Black Chamber opens today

A new forum, a new voice, a much-needed support network for Utah's black business owners.

The Utah Black Chamber of Commerce will hold its launch party today, officially opening its doors — and offering what it says are necessary support and resources — to the community's black-owned businesses.

"There is now a group of individuals, who have come together, who are more focused on the issues and concerns for helping black businesses to prosper and grow," said the chamber's executive director, Stanley Ellington. "Even though you may have other chambers in the area willing to help and support, when you're trying to communicate across cultural lines, there seems a disconnect. It's not that they're not being supportive, because they are. But there is a disconnect."

The chamber hopes to address some of the unique, or specific, concerns black business owners face in Utah, Ellington said. That includes everything from finding funding to facing down stereotypes to fostering growth.

"We're connecting them to resources that will help create and stimulate business growth," Ellington said. "There are resources out there that people don't know how to get to or even know exist. I'm just finding out, and I've been digging.

"We want to eliminate some of the excavation work, in order to help people do what they need to do. Because people have a dream, but sometimes that dream goes away because they don't know where to go or what is available to them."

The Utah Black Chamber of Commerce grew out of an initiative from the Utah Office of Ethnic Affairs that urged ethnic communities to organize business chambers. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. gave his support, and the communities responded. Along with the Utah Hispanic Chamber, there is the Utah Asian Chamber of Commerce and now the Utah Black Chamber.

Currently, the Utah Black Chamber has 15 board members. It counts up to 100 black-owned businesses in Utah but estimates there could be more. The launch event, which includes a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. and a business/networking mixer at 6 p.m., will be at the chamber's headquarters, 1747 S. 900 West.

Michael Styles, an ex-officio member of the chamber's board and program director of the state's Martin Luther King Jr. Human Rights Commission, said the organization is "absolutely needed."

"The black population is 1.3 percent of the total population here in Utah, which means we have a very dispersed population," Styles said. "It's difficult to bring those elements together. Right now, we don't really know how many black lawyers, or accountants, or contractors we have in the state."