Groups to develop minority business directory

The Lorain County Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Development Center at Lorain County Community College announced June 4 they are working together to produce a Lorain County Minority Business Directory, according to a news release.

The County Chamber will take the lead in producing a digital directory to act as a “one-stop” location where anyone looking for or looking to do business with businesses that have been historically underrepresented, can easily access the information.

The directory will include African American, Hispanic, women, LGBTQ, veteran and agricultural businesses located in Lorain County.

The Chamber will work with Emerge, an Avon Lake company that crafts software for web, mobile and wearable devices that helps people discover, track, share and participate in real world experiences, to develop a database to use this information, the release related.

“The need to have an easy to find and easy to utilize Minority Business Directory is long overdue and the (Small Business Development Center) is glad to work with the County Chamber to make this happen,” said Lisa Hutson, director of the Small Business Development Center. “This opportunity is supported by the SBDC CARES Act Supplemental Funding.

“This funding is intended to support businesses that have been negatively impacted by Covid-19, and we recognize that these businesses are especially impacted by the economic downturn.”

The County Chamber and Small Business Development Center are looking to work with the members of the current Business Growth Network of Greater

Lorain County, which includes the Lorain County Urban League, El Centro De Servicios Soc, Oberlin College, LCCC Wellington and JumpStart, according to a news release.

“Working to help highlight and promote our historically underrepresented entrepreneurs is a great way to help our local economy,” said Tony Gallo, president and CEO of the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce. “It also gives us a chance to better reflect what our business community actually looks like inclusively.

“Every business in Lorain County is contributing to our overall (Gross Domestic Product), and it’s even more vital to help them post-COVID-19, when businesses have been hurt by shutdowns,” Gallo said in the release.

“It also gives us a chance to better reflect what our business community actually looks like inclusively.”

— Tony Gallo, president and CEO of the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce