About Our Roots

We’re on a mission of socioeconomic advancement!  

Miles McNeal & Powell LLC is a social enterprise and community development entity with a team of change agents who are highly experienced, forward-thinking, purpose-driven, community-centric, civic-minded, and equity-led.  We intermingle sustainable solutions to create supercommunities* — that is to, reinvest in the hopes and needs of communities with disadvantaged, underserved, underinvested, and economically vulnerable populations.

Our leadership in community regeneration and urban innovation to build strong sustainable communities extends well beyond traditional — it is our activism.  We achieve it through our evolutionary vision that utilizes:  a community-ownership design, community development real estate investment trust (CD REIT), socioeconomic advancement ecosystem, and diverse high-value projects for regeneration.

Our priorities focus on the well-being, enrichment, and enlivening of communities, while using ESG best practices and initiatives to:  preserve the past, enhance the present, envision the future, and continually advance our vision.

(*) Supercommunities:  A specific shift in mindset, emotional capacity, and actions that exhibit transformation and regeneration of low-income and high poverty communities (BIPOC/multicultural) to become equitable, livable, sustainable, and wealth building.

[Miles McNeal & Powell LLC is a social enterprise, community development entity (CDE), and a State of California certified small business enterprise (SBE) that is African-American/Black-founded, -owned, and -led and woman-founded, -owned, and -led.]

R. Shay Miles
Chairwoman + Chief Visionary Officer

  • Bay Area Native/Vallejoan:  Vallejo, California
  • Social Innovator:  Creating, curating, and cultivating brands with purpose
  • Supercommunity Developer™:  Advancing community regeneration, social purpose real estate, and Vallejo's transformation
  • 20+ years championing community advancement with nonprofits.
  • 10+ years as a strategic marketing leader for a Fortune 300 enterprise's corporate social responsibility and digital innovation
  • Workforce Development Board of Solano County:  Microbusiness of the Year Honoree
  • Brand Innovators:  40 Under 40 Award
  • Founder/Chairwoman/Chief Executive Officer of Miles McNeal & Powell LLC
  • City of Vallejo:  Economic Vitality Commissioner
  • OZ Pros:  COZA™ Certification (certified opportunity zone advisor)
  • Harvard Business School:  Certificate of Completion for Entrepreneurship Essentials
  • Stanford Graduate School of Business:  Professional Certificate for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
  • Urban Habitat's Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute (BCLI):  Class of 2024
  • California State University East Bay:  Global Innovators Program
  • University of Phoenix:  Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing
  • NASDAQ Entrepreneurial Center:  Cornerstone Mentor and Milestone Circle 35 Graduate
  • Leadership Vallejo Academy:  Class of 2023
  • The Center for Global Enterprise:  USA Women Entrepreneurship Cooperative Fellowship
  • National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Institute:  Launch Right Start-Up Fellowship
  • Walker’s Legacy:  Women Who Enterprise Business Accelerator
  • House of Acts:  Board Treasurer (Founding Board Member)
  • Vallejo Main Street:  Board of Directors
  • Mira Theatre Guild:  Board of Directors
  • Cultivate Community Food Co-op:  Board of Directors
  • 4th Second:  Board of Directors
  • Vallejo Housing Justice Coalition (VHJC):  Delegate
  • Invest for Better:  Circle Leader
  • DiscoverE:  Future City® California Volunteer
  • Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC):  Community Advisory Working Group (CAWG) for the Community Action Resource and Empowerment (CARE) Program