, I had a lot of fun playing Coco and especially in front of an amazing crowd. here’s some fun moments. There’s some definitely good points. And I think there were some shots that we tried but I think it was a good atmosphere altogether.”

As the tournament got underway in earnest on Monday, fans left Atlantic Station happy to see some entertaining women’s tennis. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens supported Fernandez and Gauff during the exhibition match.

“Yeah, it was really cool,” said Gauff of Mayor Dickens’s attendance. “I didn’t know he was gonna be in attendance tonight. I did a little event for Brownwood Park. We’re renovating that park. And we received his support doing that. So I’m just happy that he was able to show up today and especially supporting women’s tennis and women’s sports.”

Meanwhile, Atlanta native Chris Eu - banks will be playing in this year’s Atlanta Open. The former two-time Georgia Tech All- American and Westlake High School alum, is currently ranked 31st on the ATP Tour after his stellar run at Wimbledon. He lost in the quarterfinals to No. 3 Daniil Medvedev. Eubanks will take the court at 7pm Tuesday evening.

University of Georgia redshirt freshman Ethan Quinn received a wild card invitation into the Main Draw. In May, Quinn became the fourth Georgia Bulldog to win a National Championship in singles, joining Mikael Pernfors (1984, 1985) and Matias Boeker (2001, 2002).

The overall draw is star-studded as Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur, Alexander Bublik, Yoshihito Nishioka, Daniel Evans, Ugo Humbert, Adrian Mannarino, J.J. Wolf, Kei Nishikori and Gael Monfils