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Over
the years, The Capital City African-American Chamber of Commerce
(CCAACC) has focused on building bridges to promote the economic
development for its members and supporters in Austin.
The
Capital City Chamber of Commerce was incorporated in 1982.
The primary focus of the Chamber at this time, located at
6500 Manor Road, was to bring awareness of the enormous amount
of dollars that was generated from black consumers in the
form of travel & tourism and transfer those benefits to
the black community as a whole. The agents were T.L. Wyatt,
Leroy Beck, Jr., Juanita Ross, and Mildred Sneed. According
to reports, their primary focus was to prove that Black travelers
spent a substantial amount of money at hotels/motels going
to conventions, trade shows, and at church conferences. Further,
their goal was to leverage this information and encourage
Black travelers to spend those dollars in Austin and be recognized
as an important factor to the Travel Trade Industry. The dollars
generated by Black travelers would provide economic prosperity
for black businesses and the communities of Austin.
The
Capital City Chamber was organized "to bring the Black
dollars to the Austin community…" stated Charles
Caldwell, Director of Tourism for the Chamber in 1984. An
article in the Villager quoted Mr. Caldwell, saying “hundreds
of thousands of African-Americans attend conventions across
the nation. We do more traveling that any other racial group.
In doing so, millions of dollars are poured into local economies.
We are seeking to reap those dollars for Austin.”
The
Capital City Chamber, at the time, was strenuously working
with the City of Austin to allocate some of their tourism
dollars to the Chamber. The Chamber realized that thousands
of African Americans attend conventions and that many of those
millions of dollars should be targeted for the East Austin
community. Working collectively, yet independently with the
Asian and Hispanic chambers, all Chambers would prosper and
be able to provide economic dollars for their communities.
Mr. Caldwell said "that the Capital City Chamber of Commerce
is designed to maximize the economic potential of the community
which includes tourism and convention, development, civic
and cultural affairs, employment, education, housing and recreation.
The Chamber's work entails research, planning, and creative
energy to implement its economy building programs".
Throughout
the 22 years, the Chamber has been developing and promoting
Austin as an ideal place to meet for church conventions, civil
right organizations, fraternities, sororities and professional
organizational meetings.
We
have embarked on a journey to bolster our goals and promote
our vision. It is a vision of leading African American businesses
and the business community to greater prosperity and influence
within Central Texas. This effort further illustrates our
objective to provide resource information for our members,
potential members and supporters.
We
are proud of what we have accomplished and look forward to
many years of providing service and dedication to our members
and supporters. We are here to assist and support you in building
bridges to prosperity and leading African-Americans in the
spirit of Texas. We invite you to join us as we embark on
strengthening the services we offer because you, our members
and supporters, are the reasons we have the passion to do
what we do!
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