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Directory of black businesses points way

By ERNEST HOOPER
Published March 24, 2005

As founder and executive director of the Tampa Bay Academy of Hope, James Evans frequently challenges his teen participants with different tasks, but he never knew how one challenge would yield such positive results.

Six years ago, he asked a group to solicit black-owned businesses for a special program. "But they couldn't find any black businesses," Evans explained. "So they started calling around to churches and putting together a list."

That fledgling list is now the Tampa Bay African-American Business Directory, and Evans says the 2005-06 version will be the biggest and best ever produced by his nonprofit organization. The directory will be published in October, but Evans is launching the project on Monday with a 10:30 a.m. news conference and a 5:30 p.m. kickoff party, both at downtown Tampa's Union Station.

"We've never had partners like the city of Tampa send over all the black-registered businesses," Evans said. "We've never had anyone write a business plan to truly make this a reality. We've never had a committee to meet and make it happen."

Normally, the Academy of Hope publishes 5,000 copies. This year, it expects to produce 100,000 copies to be delivered to registered African-American voters in Hillsborough County. For the first time, the academy has produced a Web site for the directory, www.tampabayblackbusiness.com which will be completed by Monday. The site will include information about registering a black business and how to obtain a copy of the book.

The directory will be multifaceted, said Aj Jemison, committee chair and general manager of International Plaza. It will help people looking to patronize African-American businesses because every black-owned business registered with the city will have a free listing.

Although a number of organizations have worked to produce unity among social groups, no single group has made significant progress on the business side. Jemison said she believes the directory will bring Tampa the kind of economic synergy she's seen in African-American communities in Atlanta and Detroit.

"This can be a vehicle to help pull the community together as far as economics," Jemison explained. "The average African-American spends more than any other cultural group. There's a difference in how we value the dollar, but African-American businesses in Tampa haven't quite infiltrated the system."

Jemison added that other businesses looking to reach out to the African-American community will be able to purchase ads in the directory. And larger companies who want to include smaller African-American businesses on projects can use the directory.

Evans says the directory will help the academy, which strives to give at-risk youth the tools to improve their lives. It's also an opportunity to improve the entire city.

"It will stimulate the economy," Evans said. "It will lessen taxes on those businesses and communities not thriving. If those communities are thriving, there will be less families struggling.

"The violence, the crime will reduce itself. The issues of poverty and education will improve. We're talking about helping Tampa become a true championship city where everyone wants to live."

If successful, the directory's most valuable service may be a map to a brighter future.

Ernest Hooper can be reached at 813 226-3406 or Hooper@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 24, 2005, 01:58:38]