Minority & Small Business
WEEK
Special Edition
‘City
of
Roses’
Volume XLVIII • Number 39
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • October 2, 2019
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
photo by b everly C orbell /t he p ortland o bserver
Board members of the newly formed Black American Chamber of Commerce gather at historic Union Station for a meeting to adopt bylaws. The board members
pictured are Theo Cason (from left), Jesse Hyatt, Lené Hopson, E.D. Mondaine, John Tolbert and Antjuan Tolbert. Not pictured are board members Margo Bryant and
E.D. Owens.
New Front for Economic Growth
Black Chamber
of Commerce
fills a void
b everly C orbell
t he p ortland o bserver
When the Oregon Department of Justice ordered the
disbanding of the African American Chamber of Com-
merce, headed by Roy Jay, it left a void for business inter-
ests in Portland’s black community. Jay was investigated
for embezzlement but the case ended in a settlement and
no charges were brought against him. He was ordered,
by
however, to close down several nonprofits, including the
chamber.
Now a new chamber has been formed, the Black Amer-
ican Chamber of Commerce, which promises to provide
resources, scholarships and assistance to its members.
John Tolbert, executive director of the new group, said
it was formed to preserve the integrity of the black eco-
nomic community.
“We are bringing a professional image to the forefront
to help us build a coalition of businesses so we can have
one voice and help build one another up,” he said.
Prosper Portland, the city’s economic development
arm, helped get the new chamber launched, Tolbert said,
and the chamber board is in the process of setting up shop,
which means adopting bylaws, hiring staff and looking for
funding.
“Hopefully we’ll get going in 2020 and we have a lot
in place, including grants to get funding in place,” he said.
The chamber is looking for new members, Tolbert said,
and will offer many services.
“We want to be able to showcase our members to pro-
vide networking and business solutions,” he said. “We are
also very interested in education, including scholarships
and trade schools, and we want to be in all sectors, in trav-
el and in transportation departments.”
The city has already given a helping hand to Theo Ca-
son, owner of Cason’s Fine Meats and another charter
board member for the new chamber.
Cason said he previously had “landlord issues” and had
to close his store for a whole year. But thanks to refinanc-
ing help from Prosper Portland, he was able to open a new
location at Alberta Commons on the corner of Northeast
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Alberta Street. The
retail block was recently constructed as he second half of
C ontinued on p age 4