From left: Rose Gundersen, Ollie Garrett, President, CEO of Tabor 100, Brian Sims, Tabor 100 Board chair, Jimmy Matta (with his back to us,) Burien City Council member, unknown/meeting participant, Dr. Karen Johnson, Director of the Office of Equity.

The House hearing on the Retail Workforce bill, HB 2019, provided an opportunity for a warm invitation to attend Tabor 100’s January meeting. Tabor 100 is a business organization dedicated to economic power, educational excellence, and social equity for African Americans and the community at large.

This invitation could not have come at a better time because Tabor 100 is one of the minority businesses organizations we have identified to strengthen small business advocacy and link arms under our Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiative.

Last week’s January in-person meeting started with a methodical COVID safety registration process for all attendees. Everyone was abuzz with positive energy in the meeting room, and you could just imagine the big smiles behind their masks. Best of all, I was able to have an in-person re-visit with Dr. Karen Johnson, the Governor’s Director of Equity, and Burien’s Hispanic Councilmember Jimmy Matta.

Ollie Garrett, the organization’s President, opened the meeting with a message emphasizing the power of networking in person to strengthen the connectivity among members. It is obvious that Tabor 100 has gained attention from the state government because representatives of several agencies were present to network and provide resources for black businesses to access state contracting opportunities.

Washington Retail is looking forward to finding alignment and mutual support opportunities with Tabor 100 and other similar organizations because such partnerships will further the authentic realization of our JEDI principles.