The Long Road To Black Prosperity

Miami FL

30 September, 2021

9:18 AM

Description

By Johania Charles, the Miami Times Sep 28, 2021 Leaders who committed to ensuring the prosperity of South Florida's Black communities seven months ago convened this past Saturday for a State of Black South Florida event to evaluate their game plan. Officials from the Miami-Dade County Office of Equity and Inclusion – established by Mayor Daniella Levine Cava after she took office – and the (SFBPA) revealed publicly what they have accomplished in creating a path to prosperity, and outlined future goals to continue their efforts. "One of my key projects is to put Miami-Dade County in a position to go back to federal courts to lift the decades long injunction that is present," said Jason Smith, director of the county equity office. "The injunction is restricting the county from enacting minority and gender conscious procurement programs." The solution, he said, is for the county to conduct an updated disparity study that can attest to the inequalities present in minority communities. Without the data, both SFBPA and county are restricted in the policies it can push to support the needs of Miami-Dade County's Black communities. Participants registering for the South Florida Black Prosperity Alliance event. (Johania Charles for The Miami Times) Smith revealed that the county government plans to hire a consultant to conduct the study and his office has been meeting monthly to strategize. SFBPA members too were instrumental in making that happen. Tuesday afternoon, county commissioners met to approve a proposed budget that includes major investments for arts and cultural spaces in the Black community and the Miami Dade Economic Advocacy Trust (MDEAT). Smith announced that the MDEAT board will be supported by three new positions and additional funding made available through the county budget, through the SFBPA's efforts. A woman attending the State of Black South Florida event visits business professionals exhibiting at the event. (Johania Charles for The Miami Times) "The office exists to ensure that all of our minority communities are lifted up and fully included in the political, social and economic life of Miami-Dade County", Smith said to attendees. "This is not just talk, you finally have a team willing to tackle these hard issues. Mayor Levine Cava is committed to this community, not just in words but in dollars and cents." Barron Channer stands in front of a podium near Brian Johnson, president of Broward County's Minority Builders Coalition, while leading a workshop for South Florida Black Prosperity Alliance's Economic Development and Prosperity Committee on Saturday. (Johania Charles for The Miami Times) Barron Channer, Woodwater Group CEO and co-chair for SFBPA's newly created Economic Prosperity Committee, said the coalition so far has been successful in what it set out to do. "These first few months were about getting people together and getting them connected to our effort," he explained. "Going forward we'll start to have conversations around progress [but] the U.S. system of governance and capitalism is highly complex, so there's many different layers, moving parts and jurisdictions. Our work now translates to what are the applicable laws and policies to engage all these different layers." Channer noted collaboration as the driving force for change, explaining that while there are a lot of organizations already working on creating prosperity, the problem is that the work is done in silos. Given the scope of what SFBPA wants to accomplish, getting social and racial justice groups involved was a priority. "We have not invented the concept of Black people wanting to do better but we've updated it in the South Florida context," he said. "If we're going to do that, we're going to do that in a way that is pan-generational, cross-cultural and in a way that is regional as opposed to being parochial." SFBPA intends to include the community in its efforts by recruiting members for various committees that target different issues and support the existence of the coalition. Suggestions were encouraged from participants at the State of Black South Florida event this past Saturday. (Johania Charles for The Miami Times) Committees within SFBPA include Government Affairs and Advocacy, Outreach and Membership, Education, Youth Development, Health Care, Economic Development and Prosperity, Marketing/Public Relations & Communications and Finance/Fundraising. Event attendees were encouraged to attend committee workshops to provide suggestions and share concerns. Within the committees, members are asked to select three initiatives or action items to work on over the course of 12 months. For membership, SFBPA leaders are considering implementing a fee that would help sustain its efforts. Aside from launching the committees, the alliance is shifting focus to accountability. Stephen Johnson, chair of the Black Affairs Advisory Board, with Gordon "Eric" Knowles, a founding member of the South Florida Black Prosperity Alliance, at the State of Black South Florida event. (Johania Charles for The Miami Times) "There were billions of dollars committed to the Black community since the pandemic hit," said Gordon "Eric" Knowles, founding member of the alliance and president of the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce. "Billions of dollars, so we as an alliance need to go find that money." Knowles mentioned that Comcast recently committed $10,000 to Black and Hispanic businesses, suggesting that the Economic Development and Prosperity Committee keep track of such opportunities that would benefit the public, as well as oversee where those dollars end up. "The biggest thing for us as we [wait] for the disparity study is to have people who are willing and able," said Darryl Holsendolph, another co-chair for the Economic Prosperity Committee, explaining that engagement must follow the creation of resources. "We need more willing and able Black folk committed to starting a business and staying engaged." Broward County is expected to conduct a disparity study also. In the business world, Channer said SFBPA wants to collaborate with the Miami-Dade Black Affairs Advisory Board on making its annual guide more accessible and incorporating technology into it to allow easier access to professionals like Black realtors, physicians, lawyers and IT personnel. Through one of its underwriters, Florida International University, SFBPA was able to hire an administrator to assist the coalition. Groups and agencies that joined the effort are the Miami-Dade, Haitian American, Palm Beach and Broward chambers of commerce, Miami-Dade NAACP, Opa-locka Community Development Corporation, Black Owned Media Alliance, Black Professionals Network, Circle of Brotherhood, OneUnited Bank and the Minority Builders Coalition. For information on the committees and to track SFBPA's progress, visit SoFloridaBlackProsperity.org. The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.