ARTICLE
There had been an African-American Chamber of Commerce in Allentown previously, but when its leader, Clayton Bond, passed away, the chamber faded. Today, a new effort has been created, bringing together around a dozen African-American business professionals and community leaders to establish the African-American Business Leaders Council of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce. The group’s board has been meeting for several months, but now as one of the newest diversity councils of the chamber, it is officially introducing itself to the public with an Oct. 7 event at Hook restaurant in downtown Allentown. Danielle Johnson, executive vice president of diversity councils for the chamber, has been working with the council board to develop a mission and guidelines. She said the chamber is excited to be involved. “It’s very important to the chamber to make sure we are representative of the demographics we serve,” Johnson said. She said the new council will join other new and more established diversity councils. Read the article here.