A gathering of entrepreneurs took place at the McGuffey Center in Youngstown to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"The dream realizes what we live in, here today," Carmella Williams, CEO of the Intentional Development Group said. "We always talk about the history and where we were, but we are living history and because small business is a cornerstone of the community, it is also the cornerstone of MLK," she said.

Youngstown Mayor Derrick McDowell said this reminds him of the entrepreneurs of old on Black Wall Street who came together in the 1920s to try to create the same opportunities in their neighborhoods that segregation once hindered.

"I'm just encouraged by the McGuffey Centre here on the east side carrying on the entrepreneurial legacy, helping our community realize that self determination and self reliance, those are the things when we peel back the nastiness of segregation that we've gotta get back to," McDowell said.

The event wasn't just about recognizing Dr. King's dream but it's also about giving entrepreneurs a space to learn and grow in the Cornerstone Collective Market.

"This market is actually a precursor to what we are building out over the next few years, a community grocery store, a food co-op," Williams said.

These monthly markets act as a kind of training ground for business owners.

"They're also going to get one on one business counseling with us and then we will hopefully be able to do a small impact investment so we're not just telling them what's wrong or what needs to be fixed, we're actually helping them to fix it by directly investing into them," Williams said.

The Cornerstone Collective Market project is currently in year two, which consists of data collection and building up those entrepreneurs.

It's unclear when the project will wrap up.