National African American Chamber of Commerce

12/09/2025

Good Day Everyone,

The season of giving and helping the poor and homeless is all year long. If you can "Do Something for Somebody", please do whatever you can. We are all in this thing together and together we stand.

You are loved. Thank you for your help and support for folks in need.

With Love, Always Yours,

Mr. Duane Allen Jenkins
President and Chief Executive Officer

05/11/2025

Thomson Reuters on Thursday confirmed 2025 financial guidance amid tariff-induced global economic turmoil that has led some companies to revise or scrap forecasts altogether.

02/02/2025

Good Day America,

In the African American community, everyday of the year is a

celebration of the quest for freedom and the search for justice.

In the Highest Regards, I Am,

Respectfully Yours,

Mr. Duane Allen Jenkins
Founder, President and CEO
National African American Chamber of Commerce (NAACC)
Chicago, Illinois 60603
Customer Service - (470) 330-1704

12/11/2024

This is the most wonderful time of the year. We wish to send out to each and every one of you a "Merry Christmas", a "Happy Hanukkah", a "Happy Kwanzaa" or a "Happy Holidays. If we missed anyone, please do have a wonderful winter season with family and friends. It is a time of caring and sharing kindness.

May peace and joy surround your home.

We love you all.

Merry Christmas

Duane Allen Jenkins
National African American Chamber of Commerce

10/15/2024

Black-Owned Businesses Face Significant Obstacles. Anti-Racial Justice Efforts Are Making Them Worse

By National Urban League

Published Tue Oct 15, 2024

Marc H. Morial
President and CEO
National Urban League


“Recent legal challenges have targeted programs aimed at alleviating the obstacles faced by marginalized communities, particularly those designed to promote equity in entrepreneurship … With this analysis, we can create and implement strategies that catalyze informed policymaking, advocacy efforts, and targeted interventions aimed at reversing systemic barriers and fostering a more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem.” -- Alliance for Entrepreneurial Equity, The State of Black Business 2024

The good news: Black-owned businesses are more likely than other businesses to have a low level of debt, or no debt at all. The bad news: that’s because Black-owned businesses are far less likely to be approved for loans in the first place, and Black business owners are more likely to pull from their personal savings for business expenses.

The Alliance for Entrepreneurial Equity, a partnership of the National Urban League and Third Way, embarked on an “analytical journey” to understand the nuanced dynamics of racial inequality in the business landscape and underscore the urgency of advancing equal opportunities for Black communities and other communities of color.

The result, the 2024 State of Black Business report, finds that Black Americans are drastically underrepresented among business owners relative to their share of the population. They are more likely than other businesses to be shut out of traditional financing opportunities. They are starved for venture capital investment. And they are less likely to be awarded government contracts.

Yet efforts to correct these disparities are under attack by extremist activists determined to preserve – if not widen – the racial gaps in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Earlier this year, a federal court shut down a pathway to opportunity for historically disadvantaged business owners and forced the Minority Business Development Agency to offer its services to non-marginalized communities. The same right-wing activist who successfully challenged affirmative action in college admissions has sued to end a grant program for Black women entrepreneurs. Lawmakers in more than 30 states have introduced or passed more than 100 bills to shut down diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Despite growing at a rate of 30% between 2018 and 2021, Black-owned businesses with at least two employees represent only 2.5% of all businesses in the United States. These businesses are smaller – only 3% have more than 20 employees, with the vast majority having fewer than five employees.

They’re also younger. Nearly half are less than two years old, compared to 19% of white-owned businesses.

Black-owned businesses face the greatest obstacles to financing, by far, more than any other demographic. Only 32% -- compared with 56% of white-owned businesses – are fully approved for the financing they seek, while 40% - compared with 18% of white-owned businesses, are completely denied loans, lines of credit, and cash advances.

Even when financing is approved, Black-owned businesses are more likely to be offered high interest rates. As a result, these businesses are more likely to delay plans to expand and have a harder time refinancing their existing debt.

The racial gap in venture capital investment is even more startling. Only 0.5% of venture capital funding went to Black founders in 2023.

As the fourth anniversary of George Floyd’s murder approaches, the demand for racial justice that arose in its wake is being stifled, along with the nation’s history of discriminatory hiring and lending practices, voter suppression and gerrymandering.

The same activists who are trying to stifle discussions of historical racism in America’s classrooms likely would prefer to stifle AEE’s report.

But we won’t be silenced. We’re developing a national policy platform that encourages and supports entrepreneurs of color, gives them greater access to new markets and capital, streamlines regulatory procedures, provides more technical assistance, and more.

Systemic inequality robbed the U.S. economy of an astounding $16 trillion over 20 years. Fear and resentment aren’t just harming communities of color, but the resiliency and prosperity of the nation as a whole.

10/15/2024

10/15/2024

OCT 14, 2024 ------Bank of America Study: Nearly 80% of U.S. Business Owners Anticipate Revenue Growth in the Coming Year

Nearly four out of five (78%) small and mid-sized business owners anticipate revenue growth in the next 12 months. This level of confidence spans most business owners, with 76% of women, 82% of Hispanic-Latino, 84% of Black/African American and 83% of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) entrepreneurs anticipating revenue growth in the year ahead.

This is according to the 2024 Bank of America Women & Minority Business Owner Spotlight, published in partnership with Bank of America Institute. The survey of more than 2,000 small and mid-size business owners across the country explores sentiments about business outlook, access to capital, how they manage their employees and how they interact with their community. This annual survey samples a general population of small and mid-sized business owners and includes specific insights into the perspectives of women, Hispanic-Latino, Black/African American and AAPI business owners.

“These businesses are the heart of the U.S. economy and business owners are expecting to increase their revenue in the coming year, despite continued concerns around inflation,” Raul Anaya, president and co-head of business banking for Bank of America, said. “Many also plan to hire and invest in employee education, such as training and mentoring programs, as they prioritize their labor force and explore opportunities for growth.”

Confidence Varies by Business Size

Business owners across all surveyed cohorts are cautiously optimistic that economies will improve over the next 12 months. Nationwide, 66% believe the local economy will improve, 60% believe the national economy will improve and 57% believe the global economy will improve.

However, data suggests that smaller employers are less optimistic. Some 78% of mid-sized business owners plan to expand and 61% plan to hire over the next year, while just 50% of small business owners to plan to expand and 39% plan to hire.

Defined as having revenue of $5 million to $50 million; Defined as having revenue less than $5 million

“Finding quality labor is one challenge facing many smaller firms, though employment growth is still strong, and our clients continue to be optimistic about staffing,” Sharon Miller, president and co-head of business banking for Bank of America, said. “In the year ahead, they are looking to invest in their employees and utilize technology to bolster their hiring and improve client experiences.”

This divergence across business size aligns with Bank of America Institute’s September Small Business Checkpoint, which found lower confidence among smaller businesses compared to their larger counterparts. However, consistent with the survey finding that business owners are continuing to expand their businesses, the Small Business Checkpoint showed continued payroll growth and elevated hiring demand compared to 2019.

10/05/2024

(October 1, 2024) --- Update on the National African American Chamber of Commerce (NAACC). The doors will reopen on January 1, 2025.

In July, the management of the NAACC spoke to the camp of Congresswoman Lucia Kay McBath (D-GA 7th District). The discussion was exclusively the enactment of the "Resurrection and Resolution 1619-2024 Remittance Act". This bill is another name for the Special Executive Order #15 signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln in January 1865, which is the infamous "40 Acres and a Mule".

President Lincoln ordered Major General William Tecumseh Sherman to seize every plantation from the plantation owner in Georgia and South Carolina and turn the land over to the Captured, Imprisoned and Forced Labored African Americans they and their ancestors worked for 200 years.

When the President was assassinated on April 14, 1865, new President Andrew Johnson, a Southern sympathizer canceled the Executive Order and gave the land back to the plantation owners who in revenge forced the African Americans to work the land under a sharecroppers agreement and also buy their supplies from plantation's owner's company store, then the Klu Klux Klan (K*K) was used to enforce this brutal action from 1865 to present day in the United States.

President Lincoln was so disturbed by the Civil War, it was his plan to seize plantations, in Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky to expand Special Executive Order # 15. He wanted to punish the South and turn every plantation over to Captured, Imprisoned and Forced Labored African Americans in those States as well for the succession from the United States and for the damage the Civil War caused, particularly for the number of lives lost during this massively bloody conflict.

This bill is a one time "Stimulus Payment" of $500,000.00 tax free payment to every decedent of slavery. This is a $20 Trillion Dollars Stimulus Package. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will do the distribution.

There is no pork in this Stimulus Package. No Legislative privileges to any politician. The entire Stimulus Proposal is five pages.
We will request that President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. bring back the Special Executive Order #15 signed into law by President Lincoln. Any President can cancel another President's Executive Order and any President can re-enact another President's Executive Order dating back to President George Washington. It's in the Constitution of the United States of America.

The $500,000.00 Stimulus Package equates to 40 Acres and a John Deere Tractor for 40 million African Americans in 2024.
Can you imagine 25 million homes purchased for $250,000.00 in one year? The buyer will have a clear title to the home.

Can you imagine 25 million cars purchased for $30,000.00 in one year? The buyer will have a clear title to the vehicle.

Can you imagine 25 million Americans spending $40,000.00 to open a Business or a College or Technical degree in one year?

Can you imagine 15 million Americans opening companies in one year that could create 5 jobs per business or 75 million jobs in one year.

25 million African Americans will have a title to a home and vehicle. No home rental or car payments ever again.

That leaves $170,000.00 in a bank account. We all know banks will not extend credit or loans to purchase these items unless the customer has the collateral money in their bank.

The United States has been discussing this matter for over 100 years and now we have the opportunity to solve this issue once and for all as this Act will make it all equal in the United States.

If President Biden agrees to do this righteous act, he will go down in history as one of the "Greatest President" in the history of the United States and he will win the 2024 election

There also must be an official "Apology" from the United States for turning a blind eye to this issue for 500 years.

If I gotta go, I will not go out whimpering like a lamb, I will go out like a lion, trumpeting for justice for the African American people.

In the Highest Regards, I Am,

Respectfully Yours,

Mr. Duane Allen Jenkins
Founder, President and CEO
National African American Chamber of Commerce (NAACC)
Chicago, Illinois 60603
Customer Service - (470) 330-1704

01/27/2024

"The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.” – Where Do We Go from Here, 1967. “We must recognize that we can't solve our problem now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power in America. This means a revolution of values and other things."

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
(December 1967)

01/15/2024

"When one knows not which just road they need to travel, just keep moving forward ahead in righteousness, with a heart full of love and with perseverance and determination, you will surely arrive."

"Happy King Day Everyone."

Duane Allen Jenkins
(1989)

(Painting by Debra Hurd)

12/31/2023

Happy New Year Everyone, In accordance with federal civil rights laws and civil rights regulations and policies, the National African American Chamber of Commerce (NAACC) its officers and employees, and institutions participating in or administering NAACC programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, s*x (including gender identity and s*xual orientation), religious creed, disability, age, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity in any program or activity conducted or funded by NAACC. Programs that receive financial assistance from the NAACC and programs NAACC directly operates are also prohibited from discrimination under federal civil rights laws.

12/01/2023

Hello Our Friends,

The National African American Chamber of Commerce would like to share with you this greeting during this season of joy and peace.
We wish each and everyone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Kwanzaa or a Happy Hanukkah or a Feliz Navidad or a Happy Holiday.

May you find peace and joy in your journey, so much so that you have enough to graciously give it to everyone you meet in this most wonderful time of year, with enough left over to last throughout the entire new year.

Peace be with you and all of your family and friends.

We will see you all in the coming new year. Thank you for your patronage, your friendship and your loyalty to the National African American Chamber of Commerce (NAACC).

In the Highest Regards, I am

Very Truly Yours,

Duane Allen Jenkins
President and Chief Executive Officer
National African American Chamber of Commerce
122 South Michigan Avenue Suite 1390
Chicago, Illinois 60603

​Customer Service:
(470) 330-1704

​Website:
www.naacc.us