USBC Working For Change!

As this Presidential election season winds down to Decision Day, I thought it made sense to update you on the whirlwind of activity that has blown your USBC team on an action-packed criss-cross of the country. From California, to Michigan, to Kansas, to Louisiana, back to DC and a dozen points in between, we’ve been fortunate to witness the successes of Black Business and Black Chambers all around the nation.

While in Detroit to keynote the Michigan Black Chamber’s “State of Black Business” event, we also witnessed the historic merger of the National Association of Black Suppliers with the Michigan Black Chamber of Commerce (MBCC). Kudos to USBC Board member Ken Harris for this monumental move, adding powerful automotive suppliers to MBCC’s membership.

As you might imagine, the Congressional Black Caucus week was action-packed! Again, the Michigan Black Chamber of Commerce led the way, hosting several events during CBC. Natalie Cofield continued to blaze trails as  the  Capital City African American Chamber  of Commerce  (Austin, TX) hosted their “Capital of Tech”  reception in conjunction with Dell. Great demonstrations of how our members are making positive steps, locally, regionally and nationally.

Also, during the CBC schedule, we provided our perspective during a special roundtable discussion hosted by longtime USBC friend, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-Lousiana). USBC’s input on the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem of the African American Community will help shape policy development by the Senate Small Business Committee. We also met with the Department of Energy to help guide them toward improving the agency’s dissatisfactory performance in minority contracting. We’ll update you on this soon.

We cemented a new relationship with the Urban Financial Services Coalition, and participated in their Road to Financial Stability: Ensuring African American and Communities of Color are not Left Behind forum.

New member, Christal Watson, President of the Kansas Black Chamber of Commerce (KBCC), is setting the Midwest on F-I-R-E! During a memorable two-day visit, it feels like we met virtually ALL of Kansas’ Black business and political community – and a good bit of Missouri’s too! I provided the keynote for an evening event, met with the Black Wall Street project, visited a legendary station of the Underground Railroad and capped off our visit at the ribbon-cutting for KBCC’s new, cutting edge incubator project. Great things are happening in Kansas City and we’re very proud of the momentum Christal and her KBCC teammates are building.

I had the pleasure of traveling with our Chairman, Aubry Stone, too. We were humbled by the reception we experienced at the National Bankers Association’s (NBA) annual convention, held in New Orleans. The leadership of NBA presented me with the organization’s Outstanding Visionary Leader Award, and Chairman Stone with recognition for building succession planning into USBC’s organizational structure. It is truly inspiring that others are taking notice of the work we’re doing.

Aubry and I left New Orleans and headed to Chicago where we participated in the historic Civil Rights National Education Policy Dialogue. We’re working hard to remove the stumbling blocks from the paths of future entrepreneurs, and we’re extremely conscious of the role education plays in our future.

We’re working hard to remove the stumbling blocks from the paths of current business owners, too. We co-hosted the Small Business Administration’s National 8(a) Awards Ceremony. The White House hosted USBC and business leaders for wide-ranging discussions with SBA Administrator Karen Mills, Deputy Administrator Marie Johns and other agency officials, as well as a special day-long event which featured business matchmaking and access to federal contracting opportunities.

Additionally, I had the opportunity to participate in a Town Hall discussion entitled, “Brown v. 2012 Election: The Impact of the Minority Vote,” hosted by the Tomorrow is Today Foundation and moderated by Roland Martin.  Held at the African American Civil War Museum in Washington, DC, we were able to provide insight into how voting eligibility impacts our business communities nationwide.

Along the way, our work has been recognized by Minority Business News USA, several mentions in Black Enterprise (both print and digital editions, plus social media), as well as in America’s Black Press  – our friends in the National Newspaper Publishers Association.

Our relationship with Black Enterprise continues to strengthen the USBC brand, and by the completion of our five-city Solutions Series (Phoenix, Miami, Austin, New York, Columbus, OH) we’ll celebrate by co-hosting BE’s Entrepreneurs Conference in May 2013. We’ll devote an entire future President’s Message to our Solutions Series, USBC’s first-ever national showcase of our Five Pillars of Service.

We’re actively Guarding the Change that’s driving the USBC to the forefront of difference-makers for Black business. Our commitment and the hard work of our members across the country have begun to make our Five Pillars of Service (Advocacy, Access to Capital, Contracting, Entrepreneurial Training and Chamber Development) recognizable all over America. As I’m fond of saying, to have successful Black communities, you must have successful Black Businesses… and in order to have successful Black Businesses you must have successful Black Chambers! We’ll keep working hard and ask that you join us in this critical work. We need you! And, we need you to vote on November 6th, too!