The Business Council is adding two new groups, including LGBTQ+ and immigrant and refugee business owners.
DAVENPORT, Iowa — The Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce announced that they are recruiting new business owners for the Minority Business Council.
Currently, the Chamber of Commerce has both a Women’s Business Council and a Black Business Council. The chamber will add two new groups: an LGBTQ+ committee, and an immigration and refugee committee.
“There are national LGBTQ chambers of commerce. So do immigrant refugees,” said Brandy Poston, the chamber’s talent and inclusion manager. “Honestly, immigrants and refugees are starting businesses at a higher rate than most of their peers. So, this is a community that we really want to talk to and make sure we understand what’s going on between these business owners.”
With the addition of the two groups, the chamber is reimagining not only what the Minority Business Council looks like, but how it operates, Poston said.
“Initially, when we were thinking about ways to support minority businesses, we had one thing in mind when building relationships,” Poston said. “We’re figuring out that there might be different needs. So, we’re re-imagining what that might look like. Maybe through consultation, maybe through relationships with entities that already exist. We’re just recognizing institutions that represent people, Allow them to lead and tell us what they need in terms of support.”
The Chamber is seeking to fill all areas of its Minority Business Council.
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