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2009
December
Reinforcing the need for collaboration the time is right

Reinforcing the need for collaboration: the time is right

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2012
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11. November
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12. December
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December 08, 2009

Posted by: Andrew Jackson

The business and economic environment, both locally and nationally, have told a consistent tale over the past 12-18 months. Marketplace survival and success require:

Relevance
Clearly communicated value
Responsiveness
Flexibility

Against that framework, how does our minority economic development nonprofit community stack up? Not too well in my opinion.

As a group, we are fragmented without a common direction around inclusion. We need a common goal: to support minority business success and growth, and our organizations may play different and complementary roles to achieve that. Failing to define this common agenda and then to organize our work around it is stifling our overall impact. Corporations, funders and individuals in our community recognize the necessity of a vital minority business community. They have asked our organizations what we want and how they can help. Repeatedly, we have not given them a common or consistent answer. We need to do so and do so now.

Let this blog serve as a call to action. The Commission stands ready to participate in creating our common direction. We pledge to work with other related organizations to:

Stop the skirmishes, competition and duplication
Align our inclusion agendas

A recent example of our good faith effort is our agreement with Donald Graham, Director, Cleveland MCBAP (Minority Contractors and Business Assistance Program. The MCBAP will pre-qualify appropriate minority businesses for the Commission’s Bonding Prep class and present that class as a complement to the range of classes and expertise which MCBAP offers. In turn, the Commission’s Minority Business Accelerator 2.5+ will promote MCBAP’s offerings to the MBEs who may need those services.

To restate my message to our fellow minority economic development organizations: we all roll together or we will all get left behind. Join us for success. I look forward to hearing from you.

Category: Economic Inclusion

Tags: minority, economic development, nonprofit, minority business, Commission on Economic Inclusion, Minority Business Accelerator