New chamber of commerce focuses on minority businesses
Friday, February 26th, 2010
The newly formed Delmarva Black Chamber of Commerce (DBCC) will provide resources for minority owned small businesses designed to help them grow.
Chairman of the DBCC Clayton Hammond says the chamber is especially focused on helping minority businesses apply for state and federal contracts. "If you've seen the statistics from a couple years ago, Delaware's supplier diversity was virtually nonexistent." The group hosts a series of monthly conference calls focused on how members can successfully receive federal contracts.
The chamber is also working with Lt. Governor Matt Denn's office to help minority businesses apply for stimulus funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. "We're working within the public sector, private sector and non-profit sector to really increase the opportunities for that," Hammond says.
The chamber will also hold networking events, training sessions, and specialized education seminars for member businesses. Despite the name, Hammond says the Black Chamber is not only for black owned businesses. "Our membership is open to any individual who is interested in growing their business, and any organization who's interested in supporting black economic development and empowerment."
Why do race or ethnicity need to be considered at all in deciding who gets awarded a contract? It's fine to make sure contracting programs are open to all, that bidding opportunities are widely publicized beforehand, and that no one gets discriminated against because of skin color or national origin. But that means no preferences because of skin color or what country your ancestors came from either–whether it's labeled a "set-aside," a "quota," or a "goal," since they all end up amounting to the same thing. Such discrimination is unfair and divisive; it costs the taxpayers money to award a contract to someone other than the lowest bidder; and it's almost always illegal—indeed, unconstitutional—to boot (see 42 U.S.C. section 1981 and comments we submitted to the Colorado DOT here: http://www.ceousa.org/content/view/655/86/ ). Those who insist on engaging in such discrimination deserve to be sued, and they will lose.