SAN FRANCISCO
Rev. Dr. Amos C. Brown, president of the San Francisco African American Chamber of Commerce (SFAACC), and Joe D’Alessandro, president and CEO of San Francisco Travel Association (SFTA), recently convened a working group of over 60 community leaders for dialogue on the full and fair inclusion of the African American community in all aspects of San Francisco’s robust travel and hospitality industries.
The gathering seems to indicate an end to the discord between SFTA and the SFAACC. In late December, SFAACC had called for a boycott starting in the New Year, requesting that beginning January 1 black associations not bring their gatherings to the city.
Represented parties included Office of the Mayor staff, labor unions, San Francisco African American Chamber of Commerce representatives, African American civic and community organizations, the Moscone Center, Department of Public Works, media, academic, hospitality industry representatives, and black clergy.
“Black businesses and black people have been too long excluded from the very face of this City, which is ironically named after the compassionate St. Francis; it is high time for this inequitable, systemic practice of exclusion of Blacks from tourism and its supporting industries to cease and desist and be supplanted by the establishment of effective industry partnerships and a bona fide, holistic commitment to the absolute enfranchisement of the Black community into this booming industry,” said Dr. Brown.
A look toward the future
Participants in this community-working group committed to enthusiastically develop and propose serious programmatic revisions in construction and professional services’ contracting and procurement, determine tools to create solid business development opportunities and technical assistance for African American entrepreneurs, and pursue job preparation and placement for African American workers.
“San Francisco Travel is firmly committed to serving as bridge, catalyst and advocate for ensuring the African American community is prominently and accurately portrayed both domestically and internationally as an integral member of San Francisco’s richly diverse family,” said D’Alessandro.
One such example of the Travel Association’s commitment is the recent creation of the “African American Freedom Trail” brochure, which chronicles the remarkable contributions of African-Americans to the City and leads tourists to the various historic landmarks, including the 161-year-old Third Baptist Church of San Francisco.
Continuing the dialogue
The working group is subdivided into five sub-committees, tasked with returning their initial reports to Dr. Brown and Joe D’Alessandro by April 30, 2014, after which follow-up sessions will be slated.
Dr. Brown and Mr. D’Alessandro jointly called on all partners in the dialogue to remain at the table to help find effective solutions and establish constructive partnerships to address these issues, rather than pursue actions that may negatively impact the economic vitality of the entire city in general, and the economic vitality of communities of color and union workers in particular.
“As the working group pursues our course of constructive engagement, the San Francisco Branch of the NAACP and San Francisco Travel would like to remind travelers from all groups and walks of life that San Francisco welcomes you with open arms,” said Dr. Brown.
