For the Board of OLCDC, now known as the Ten North Group, 2022 proved to be a year of lay-ups and free throws, to use a basketball analogy – a year of executing on the basics to ensure the organization’s sustainability long into the future. Building on the organization’s post-pandemic commitment to find solutions that lead to wealth building and social change, we as a Board of Directors were tasked with executing practical and tactical moves to get us there – lay-ups and free throws.

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During 2022, we heard the reports and deliberated on what we would call ourselves going forward, our branding strategy. After providing our own input, and hearing from our consultants, our staff, and our stakeholders, the Board of Directors unanimously approved the name Ten North Group as the new name under which our parent company, its affiliates, and subsidiaries, will do business. We as a Board determined that the name Ten North Group was more than appropriate because it aptly describes our roots and our history in the City of Opa-locka, the city that is located ten miles North of the City of Miami and is described as such in historical texts. The name is thus, a conversation starter, a way to open new doors to new opportunities, while we honor and describe our past without limiting or inhibiting what is to come.

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During 2022, we also voted on a series of measures and approved a series of initiatives that, while not headline grabbing, are the building blocks for carrying out our Strategic Plan, now in its third year – again, lay-ups and free throws. Those measures included strategic real estate asset acquisitions and approval of our City Terrace Development Plan (done after extensive planning meetings and workshops with our consultants and stakeholders). The development of City Terrace, currently expected to occur in several phases, will transform Downtown Opa-locka into a vibrant and livable hub for affordable housing, commerce, and community and social engagement. We also received the Risk Management Plan implementation strategy (to implement the recommendations and best practices from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center’s 2021 report).

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On the arts and culture front, the Board of Directors was also presented with a series of initiatives that will help the organization maximize the opportunities for building “a strong ecosystem of art, culture and creative place-making” – including receiving the Art Foundation’s Art Collection Two Year Plan, which opened the door to begin the creation of a Five-Year Strategic Plan. The Board of Directors also approved the Art of Transformation Art Basel Program for 2022, our most ambitious yet, which permitted our organization to re-imagine and re-purpose previously blighted, neglected, and overlooked spaces in Opa-locka with our five-day program of arts, culture, food, and entertainment, which we used to change people’s perceptions of the community’s potential; to re-write the narrative of the City; and, most importantly, to create a palpable energy, a feeling of excitement, and a newfound sense

of pride. It also led to an unprecedented honor, as our organization was included in the official calendar of events for Art Basel Miami Beach 2022 for our educational program: Africa Becoming Panel Discussion | Opa-locka Community Development Corporation (Saturday, December 3, 2022).

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I believe that I speak for my colleagues on the Boards of Ten North Group and its subsidiaries and affiliates when I say that the year of lay-ups and free throws was an extremely productive one – a year that will prove foundational as we continue to chart our course into the future.

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Chairman, Nashid Sabir