DAVENPORT, Iowa — The Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce announced they are recruiting new business owners for their minority business council.
Right now, the Chamber has both a women's business council and black business council. The chamber will add two new groups: an LGBTQ+ council, as well as an immigrant and refugee council.
"There are National LGBTQ chambers. Same for immigrant refugees," the Chamber's Manager of Talent and Inclusion, Brandy Poston, said. "Honestly, immigrants and refugees start businesses at a larger rate than most of their peers. So, this is a community that we really want to have conversations with and make sure that we're understanding what's happening among those business owners."
With the addition of the two groups, Poston said the Chamber is not only reimagining what a minority business council looks like, but how the council functions.
"Initially, when we thought about the way we were going to support minority-owned businesses, we have one thing in mind as we're building relationships," Poston said. "What we're figuring out is that there may be different needs. So, we're kind of reimagining what this could look like. Maybe it's through counsel, maybe it's through a relationship with entities that already exist. We're just recognizing the agency of the folks that are represented and allowing them to lead and tell us what they need in terms of support."
The Chamber is looking to fill all areas of its minority business council.
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