A Pledge Toward Wealth Equity
Mel Franklin, Calvin Hawkins Eye Small Business Empowerment In Wake Of ‘Black Lives Matter’ Momentum
Hear Full Meeting Discussion Below
At Large Prince George’s County Councilmember Mel Franklin hosted a virtual town hall meeting June 25 to directly engage small business owners with regard to the near future options for wealth building in the county.
At Large County Councilmember Calvin Hawkins was also the leading voice on the meeting. Called the Economic Justice & Equity Tele-Town Hall Meeting, elected officials and business leaders came together to discuss the generational disparities in economic equity and opportunities facing predominantly black communities. Leaders included Sandra Pruitt, PFC Black Chamber of Commerce Board Member; Shane Warren, Owner of Warren Brothers Construction LLC; Stan Udhiri, Owner of Reviera Enterprises, Inc., and Charnell Ferguson, NAACP National Youth Board Member.
“The rise of the Black Lives Matter movement has cast a spotlight on the longstanding discrimination and inequities that impact communities of color in America, especially the African-American community,” Franklin said in a press release before the meeting.
“We will discuss some of those inequities that still exist right here in Prince George’s County. Of the more than $2 billion in public dollars that Prince George’s County Government spent in this region from 2010 to 2018, less than 14% was spent with black-owned businesses. I will urge our County and other local governments around the nation with significant black populations to adopt a “Black Lives Matter Black Business Spending Pledge” that within three years, we will spend at least 50% of our annual public dollars with black-owned firms within our jurisdictions,” Franklin said.
For a complete review of the meeting, click audio recording here: https://tinyurl.com/June-25-town-hall-recording
“Black Lives Matter cannot just be a slogan,” Franklin continued. “It must mean that we try to remedy generations of black residents being shut out of economic and other opportunities. The Black Lives Matter Black Business Spending Pledge, if adopted across the country, could create hundreds of billions of dollars in new opportunities and legacy wealth for black businesses, families, and communities nationwide. This objective is achievable only if we have the political will and courage to reach for it.”
