June 2008
Inside this issue:
Overview Online Inventory

Doing business the Yankellow way

Bank of America launches Web site to connect small business community

GBC hosts the Maryland Hispanic Chamber Women

Minorities dominate use of new media

Baltimore's Community Law Center


Now accepting nominations for the 5th Annual Bridging the Gap Achievement Awards!

Click here to fill out a nomination form.


Overview of the Bridging the Gap Initiative

Bridging the Gap is an initiative of the Greater Baltimore Committee, designed to advance the business culture of greater Baltimore by fostering an atmosphere in which majority and minority and women-owned businesses can form mutually beneficial strategic partnerships.  The Bridging the Gap Initiative strives to provide businesses with the necessary tools and support to develop such collaborations.
The goals of the Initiative are to:

  • Nurture the creation of legacy wealth among minority and women-owned businesses (MWBEs) by broadening business prospects that are available to them. 
  • Communicate the business case for minority inclusion and development to the region’s larger business community. 
  • Provide training opportunities that enhance capabilities within the minority and women-owned business community to enable successful participation in partnership opportunities.
Bridging the Gap is one of the GBC’s top priorities. The Bridging the Gap Initiative relates directly to the GBC’s mission of improving the business climate of the Greater Baltimore region by organizing its corporate and civic leadership to develop solutions to the problems that affect the region's competitiveness and viability.  The region’s competitiveness would receive a significant boost if full participation of MWBEs in the regional economy were to be achieved.   A study conducted by the Sage Policy Group  found that fully engaging MWBEs  in the region’s economy, would generate as much as $5 billion of additional sales revenue and 32,000 new jobs.



Join Bridging the Gap's online inventory:

Help majority businesses identify minority owned businesses with whom they can do business

Provide information on the experience and capacity of your business

Businesses will use the inventory as a resource in making purchasing decisions

Market your business to mid and large sized companies throughout the greater Baltimore region by completing an application today!


If you are a GBC member and would like to find out more about becoming a member of the Bridging the Gap committee, please contact:

Kisha Lashley
Director, Bridging the Gap
410-727-2820 ext. 19
kishal@gbc.org






 

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Do you have a burning question that you would like answered by a business professional? Have a business related issue that you would like advice on?  Email your question to kishal@gbc.org for the opportunity to have it answered in our next issue of the Bridging the Gap Update e-newsletter.