2 min read December 2021 — Much of the Greater Fort Lauderdale economy is based on tourism, which took a big hit from the pandemic. Keith Blackburn, president and CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale LGBT Chamber of Commerce, believes business will come back stronger with new hotels and the influx of new residents to the area.
What are some key successes for the chamber in the last 12 months?
One of the big things that we do at the chamber is social networking. Before COVID, we were doing monthly events with 100 to150 people attending. Suddenly, those events were all canceled. However, we started to provide support to our member businesses and the community in general for things like the Small Business Administration disaster loans and PPP loans. On April 30 of last year, we hosted a TD Bank COVID-19 financial seminar. It helped a lot of people. In the seminar, we also had the participation of the Florida Atlantic University Small Business Development Center and the Community Loan Fund. We did several other seminars on PPP loans as well.
We’re affiliated with the NGLCC – National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, which is based in Washington, D.C., and they have been a huge resource and asset to us. They have a lot of governmental resources and a lot of partners at different corporations. One of the main things that we do is provide support to help certify LGBTQ minority-owned businesses. Through this initiative, we’ve been able to provide help and support to our small business community in Broward County. Recently, we partnered with the NGLCC and Grubhub to provide a combined $2 million in grant money which was targeted at LGBTQ owned and allied restaurants and bars with a food component.
What do you see as the main challenges for the business community moving forward?
A lot of the challenges for our member businesses are the same as in the general business community. Workforce shortages and the supply chain issues are affecting all of us. In addition, we are facing huge cost increases in doing business. As an example, we publish an annual LGBT+ travel guide. We have kept the advertising costs the same for the past few years – in an effort to keep the costs to our members as low as possible. In the time between the printing quote two months ago and today, we are facing an increase of about 40%. This will severely impact our profit margin. To keep the cost at the latest increase, we were required to pre-pay for the paper and ink.
What is the Business Connect initiative?
That program was designed as a matchmaker program, so to speak. For example, if a business delivers a particular product or service but has been unable to find a specific point of contact within a specific company, we make the connection for them. The program is about connecting businesses with other business members within our chamber.
What services do your members require from the chamber at this point?
They mostly want in-person networking. In April, we resumed our in-person networking but it was initially very limited. It was an outdoor venue, limited to 50 people. Still, it was very successful. In June, we had our first luncheon hosted at Thasos and presented by Broward Health Imperial Point. It was sold out and everyone had an amazing time. Guests listened to remarks from the hospital CEO, Fort Lauderdale’s Mayor Trantalis and Broward County Commissioner Dr. Barbara Sharief. Our last few mixer events were at capacity. We are definitely in a better place than this time last year.
Is there anything on the legislative agenda either locally, statewide, or nationally that you are following specifically?
The anti-trans legislation that was recently signed by the governor made national news. It bans transgender youth in Florida from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity. This was an entirely baseless transphobic ruling. From a business perspective, it has harmed us in terms of attracting groups and conferences to the region. There has been a lot of pushback from some of the corporate sponsors for the upcoming NGLCC Summit. Others have canceled as a result.
What is the landscape for businesses in the region and what issues might arise from the population influx?
Most of our economy is based on tourism and at last count, five new hotels are scheduled to open in the next year. We have a lot of younger professionals coming from places like New York and other areas because of our beautiful weather and the lack of a state income tax. One concerning issue is affordable housing. In South Florida, the housing cost is a higher percentage of the average income than anywhere in the country right now and I don’t think that’s sustainable for the long term. So, either salary must go up or rents must come down. We’re also experiencing a huge housing boom right now and that is driving the cost even higher.
What is Fort Lauderdale and Broward going to look like moving forward?
Downtown Fort Lauderdale has already changed. Other areas are also growing and changing.
There are more restaurants, cafés, shopping and nightlife options. Five years ago, Downtown was primarily comprised of offices, but with more and more residential buildings, the mix has and continues to change. I am a resident in Las Olas and the changes have been dramatic. The challenges are and will continue to be traffic, cost of housing and maintaining a good quality of life for everyone. Keeping that balance is key.
What’s your general outlook for the chamber and the region?
We’re looking to the future and our projection is that things will come back and will come back stronger. With COVID, we learned not to look too far in advance without some caution. Dynamics are changing rapidly. Overall, I think we are poised for a great future and I think we’ve also learned a lot from the past 18+ months. It’s difficult to know what’s going to happen. We also operate a visitor center and we’ve renewed our three-year lease. We’re here for the long term and we look forward to continued growth.
For more information, visit:
https://www.gogayfortlauderdale.com/
