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At a breakfast meeting with about 100 business
leaders at the University of Illinois at Springfield last week the
Springfield Chamber of Commerce gave its inaugural annual report on the big
initiative it calls the Quantum Growth Partnership. The purpose was not
only to report to the public and be accountable to the many businesses that
invested $10,000 apiece in this $5.2 million effort to grow
Springfield’s economy over the next five years. It was also to
convince skeptics that the program has legs, that it’s not all talk
and meetings and fancy brochures. Though Q5 is still more about good ideas
than solid accomplishments, enough energy has been exerted by enough
respected community leaders to persuade many who’ve been standoffish
to join the effort. One told me as we left the breakfast that even though
his firm had invested money to become a Quantum Growth
“partner,” he hadn’t really expected much to come of it.
Now, he says, he wants to get involved before he gets left behind. What’s making a believer of me is the inclusion
of “improve minority participation” as one of the
program’s five basic goals, and the way the Chamber has gone about
making that real. It joined forces with the Springfield Black Chamber of
Commerce, whose president, Thomas Dorsey, heads Q5’s Diversity
Development Council. “It’s our joint venture with the Black
Chamber that helped to start making things happen,” says Gary
Plummer, Chamber president. The push to make minorities
a key emphasis came out of focus-group discussions in March 2006. Plummer
credits a white businessman, real-estate broker Sam Nichols, with making
the point others readily accepted. “We have two Springfields, one
white and one black, and it’s not acceptable anymore,” Nichols
said, according to Plummer. “We in the business community have to
help break down the walls.”
Though much of the Diversity Development
Council’s first year was spent establishing relationships and
identifying goals, that grueling work will show fruit soon. Within the next
60 days the group expects to announce a program of grants and loans to help
small businesses start up or expand, according to Tim Rowles, executive
director of The Springfield Project, who’s serving as the
Chamber’s point man for diversity development. “These will be
small dollar amounts,” Rowles says, “but even $1,000 goes a
long way when a business is starting or struggling to survive.”
Also soon to be announced is an expanded summer
youth-employment program that Q5 will sponsor in partnership with The
Springfield Project, which has operated a similar program for years. Aided
by a grant from the Tracy Foundation, the program will place about 50
minority youth in salaried jobs with local businesses. Hispanic youth from
Cass County will be included this year, Rowles said. East-side redevelopment, a third area of the
Diversity Development Council’s current focus, will take longer to
show results but may have a greater long-term impact. What started as a
housing subcommittee has expanded its vision to include commercial and
retail development, in addition to residential, and has expanded its
territory to include not only the central east side but the southeast and
northeast as well. Rowles said the group is working with the Lee Carey
Neighborhood Association to develop a comprehensive plan for the area
bounded by South Grand Avenue and Cornell, King, and Pope, which could
include condos and retail along South Grand. Q5 literature emphasizes that
the rebuilding of neighborhoods requires “engaging neighbors first,
to set the vision, tone, direction, and pace of development.”
Stay tuned. A lot could happen, or it could all fall
apart. “I’m pleased that at least they have set up something to
try to work with the minority community,” says Mike Pittman, a black
entrepreneur who’s seen many programs come and go. “It’s
too soon to tell whether anything solid will be accomplished.” Some
projects fail when too many try to take credit. “Some people start
out meaning well, and then they get an agenda to promote their own
organization and stay on top. There are too many people trying to stay on
the throne.” And Pittman has wondered whether there are enough smart
risk-takers to make minority business efforts successful: “You not
only have to have a quarterback, you need a receiver who can catch the
ball. And know what to do once he catches it.”
Even so, many are giving credit to one quarterback
for getting the game off to a good start. “Gary Plummer has been a
breath of fresh air at the Chamber,” says Pittman. Mayor Tim Davlin
calls Plummer “relentless,” a sentiment echoed by Rowles:
“This guy is determined to make this happen. It took great courage to
make diversity development part of the Q5 program.”
Fletcher Farrar, president of Illinois Times, is a member of the
board of The Springfield Project.
This article appears in Jan 24-30, 2008.
