UHV hosts Black Chamber of Commerce board meetings in new building
A community organization focused on promoting minority-owned businesses is taking advantage of the new meeting space in the University of Houston-Victoria’s University North building.
The Golden Crescent Black Chamber of Commerce Inc. Board of Directors is holding its meetings from 6 to 9 p.m. on the third Monday of each month in the Donna and Roger Welder Executive Conference Room inside University North. The board previously met in the UHV University Center.
“We’ve had two meetings in the Welder Conference Room already, and we love the space,” said Eric Leonard, chair of the chamber board and a veterans academic advisor at Victoria College. “The room has plenty of amenities and technology options that we can use, and we are planning to use other areas in the building for workshops and training sessions in the future.”
The board had been looking for a new meeting location for awhile when board member Margaret Rice, who works at UHV as special assistant to the provost and a UHV faculty member, suggested the new building as a meeting site. Once University North was completed in August, the chamber decided to move its board meetings.
“This is the perfect location because it is on the university campus and close to Victoria College,” Leonard said. “It fits in very well with the new direction we’re going as the Black Chamber of Commerce. It’s in the right place at the right time.”
The chamber is looking forward to growing its relationships with higher education institutions because education is important to the success of business owners, Leonard said. The chamber offers bimonthly trainings for minority business owners and those thinking about becoming entrepreneurs. Upcoming sessions also will take place in University North.
“The Kay and Ron Walker Auditorium is an ideal space for our workshops,” Leonard said. “The sessions typically focus on issues related to small, minority-owned businesses, and we often collaborate with the UHV Small Business Development Center, which also is located in University North.”
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.
