BAPA staff reports
Business owners filled a meeting room at Beverly Bank on August 21 for a business education panel as the community continued the celebration of Black Business Month in the 19th Ward.
The panel was organized by the 19th Ward Community Connections Committee comprised of local business owners, the Beverly Area Planning Association, the Morgan Park Beverly Hills Business Association, the 95th Street Beverly Hills Business Association and the Mt. Greenwood Business Association. It followed the CCC’s August 5 kickoff coffee at Afro Joe’s and came ahead of the month’s closing celebration at the 95th Street Farmers Market on August 30.
The panel fielded a wide range of questions. James Harris, from the City of Chicago’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, spoke to certification and procurement, the kind of paperwork that keeps many small businesses from bidding on city contracts in the first place. Adam Reyes of Beverly Bank addressed access to capital, and Darvell Jones of Levraddigans Studios discussed how AI and digital tools are changing marketing for small businesses without a marketing department to lean on.
Kecia Bobbitt of Primerica spoke on life insurance and financial protection, framing it as protection for a business owner’s family as much as for the business itself. Katrice Buckley of Sable Law Group closed the panel with estate planning, succession and generational wealth; the legal groundwork that determines whether a business outlasts its founder.
The panel is one of several events the CCC held for Black Business Month, part of a broader effort to connect Black-owned businesses in Beverly/Morgan Park, and Mount Greenwood with resources and with each other. A directory of Black-owned businesses in the community is available at villageinthecity.org/black-business-month.
