Bob Bland

In 2012 Bland founded Manufacture New York which operates a 160,000 square foot industrial plaza in Sunset Park, Brooklyn named Manufacturing Innovation Hub for Apparel, Textiles and Wearable Tech,[11] and a work hive for independent designers. Bland worked closely with congresswoman Nydia Velázquez and solicited grant money from NY city officials,[8] receiving grants from the U.S. Small Business Administration and the Growth Accelerator Fund,[13] followed by a $3.5 million grant from New York City.[14] In 2016 the organization was part of an initiative named Advanced Functional Fabrics of America that was awarded $75M federal grant from the Department of Defense.[15][16][17]

Following the 2013 Savar building collapse which killed more than 1000 in Bangladesh, Bland has called for on-shoring of the apparel manufacturing industry saying that cheap fashion from off-shored manufacturing exacts a toll in lives and lack of sustainability.[18][19][8]

In December 2018 a report by Tablet alleged that in the first meeting between Bland and the two other leaders in the movement, Tamika Mallory and Carmen Perez, Jews were blamed for the marginalization of African Americans and the slave trade.[23][20] Bland denied that such remarks were made at that meeting.[20] Evvie Harmon, who was present at a later meeting between Mallory, Perez, Linda Sarsour and other key leaders in the movement (with the noted absence of Bland), stated to Tablet that Perez and Mallory made antisemitic statements toward Vanessa Wruble at that meeting.[20] Wruble left the movement shortly thereafter, and claims that her Jewish ethnicity was the main reason for her being pushed out.[24] The advocacy group Zioness Movement called the report by Tablet evidence of the "deep-seated, conspiratorial hatred of the Jewish people" among the movement's co-chairs,[23] and the Progressive Zionists of the California Democratic Party also released a statement condemning the findings in the report.[23]

In 2019, Bland garnered criticism for sharing a Facebook post by Jewish activist Jesse Rabinowitz which equated anti-Islamic rhetoric from the "American Jewish establishment" with the anti-Islamic motivations of the perpetrator of the Christchurch mosque shooting.[25] Rabinowitz had written, "The same language and hate that folks spew against Sisters Linda Sarsour and Rep. Ilhan Omar killed 54 Muslim's [sic] in New Zealand. You can't stand in solidarity with the Muslim community and simultaneously disavow Muslim women for speaking their truths. American Jewish Establishment, I'm looking at you."[25] Bland apologized for the sharing, stating that while she agreed with the first sentences in the post, she considered it wrong to single out only the establishment of one community.[25] Zioness Movement condemned the post as an attack on Jews.[25]

Bland, Mallory and Sarsour, have also been criticized for their ties with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan (who is notorious for his many antisemitic comments).[26] She faced backlash for defending Mallory who chose not to distance herself from Louis Farrakhan after attending one of his events.[26] At the event Farrakhan called Jews "satanic" and gave Mallory a public shout-out.[27] She, along with Mallory and Sarsour, resigned from the board of the Women's March in July 2019.[1][28][27]