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The grassroots LGBT business movement continues to grow – five local and state chambers of commerce from around the country have recently become Affiliate Partners of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
These diverse new affiliates include LGBT chambers in Sacramento and San Jose, Calif., St. Louis, Chicago and Maryland. The NGLCC is proud to welcome these new chambers into the Council of Chambers and Business Organizations (CCBO) and to the mission of ensuring economic opportunity and social equality for the LGBT community.
The NGLCC's CCBO is made up of representatives from state and local LGBT chambers of commerce and business organizations across the country. It ensures that LGBT business communities have a voice at the leadership table, and provides a venue for organizations to share best practices and collaborate on advancing the interests of LGBT businesses and entrepreneurs.
"What a wonderful and powerful economic web we are weaving between local LGBT chambers and the NGLCC," says Louise Chernin, national chair of the CCBO and executive director of the Greater Seattle Business Association.
Adds Chernin, "Through the CCBO, we are now able to offer benefits to our small business members that we would not have the resources to otherwise offer: business and civil rights advocacy on the national level, inclusion in an online national directory, national discount programs and, of course, leadership development. We are only just beginning to leverage the full power of this relationship."
Matthew Viator, secretary of the Maryland Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce's Board of Directors, says, "As business leaders in our own local and state communities, joining the NGLCC is a way to humanize a community that in many circumstances is not seen outside of a picket line. The NGLCC allows us to have the resources, know-how and inspiration to realize that all money is green and our business interests can make a positive difference in our communities and our nation."
"We are proud to welcome these communities to the CCBO and the national LGBT business movement," says Justin Nelson, president and co-founder of the NGLCC. "We depend on our grassroots network to ensure that the work we are accomplishing on Wall Street and Capitol Hill is continued down Main Street – and we are proud to be the business voice of the LGBT community with the support of our state and local LGBT chambers of commerce."
The new affiliate chambers and business organizations are:
Chicago Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce
Rainbow Chamber of Commerce Silicon Valley (San Jose, CA)
Gateway Business Association (St. Louis, MO)
Maryland Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
