Together at Last

Black Chamber and Greater Fort Wayne Form Alliance

By Tabitha Ervin
Contributing Editor

The Black Chamber of Commerce and Greater Fort Wayne, Inc. has formulated an official alliance that will be mutually beneficial for both groups and all of the members they serve as well as the community. They look to work together to focus on jobs and economic development for southeast Fort Wayne.

John Urbahns, president and CEO of GFW, Inc, Beth Goldsmith, GFW’s board chair, and Ramadan Abdul-Azeez, board president of the Black Chamber signed a memorandum of understanding creating an official alliance. I briefly spoke with both Urbahns and Abdul-Azeez following the press conference to get more information on why this will be exciting for the community.

Ervin: Tell me the background of the agreement and why you chose to do this.

Urbahns: GFW, Inc has been around for 8 years now as a merger between the former Economic Development Alliance, FW Chamber of Commerce, and Leadership Fort Wayne, and we have always had representation over the years from leaders and members of the Black Chamber.

As the Black Chamber was looking to relocate, we both thought it was a great idea to share space and begin to cross-promote programs as we continue our discussions on key issues, we felt like this would be a great idea.

Abdul-Azeez: John and I had a desire to connect and the circumstances presented themselves for this opportunity to relocate and John thought it was a great idea. GFW, Inc and the Black Chamber have worked together for years and we were already connected so this made sense as we look to be a conduit for open conversations amongst everyone in the community.

Ervin: How will this benefit both organizations and the community?

Abdul-Azeez: Moving downtown just makes sense for us. It’ll be nice to be closer to where the decisions are being made and to have a voice and perspective in the conversations. Sometimes black business owners haven’t felt like that and we’ve worked tirelessly as an organization to make sure they are seen and heard.

Urbahns: As we discuss new economic strategies and jobs specifically for the southeast part of town, it just makes sense that we all work together. I am excited about this and we are just getting started!

Ervin: What can people expect or what is exciting?

Urbahns: In the future, I think we have the opportunity to not only cross-promote programs but have some joint programs. We will also continue our discussions and work on key issues in an open environment together. We wanted to formalize this and celebrate it!

Abdul-Azeez: We also changed our meetings to Wednesdays from Tuesdays to better connect with members of the city council for discussions and key events.

For more information on the Black Chamber of Commerce go to myfwbcc.org. Read more about Greater Fort Wayne at gfwinc.com.