The Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce (NKY Chamber) recently honored the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce (AACC) with its NKY Community Award, recognizing the organization’s 25th anniversary of service to businesses in the region.
Since 1996, the African American Chamber has leveraged partnerships and collaborated with organizations and supplier diversity and inclusion experts to empower businesses to succeed.
Eric Kearney and Brent Cooper
At its founding, the AACC’s vision was to form an organization that would advocate on behalf of emerging and established businesses, help to create new market opportunities, provide access to capital and revitalize African American communities.
The AACC’s recent study in partnership with UC Economics Center reported that Greater Cincinnati Black-owned businesses support more than $1.4 billion of operations expenditures and are responsible for employing more than 8,600 people with $540 million in earnings throughout the area.
The analysis also found that Black-owned businesses generated approximately $6.2 million in sales tax to Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, and an additional $1.2 million to the five counties in the Cincinnati metropolitan area.
Earlier this month, NKY Chamber President Brent Cooper presented the Community Award to Eric Kearney, President and CEO of the AACC.
“I’m honored to present the Community Award to the African American Chamber,” Cooper said. “For a quarter century, their efforts have been vital to supporting the African American community as well as the NKY economy. There is still significant work to be done to empower Black-owned businesses, and we are proud to partner with AACC to continue to push diversity and inclusion, and advocacy efforts forward.”
Individuals interested in learning more about the NKY Community Award or in submitting a nomination, should contact Lynn Abeln at labeln@nkychamber.com.
