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The BBE certification and scorecard will be piloted in historic black cities and cities with black mayors, and then nationally, to address the fact that:
- Less than 1% of the country’s 3.2 million people Black-owned businesses are certified as minority-owned
- The vast wealth gap between Black and white communities haven’t changed since 1968
- More than 1,100 pledges totaling 200 billion dollars to Black equity in 2020 is mostly unrealized
ORLANDO, Florida., January 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The National Alliance for Black Business (NABB), co-founded by the National Business League (NBL) and the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC), in partnership with the World Conference of Mayors (WCM) and the Historic Black Cities and Settlements Alliance (HBTSA) today announced the first-ever national Black Business Enterprise (BBE) certification and scorecard program at the WCM Black Business Breakfast and Press Conference presented by Comerica Bank.
The historic BBE Certification and Scorecard Program, designed and filed by the NBL, will certify companies that are at least 51% Black-held to be eligible for public, private and philanthropic contracting and procurement opportunities.
The BBE certification was created in response to the fact that today, 59 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, less than 1% of the nation’s 3.2 million Black-owned businesses are certified as Minority-Owned Businesses in America according to a 2021 report published by the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC). From 3.2 million Black-companies, only 5,881 Black companies have MBE certification.
Non-certified minority-owned businesses are ineligible for U.S. government procurement equity programs, which prevent them from accessing more than $100 billion in minority-nominated U.S. government contracts according to data released by the White House. Further, less than 1% of black-owned businesses have been certified by federal, state, private, or minority certification programs in the United States since the 1968 expansion of the Civil Rights Act.
BBE Certification comes with the BBE Dashboard, a revolutionary digital accountability tool that will help organizations measure, report and improve attendance and spend ratios with Black company, run by Black business companies. The scorecard will hold all sectors and industries accountable, including the 1,100 private U.S. companies that promised an estimated total of 200 billion dollars to Black equity efforts after by George Floyd murder in 2020, with these promises mostly unfulfilledaccording to a 2020 McKinsey & Company report.
“The BBE certification and the dashboard are designed to offer BlackLeader-led solutions after decades of failed economic equity programs Black people,” said Dr. Ken L. Harris, Chairman and CEO of NBL and co-founder of NABB. “The Black the community can no longer depend on non-Blackcertification programs led byBlackled by commercial organizations that have largely failed to produce the results needed to change the economic conditions of Black people in America,” he said.Booker T. Washington was right at the turn of the 20th century. It’s time for the Black community to take ownership of its economic destiny, we are looking for ROI, a return on inclusion.”
Although the United States Civil Rights Act was a response to Black civil unrest, the data shows that Black people have not benefited economically from these initiatives as much as other disadvantaged groups. Federal Reserve data shows wealth gap between Black and white communities have not changed significantly since the years immediately following the American Civil War and has been unchanged since 1968 with the expansion of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In 2021, White Americans had seven times the wealth of black Americans, the widest wealth gap of any other minority group in the United States., according to the Economic Policy Institute.
BBE certification will address barriers to certification specific to the Black business community and get involved Black-companies owned through established institutions Black channels of commerce, which broader diversity and minority certifications have failed to do.
“The illusion of inclusion is no longer an acceptable business model. Today, we’re unveiling a powerful tool to clear the smoke and mirrors of minority business data and keep the score on our own Black economic progress,” said Charles H. DeBow, III, President and CEO of NBCC and co-founder of NABB. “NABB will be the organization of the future that delivers measurable results to the Black community, while mitigating the dilution of diversity and benign neglect approach to addressing Black economic inequity. Live the Black experience, only we can define what equal market access and accountability look like for us, by us.”
NABB will present the BBE certification and scorecard pilot program to several Black municipalities, including Grambling, Louisiana; Mound Bayou, Mississippi; Eatonville, Florida; Hobson City, Alabama; and Tuskegee, Alabamaand other cities with Black mayors, before launching the initiative nationwide.
“The BBE certification and the dashboard are perfect examples of Black self-determination – it’s a powerful thing to measure and validate your own progress, said Johnny FordPresident and Founder of WCM and HBTSA and the first Black mayor of Tuskegee, Alabama.”
About the National Alliance for Black Business (NABB)
Based September 27, 2022NABB represents a historic partnership between the National Business League (NBL), the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) and Black-national organizations led by the economic empowerment of Black companies, communities and people. Visit www.nationalallianceforblackbusiness.com
About the National Business League (NBL)
The NBL is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit business organization founded by Dr. Booker T. Washington to August 23, 1900in Boston. It is the nation’s first and oldest trade association for Black company in the country, created 12 years before the American Chamber of Commerce. Visit www.nationalbusinessleague.org
About the National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC)
The NBCC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and nonsectarian organization dedicated to the economic empowerment of African American communities. Founded by Harry Alford and Kay DeBow Alford to May 23, 1993in washington d.c.the CCNB is the largest federation of Black chambers around the world and is dedicated to the economic empowerment and support of African American communities through entrepreneurship and capitalist activity in the United States. Visit www.nationalblackcc.org
About the World Conference of Mayors, Inc. (WCM)
The WCM was founded and organized in april 1984 by the Honorable Johnny Ford of Tuskegee, Alabama. WCM is a nonprofit global conference of elected and appointed mayors, former mayors, and other local public officials in the United States and abroad. Visit www.worldconferenceofmayors.org
About the Historic Black Towns and Settlements Alliance (HBTSA)
The HBTSA represents historic places inhabited by people of African descent during the early establishment of the United States Over 1,200 Black colonies, enclaves, and towns were established between the late 18th and early 20th centuries in a display of black self-government and independent enterprise that provoked backlash from the U.S. government. Visit https://hbtsa.org/
Media Contact: June ing, [email protected](313) 600-3344 (local)
Media Contact: Minehaha Forman, [email protected](510) 220-0759 (National)
When or: January 27, 2023at 8 a.m. EDT; Hilton DoubleTree Hotel, Orlando, Florida.
SOURCE The National Business League
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