New home on Ward Parkway: $4M minority chamber project brings Black, Brown entrepreneurs under one banner
March 5, 2024 | Nikki Overfelt Chifalu
A history-making project on Ward Parkway — said to be the first minority-owned property on the storied Kansas City thoroughfare — already is demonstrating the power of unity amid divisive times, said Kim Randolph.
Unveiled to the public Saturday, the new Minority Chamber of Commerce Development Center at 9100 Ward Parkway is now home to both the Heartland Black Chamber of Commerce and and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce — two competing organizations that in many communities would otherwise be competing for resources and political influence.
“It is our duty to make this a historic moment, a historic place, something that is going to be positive in the history of this country that’s being divided right now,” said Randolph, president and CEO of the Heartland Black Chamber of Commerce Saturday at a ribbon cutting for the joint development center. “We are uniting. And that’s something that’s not heard of.”
The development center — in a space formerly home to InQuest Marketing — was made possible by $4 million of Community Project Funding secured by U.S. Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver, D-Missouri.
U.S. Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver, D-Missouri, details federal funding that helped support the Minority Chamber of Commerce Development Center during a ribbon cutting event for the project; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News
“That $4 million can be translated into visibility and into a brick and mortar,” explained Cleaver, who presented the chambers with a large check and joined in the ribbon cutting. “I’m looking forward to more opportunities and for better opportunities for us to work together. Because if we work together, there are few things we cannot accomplish. If we work together, this community will have to stop and take notice. When they take note, they will realize that some of the best, smartest, and most energetic people are in the Black and Brown community.”
The joint partnership is the first of its kind in the nation, officials said Saturday. The two chambers have always worked together, noted Carlos Gomez, president and CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, but that collaboration really took off during the uncertainty of the pandemic.
“We were worried about the Black and Brown businesses that may not have the resources and the information that were connected with us,” he said. “And from that other collaborations came. We collaborated on CARE dollars. We collaborated on other grants, and before you knew it, we’re here. There’s no such thing as coincidences. This was meant to be.”
Carlos Gomez, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and Kim Randolph, Heartland Black Chamber of Commerce, share a laugh during a ribbon cutting for the Minority Chamber of Commerce Development Center at 9100 Ward Parkway; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
The 15,000-square-foot building with multiple levels will allow each chamber to have its own floor to provide resources for minority businesses looking to start and grow to the next level, Randolph and Gomez shared.
Randolph specifically thanked Brian Olson — former owner and CEO of InQuest Marketing, which was acquired by Walz Tetrick Advertising in January 2023 — for holding onto the building for them for a year until the two chambers could buy it.
“This is not only a historic moment for us,” she added. “But this is historic for Kansas City. I don’t know if anybody realizes, but this is the first minority-owned piece of property on Ward Parkway. As Kansas City is growing to obliterate that redline that has divided us, we are part of that history.”
Nilson Goes, IEC Engineering and Construction, speaks at the Minority Chamber of Commerce Development Center; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
This joint partnership is the birth of a transformative movement, noted Fahteema Parrish, owner and president of Parrish and Sons Construction, a member of the Heartland Black Chamber.
This Minority Chamber of Commerce Development Center symbolizes hope, opportunity, and progress for other entrepreneurs and aspiring leaders like myself,” Parrish continued. “So I want to say, ‘onward and upward, and continue to press this forward. We are all stronger together.’”
“I think today is a fantastic day,” added Nilson Goes, president of IEC Engineering and Construction, a member of the Hispanic Chamber. “The coming together of two chambers like this — to me — is long overdue.”
Check out more event photos below from Startland News’ Nikki Overfelt Chifalu and Taylor Wilmore.
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