Tabor Neighbors! I hope you are all well and prospering in your personal and professional lives.

As we enter another summer and barrel toward elections at the state and national level, I think about the importance of Tabor 100 at this time. We were created in the wake of I-200 which has devastated the minority and women-owned business community, the effects of which we are still experiencing today.

While I can only imagine what it was like back in the days when Langston Tabor fought valiantly to defeat I-200, I see much effort today directed at ensuring that even less opportunity comes our way. Efforts by the far right to eliminate the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program and other programs like it, both in the public and private sector, pose grave threats to our communities. The words Diversity, Equity and Inclusion have taken on a negative meaning for some. Imagine, the concept of equity being something that is bad!

So Tabor 100 is one of the few organizations fighting to ensure Black and other minority businesses both survive in the midst of these assaults on “DEI.” We are working to provide additional support to Black and other minority businesses as well as create a place where all of us can gather to support one another. We are speaking up about issues of importance to our members including timely payment and labor policies that sometimes negatively impact our firms.

Let me bring all this back to my basic theme. We are living in unprecedented times and the threats to our community, our businesses and us as individuals, is significant. Today, we are dealing with a threat as menacing as I-200. I urge you to engage in the elections that will occur in August (Primary) and then again in November (General). Tabor 100 cannot endorse candidates, but we can ask that you do your homework and engage in supporting whoever you choose as being best for your businesses, family and community. While voting is important, volunteering, contributing and other forms of engagement are critical as well. I encourage you to engage with Tabor 100 on one of our committees, etc…, but I also ask that you participate in these upcoming elections given the fact that there is a bullseye on the efforts that assist us all in our daily lives. And yes, we will always strive for “equity.”