The mission of the Center for the Acceleration of African-American Business (Center) is to support the growth and development of businesses owned by African Americans. It provides needed resources and strategically partners experienced volunteer mentors that were not previously accessible, from business and faith-based centers with African American business owners. The Center focuses on first- and second-tier businesses that are currently not being served by existing resources.



The Center is an initiative of the St. Louis Black Leadership Roundtable (BLR), a 501(3)(c) civic organization; developed through its Economic Development Committee. The Center is housed within the Wellston Enterprise Center as a result of an unprecedented and unique working relationship between the BLR and the St. Louis County Economic Council. Plans are to open an East St. Louis Illinois facility in 2007.

The Center also serves as a clearinghouse and coordinator for existing business support resources provided by other entities (i.e., the St. Louis Minority Business Council, the. St. Louis County Economic Development Council, the St. Louis Economic Development Corporation, the Small Business Administration, etc.). The Center’s holistic approach is unique and designed to add tremendous value by eliminating current fragmentation among existing support programs in the region. The Center’s focused efforts are expected to:

• Serve as a clearing house for community resources and support
• Focus on a few companies each year and take them to a new level of development and growth
• Provide holistic, multi-functional resources and support for the client businesses
• Offer fee based services to engender the attention and commitment of the client businesses
• Provide mentoring and technical assistance through the involvement of a broad network of affiliated groups, including faith-based organizations
• Serve as an economic development effort solely focused exclusively on companies owned by Africa-Americans
• Serve as an incubator for African-American business in the St. Louis and Metro East Illinois regions