eBLAST 020210

1. 18^th Annual Conference Content:  We are open to suggestions for content discussion at our 18^th Annual Conference, July 22 – 24, 2010 at the Four Seasons Hotel, Houston, TX.  Right now, we definitely will be talking about Energy, Telecommunications, the TCPN Project, Best Practices Committee Report, 5 Star Certification Program, Section 3 of the HUD Act.  Those with strong interest in other areas should contact Kay DeBow at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

2. Time to Raise the Issues:  We are all frustrated in the downturn for small, minority and women business advocacy on Capitol Hill.  In response to that, we, Minority Business Enterprise Legal Defense and Education Fund (MBELDEF), the National Association of Minority Contractors, Associated Building Contractors and others will begin field hearings taking testimony from entrepreneurs on the issues at hand.  We will gather the data, do extensive research and present our findings to the world including every congressional member, governor, mayor, state representatives in the nation.  Our first five cities will be Philadelphia, DC, Chicago, Columbus, OH and Jacksonville, FL beginning in March.  We will do another 25 cities and will present our documentation in time for the November, 2010 elections.  This time we are going to get real change.  The name of this project is The Arthur Fletcher / Parren J. Mitchell Free Enterprise Tour.  It is fitting that we kick it off in Philadelphia (where Art implemented the Philadelphia Plan) and DC (where Parren performed his illustrious work).  We know they will be looking down on us with big smiles.

3. US Chamber Board:  NBCC President/CEO Harry C. Alford is a member of the US Chamber Board of Directors.  He plans to recommend a few qualified and bona fide minority entrepreneurs for nomination to this body.  We are looking for minority business owners whose company/companies have book revenue of at least $200 million+.  Anyone interested and who fits that description should send a statement of interest, bio and company profile to Ryan Downey at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

4. Read Through the Deceptions:  Cities like Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Oakland, etc are known for announcing false minority participation reports to deceive the public and keep business as usual.  Chicago, which supposedly has a 25% minority business goal and lets billions of dollars in contracts each year and claims to be doing great things.  If that were the case, why can’t the largest Black owned construction companies there achieve $30 million in sales?  Something is amiss and we need to challenge those reports.  We are constructing a living case study to be used as a teaching tool for all our chapters and other advocates.  Please follow our challenge to the Pennsylvania Convention Center.  We are going to find out the truth and then address the real problems.  We are going to make Philadelphia better through real transparency.  Please go (here) to see what the NBCC is doing.

5.  Project Labor Agreement Blues:  Beware of your public entities signing onto a Project Labor Agreement (union only contracts).  Your budgets will explode, unemployment will rise and discrimination will run rampant.  Please look at a study done on the Washington Nationals Baseball Stadium.  It shows you the vile damage that can be done by this anti-competitive tool. (here)