Black Leaders Launch EJI to Tie Digital Infrastructure Growth to Local Gains

What EJI is and where it will work

According to the announcement, EJI is a cross-cutting business and policy platform. It is being formed as the United States enters what the group describes as a period of industrial transformation driven by artificial intelligence, data center and infrastructure construction, grid modernization, advanced manufacturing, increased domestic energy production and workforce development.

The initiative will concentrate its strategic outreach initially on eight states: Iowa, Indiana, Georgia, Ohio, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi and Texas. The group says its members can connect businesses with local governments, stakeholders and educational institutions, so that the benefits of the change are shared widely and sustainably in communities that accept it.

The release says EJI will act as an "operating system" that serves the interests of industry while expanding the economic capacity of the communities where industry operates.

Message from the executive director

Ja'Ron Smith, EJI's executive director, framed the effort around what he called a new industrial revolution prompted by AI. He said that, as with earlier economic transformations, it is producing "a wave of innovation, new jobs and higher wages, technological breakthroughs, and infrastructure improvements in local communities."

Smith argued that these outcomes are being obscured by misinformation and political conflict, leading some communities to pass up the opportunity. In his words, EJI has the connections and expertise to get past the noise so that communities that choose to take part in the buildout grow stronger and faster.

He described the group's vision as a "coordinated, scalable operating framework that connects infrastructure investment with economic participation, institutional capacity, and measurable results." The release does not name specific projects, partners or targets.

Who EJI says it serves

The announcement addresses two audiences. For hyperscalers, technology developers, utility providers and capital partners, EJI offers a framework for managing infrastructure readiness, stakeholder alignment, workforce development, community engagement and implementation challenges.

For communities, historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), other educational institutions, workforce organizations and local enterprises, EJI says it establishes pathways to meaningful participation in the economic opportunities tied to major infrastructure investment.

• Industry side: readiness, alignment, workforce and community engagement
• Community side: participation through education, workforce groups and local businesses

Leadership

Smith is a senior partner with CGCN Group. He served in the Trump White House from 2017 to 2020, including as special assistant and deputy assistant to the president, and held senior policy and leadership roles in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives.

The board includes two co-chairs who also serve as senior advisors. Michael Catanzaro is CEO of CGCN Group and an energy and environmental policy expert who held senior roles in the White House National Economic Council, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of the Speaker of the House and the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Jimmie Coleman is described as a minority business leader in artificial intelligence and the founder, CEO and president of AEOD Technologies and Total Management Experts.

What it means

The launch shows an effort to link the AI-driven construction of data centers and energy infrastructure with local economic participation, at a time when, according to the group, some communities are hesitating over such projects. How EJI will measure results, and which companies or localities will engage with it, is not stated in the announcement. More information is available on the initiative's website, economicjusticeinitiative.org.