Metro-Detroit Black Business Alliance’s President and CEO Charity Dean wants to empower Black businesses in Detroit and beyond.
The Metro-Detroit Black Business Alliance (MDBBA) has been in operation for the last year after officially opening up in March 2021.
Now, over 400 members strong – along with $4 million toward Black businesses – the organization’s keeping the momentum going for this space.
“We are excited to celebrate one year of serving Black-owned businesses,” Dean said. “what we’ve been able to accomplish in a year has been amazing and a result of really, really great partners; we have some amazing members that believed in us.”
Dean added that the Alliance is “growing every day,” While it has not been easy, it’s been “definitely rewarding.”
“We started this work because we saw just a huge need for a local organization to (help) Black businesses in our region,” Dean said.
The Kellog Foundation put out a 2018 report that noted a case for racial equity and the wealth gap in the country that compared Black and White families with the same income and education level still had stark inequalities in the wealth gap, with White families having nine times the wealth of Black families.
“When we think about our history in our country with generational wealth … when you’ve been excluded in wealth (opportunities) by ancestors who helped build in this country you can see why it exists,” Dean said. “What can we do to close the wealth gap and if we did close it what we can gain.”
According to http://blndedmedia.com, 2019 data from the Small Business Administration shows that just over 19 million businesses, or 70.9 percent of all U.S. businesses, are white-owned. Black-owned businesses account for about 2.6 million businesses or 9.5 percent of all U.S. businesses, and Latinos own 3.3 million or 12.2 percent of all American businesses. The data showed that 19 million white-owned businesses have 88 percent of the overall sales and control 86.5 percent of U.S. employment. In contrast, Black businesses have only 1.3 percent of total American sales and 1.7 percent of the nation’s employees.
According to the article, entrepreneurship can help close the ever-widening racial wealth gap, which is seemingly ever-increasing, even before the pandemic that took out many Black businesses.
Data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (2014) shows that Black households have fewer than seven cents on the dollar compared to white households. White households living near the poverty line typically have about $18,000 in wealth. In contrast, Black households in similar economic situations usually have a median wealth near zero, which means many Black families have a negative net worth.
On the other side of the financial coin, Black households make up less than 2 percent of those in the top one percent of the nation’s wealth distribution. Meanwhile, white households make up more than 96 percent of the wealthiest Americans and are among the nation’s most affluent households.
“If we close the wealth gap by 2050, the State of Michigan can gain $92 billion,” Dean said. “This lack of generational wealth (along with) racism and structural barriers expenses is not just in the country but state and is costing the country and region billions of dollars.
She added that Kellogg’s report laid out a plan that says the region needs business development in underserved areas. Access to capital for Black-owned businesses has been a challenge.
“No matter where you go in this country you will see challenges,” Dean said. “Our job is to help fix that. With that in mind, we launched MDBBA. We want to help close that wealth gap by creating programs and advocating for policies that are going to result in thriving Black businesses.”
The MDBBA also celebrates nearly a year of operating their Black Business Resource Center (BBRC).
The BBRC, located at 1234 Washington Blvd., provides members free internet and co-working space. The Center also serves as a hub for all Black entrepreneurs to collaborate and access community resources. The BBRC hosts workshops, seminars, and other resources to help Black Businesses thrive.
The MDBBA launched with TCF’s $1 million contributions, now Huntington Bank.
“This space will provide Black businesses with access to resources, meeting space, and opportunities to network,” Detroit Economic Growth Corporation President and CEO Kevin Johnson said previously. “We are aligned with MDBBA in prioritizing programs that enable Black entrepreneurial success and small business growth.”
“Black businesses face many historic barriers,” previously said Charity Dean, President/CEO of MDBBA. “The goal of the MDBBA is to eliminate barriers to success in every way possible. By providing this Center to members, we are helping to close the digital gap that exists while creating a space for unapologetically Black innovation and creativity in entrepreneurship.”
Kara Chaney, the owner of luxury clothing brand, Lavish The Lifestyle, told the Michigan Chronicle that as a member of the MDBBA since last year, her company received capital funding through the organization.
“It’s been a great experience being able to get set up with the capital funding,” she said, adding that the MDBBA has provided her business with technical assistance and more. “A lot of information that you may not need now but later down the road (is) definitely to get you set up for a really good kick start for your business (to)… being prepared for real-life scenarios.”
Chaney added that as a Black-owned business, she said that it’s vital for her peers to have resources and obtain basic financial literacy that her white counterparts might already have.
“Being Black and being in this organization – they definitely help you get ahead of the curve, regardless of all the obstacles we face in this day they definitely help you specifically prepare as a person of color,” she said.
Since its launch, MDBBA has successfully implemented programming beneficial to its members and the community.
According to Dean, MDBBA will create several tangible resources to assist Black businesses in the tri-county area.
For more information about Metro-Detroit Black Business Alliance, its membership, and events, visit www.mdbba.com. To join, visit joinmdbba.com.
Donald James contributed to this report.
