HUD Great Plains leadership team witnesses first-hand the power of collaboration to help minority business development groups to thrive - celebrates unification effort of Kansas City metro Hispanic and Black Chambers of Commerce

[(L-R) Hispanic Chamber Board Chair Santos Madrigal, Hispanic Chamber President/CEO Carlos Gomez, Hispanic Chamber Board Member Helen Ortiz, Heartland Black Chamber President/CEO Kim Randolph, HUD Great Plains Regional Administrator Ulysses Clayborn, HUD Great Plains Deputy Regional Administrator Bruce Ladd, HUD Great Plains Regional Environmental Officer Beth Held, and HUD Great Plains Kansas/Western Missouri Field Office Director Jose Davis gather at the new Minority Chamber of Commerce Development Center at 9100 Ward Parkway in Kansas City, Missouri made possible by $4 million in congressional Community Project Funding, on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.  (Photo credit: HUD Great Plains)]
(L-R) Hispanic Chamber Board Chair Santos Madrigal, Hispanic Chamber President/CEO Carlos Gomez, Hispanic Chamber Board Member Helen Ortiz, Heartland Black Chamber President/CEO Kim Randolph, HUD Great Plains Regional Administrator Ulysses Clayborn, HUD Great Plains Deputy Regional Administrator Bruce Ladd, HUD Great Plains Regional Environmental Officer Beth Held, and HUD Great Plains Kansas/Western Missouri Field Office Director Jose Davis gather at the new Minority Chamber of Commerce Development Center at 9100 Ward Parkway in Kansas City, Missouri made possible by $4 million in congressional Community Project Funding, on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.
(Photo credit: HUD Great Plains)

On Wednesday, March 20, 2024 - HUD Great Plains Regional Administrator Ulysses Clayborn and his regional leadership team met with the executive and board members of the Heartland Black Chamber of Commerce ("Black Chamber") and Kansas City Hispanic Chamber of Commerce ("Hispanic Chamber"). Both chambers have entered into an agreement to co-locate their offices at the newly acquired Minority Chamber Development Center ("the Center") located at 9100 Ward Parkway in Kansas City, Missouri. Its acquisition was made possible by $4 million through the Community Project Funding program that targets economic development spending in underserved communities.

Showcasing the new offices and sharing their new vision for a combined minority-focused business development organization, were the respective executives of each chamber - Carlos Gomez, President/CEO of the Hispanic Chamber; and Kim Randolph, President/CEO of the Black Chamber. They were joined by Hispanic Chamber Board Chair Santos Madrigal and Board Member Helen Ortiz. For many communities, the chambers representing the Black and Hispanic communities are often pitted against one another in a chase for scarce resources and opportunities. But in a post-pandemic world, these two groups realize that working together means thriving together. Each chamber and its members believe that co-location will promote greater collaboration and more effective cooperation.

Through this unification of effort, the chambers and their members are not just looking to grow in the urban core of Kansas City but are making a move to become a regional economic development engine across the four-states that comprise HUD's Great Plains region consisting of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. According to Randolph, the united minority chamber is well-positioned to help connect the business members of their respective organizations within the urban core of Kansas City to expand their reach into rural communities across the region that are experiencing rapid growth. Many of these rural communities are the recipients of federal stimulus and infrastructure funds as well as new private sector investment from traditional manufacturing and more contemporary clean energy industries.

Already helping communities that have been underserved and under-resourced for years, these minority chambers are bringing their experiences and connection to the minority labor force into conversations that many smaller chambers in mostly white communities - have not had to contend with in the past and need assistance bridging the workforce gap. This weaved well into a current HUD Great Plains strategic focus on rural prosperity and provided an opportunity for HUD to make the chambers aware of an upcoming summit to be held in McPherson, Kansas on April 16 and 17, 2024 - an engagement they welcomed as a robust chance to share their more inclusive business model with new potential partners.

The acquisition of the Center and its renovation will create a foundation not only for recruiting new business members but new labor force training and education. While most traditional chambers are on opposing sides of management and labor union/workforce issues, the unified minority chamber is growing business members that come from or are currently labor oriented, reducing the friction commonly experienced. Diving more into that strength, HUD shared how it commonly faces challenges of mistrust and language barriers when it recovers funds from wage theft through our Davis Bacon and Labor Standards team. According to Hispanic Chamber President/CEO Gomez, since many of the joint chambers' members are well-versed in dealing with vulnerable populations and are seen as a trusted organization within the Black and Hispanic communities, there is an opportunity to leverage that trust to improve HUD's recovery and distribution of wages in future scenarios.

The Center's federally funded physical improvements are subject to environmental review procedures under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) a daunting task to maneuver for many organizations seeking to use federal funding. However, in this case, the leadership of the respective chambers expressed appreciation for HUD's assistance throughout the process, especially the attention of the Regional Environmental Officer (REO) Beth Held and her staff. Hispanic Chamber Board Chair Santos Madrigal, along with Randolph and Gomez, shared that no matter how daunting the environmental review process was relative to the complex funding and real estate development process, HUD's Held made sure that the chambers always were kept aware of how best to comply with the law, provided both groups solutions for consideration, kept them apprised of next steps, and who the critical players were in the overall process. Both Madrigal and Randolph acknowledged how this helped ease the anxiety of their respective board members and kept progress moving forward.

The meeting ended with a brief tour of the three floors and how each floor plays a part in member recruitment and community development.

In reflecting upon the day's meeting, HUD's Clayborn noted that, "I always tell folks when I am out here speaking that HUD doesn't do anything alone. We cannot deliver on our mission to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all without innovative and trustworthy partners like the Black and Hispanic Chambers. I am so glad that the funding secured by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver through the Community Project Funding program will provide your organizations the space to expand your reach and connect minority businesses in the urban core with underserved rural areas across the region."

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Content Archived: November 27, 2024