Many politicians, “community activists” and others complain about the excessively high unemployment rates in the Black community. The African American Chamber of Commerce (AACC) has spent the last 20 years building a strong and lasting organization that is actually doing the important work to improve the lives of residents while building a strong business community.
“We want the African-American business community to understand the African-American Chamber of Commerce’s advocacy efforts,” states Steven Scott Bradley, Chairman of the AACC. “Our organization has been on front of issues including efforts to lower both the wage and business income and receipts taxes, which is currently designed in a way that discourages business development and job creation in the region.”
Keynote speaker, Kevin Dow, Philadelphia’s Chief Operating Officer gave a great comparison of several key elements from 1993 and twenty years later in 2013. One of the most important being that 20 years ago Philadelphia’s unemployment rate was within .2% of Pennsylvania’s rate and very closely mirrored the national rate. Today, Philadelphia’s unemployment is 3 full points higher than Pennsylvania as a whole and in many Black zip codes the unemployment rate for Black males is much more like 30-40%. He stressed how lower unemployment is achieved by having strong local businesses and the facts show that Black businesses hire black employees. He urged the sold out crowd to continue supporting institutions like AACC and United Bank of Philadelphia that continue to support our community.
The Mistress of ceremonies, NBC10 meteorologist Brittney Shipp, introduced the presenters who made presentations to this years award recipients:
Entrepreneur of the Year: Joshua Dingle, LoveArts Design Studio
