Over 60 people came together yesterday for a quarterly forum to help bring Frederick County's minority business community together. Potential and aspiring minority business owners, minority entrepreneurs and economic development and chamber partners packed the New Dimensions Worship Center in Frederick to hear speakers from the Governor's Office of Minority Affairs, Frederick County Bank and the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce present on topics geared towards increasing business growth opportunities for minority businesses.
The Frederick County Minority Business Vision is an initiative of the Frederick County Office of Economic Development and programs include quarterly forums and monthly networking events dedicated to sharing information for potential and aspiring minority business owners and minority entrepreneurs.
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| From Left to Right: OED's Helen Propheter, Elizabeth Chung - Asian American Center of Frederick, OED's Sherman Coleman, Elizabeth Cromwell - Frederick County Chamber of Commerce and Jorge Ribas - Mid-Atlantic Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. |
Presenters for the event from the State of Maryland included: April Williams, Outreach Manager, Governor's Office of Minority Affairs; Cristen Ervin, Training & Outreach Coordinator, Maryland Dept of General Services; and LaCheryl E. Jones, Public Relations & Outreach Manager, Small and Minority Business Programs, Minority Dept of Transportation. Topics covered the Minority Business Enterprise Program, eMaryland Marketplace, Small Business Reserve Program, Procurement Forecasting within the State of Maryland and more. The second part of the forum included a presentation by Clark Briggs,Vice President/Business Development Officer for Frederick County Bank who spoke on topics such as Business Banking and How Credit Matters. Elizabeth Cromwell from the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce wrapped up the event with the benefits of attending business card exchanges.
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest, 92% of people who filled out an exit survey rated the event an 8 or higher. Attendance at this event surpassed the first event which was held in May. To view more photos from this event, please view the Facebook page. Plans are underway for the next monthly networking event to be held in celebration of Economic Development Week in Maryland for October 1st from 5-7pm at Cafe 611. For more information, please contact Sherman Coleman at scoleman@frederickcountymd.gov or call 301-600-2137.
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest, 92% of people who filled out an exit survey rated the event an 8 or higher. Attendance at this event surpassed the first event which was held in May. To view more photos from this event, please view the Facebook page. Plans are underway for the next monthly networking event to be held in celebration of Economic Development Week in Maryland for October 1st from 5-7pm at Cafe 611. For more information, please contact Sherman Coleman at scoleman@frederickcountymd.gov or call 301-600-2137.
