By June Ings
This press conference is so important as history will be made with the joining of several historically Black organizations working together to narrow the Black-white wealth gap by ensuring access and accountability for millions of Black businesses to become certified and build wealth as business owners. This group will use Eatonville as a pilot city for the new BBE Certification and Scorecard, lifting residents to be self-empowered to build their own wealth through Black Business certifications and will keep score on the ratio of supplier-diversity contracts awarded.
The National Alliance for Black Business is hosting The Black Business Breakfast and Press Conference to introduce the first-ever Black Business Enterprise Certification program and scorecard in the US for Black-owned businesses to compete for an estimated $100B in government and private supplier-diversity contracts. The breakfast starts at 8 a.m., with the press conference following at 9 a.m., on Friday, January 27, 2023, at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Orlando during The Annual World Conference of Mayors (WCM) and Historic Black Towns And Settlements Alliance (HBTAS) 2023 Collaboration Conference.
Your publication’s presence is crucial at this press conference. Please if you know of any other Black publications in your network as this information as this significantly impacts Florida and I will invite them as well. You can forward as well. There is an interactive link in a website that I can send you that shows just how much the Black business impact is on a city if there was equity.
- Florida ranks No. 1 in the US for Black-owned businesses. I never knew it. You can find more data on Floridascorecard.com.
- Eatonville is the first all-Black city incorporated in the state of Florida in 1887.
- Since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, only 1% of the 3.2 million Black businesses have become certified leaving more Black firms without the opportunity to compete for lucrative contract opportunities from government and private entities.
- Nielsen projects estimate $1.8 Trillion in Black buying power by 2024
This BBE Certification will be announced just 3 days before the start of Black History Month and after yesterday’s headlines in Newsweek announcing Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis defending his position to ban African American Studies in Florida Schools. (Newsweek.com, DeSantis Administration Defends Banning African American Studies Class).
This will be historic and a prelude to other Black organizations uniting to narrow the Black-white wealth gap. Renowned Black economist, Dr. Kenneth Harris, President/CEO of the National Business League founded by Booker T. Washington will be one of the presenters. You may contact him in advance. I am sure that you will find him riveting. Also, I think it is important that you note the importance of how this can assist Black publications in gaining more ad dollars as well as part of that accountability.
