ATLANTA -With over $645 billion projected to be spent by African-American this year, the “Black ICE (Intra-Community Economics) Summit invites Blacks to discuss “How Blacks Can Use Their Buying Power To Rebuild Their Communities.” Attendees will discuss the buying habits of African-Americans, and how they can be motivated to purchase at least 10% of their goods and services from Black businesses and professionals
The Black ICE Summit will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, September 5-8, at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel, located on Sullivan Rd., south of the Atlanta Airport in College Park, Ga. The summit is presented by soon to be launched Black ICE Magazine. Summit sponsors include: The Minority Business Enterprise Legal Defense and Education Fund (MBELDEF); The Rainbow/Push Coalition; The Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials (GABEO); The Georgia Coalition for the Peoples Agenda (GCPA); Capitol City Bank & Trust; First Service Mortgage
“The workshops planned for the 1st Black ICE Summit will allow attendees to discuss issues and develop plans for improving how Blacks can use their buying power to reduce unemployment and homelessness while strengthening the Black family unit,” says summit coordinator Bill Cannon.

Dr. Jeff Humphreys, author of “The Multicultural Economy: Minority Buying Power in the New Century,” will present the “Black Buying Power Report” segment of the study in the first summit workshop. According to Dr. Humphreys, director of the Selig Center of the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia, “The immense buying power of the nation’s Hispanic, African-American, Asian, and Native American consumers is energizing the U.S. consumer market as never before.” Copies of the report will be available at the summit.
Coinciding with the presentation of this impressive report, BlackICE Summit workshop topics include: “Why do Blacks spend less than 3% of their buying power with Black businesses,” “Civil Rights and Silver Rights,” “Marketing Black Businesses With Quality & Customer Satisfaction,” “The Black Vote and the Black Dollar,” “The Impact of Black ICE on Poverty, Homelessness, Justice and Politics,” and “Financing in the Black Community.”
Black ICE is one of the four “Silver Rights Movement” initiatives. According to Mr. Cannon, “the ‘Silver Rights Movement’ is a continuation of the economic initiative began by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Prior to his death, Dr. King realized that an economic effort must accompany the Civil Rights Movement. This is where Dr. King left off.”
Ranked fourth behind California, New York, and Texas, Georgia’s Blacks are projected to spend over $40 billion in 2002, and nearly $55 billion by 2007. Studies conducted by the WS Cannon Company, and commissioned by the Georgia Summit of African American Business Organizations indicated that Blacks in Georgia spend less than 2% of their after-tax buying power with Black businesses and professionals.

The “Black ICE Model” developed by the WS Cannon Company suggest that if Blacks in Georgia can create over 6,000 new businesses and almost 22,000 new jobs by increasing their purchases from Black businesses by only 8%. American Blacks can create over 100,000 new businesses with $450,000 revenues, and almost 344,000 new jobs with $33,000 salaries.
Based on size, growth rate, and concentration Georgia is America’s most attractive Black market. Presently, it rates as the seventh fastest growing state (consumer wise) attracted by Black Americans. From the 2000 U.S. Census Bureau, African-American consumer expenditures grew 40%, totaling nearly $300 billion, according to Black Enterprise (Sept., 2002).
As Mr. Cannon further states, “when Blacks spend their dollars within the community of Black-owned businesses, it resonates as loudly as request “economic self-sufficiency” made by the newly freed slaves at the end of the civil war. It is the heartbeat that resounds as the drum of self-determination and self-reliance that lifts a people ultimately to freedom.”

Call 404/755-1000 for more information.