The African Cultural Alliance of North America Inc. (ACANA) facilitated the election of the leadership of Woodland Avenue Business Association (WABA) on December 7th, 2019 at the 12th District Police Station on Woodland Avenue, in Southwest Philadelphia. The election was coordinated by Mr. Fredrick S. Gibson Sr. of the US- Liberia Chamber of Commerce and Mr. Roger Kern, a Senior Business Services Manager of the Philadelphia Department of Commerce, who substituted for co-chair Mr. Jabari Jones of West Philadelphia Collaborative Corridors.
WABA has been dormant for the past several years and ACANA, serving as the Commercial Corridor under contract with the City of Philadelphia Department of Commerce, through its Neighborhood Economic Development (NED) Program, organized the election in collaboration with the Women’s Opportunity Resource Center (WORC) and officers of the 12th District Police. The NED program is intended to support small business growth and development on commercial corridors throughout the city. The result of the election was as follows: Mr. Musa Barry-President, Ms. Mamie Kamara-Vice President, Mr. Musa Doumbia-Secretary and Ms. Jeannet Mulbah-Treasurer.
leadership
The occasion was graced by the presence of Congressman Dwight E. Evans of the Democratic Party, who serves as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania’s 3rd congressional district. He is the Vice-Chair of the House Small Business Committee, where he serves on the Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight, and Regulations. He is also a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, where he serves on the Subcommittee on Health and Subcommittee on Worker and Family Support. During the event, the congressman registered his appreciations to the funders, organizers, participants and to the police officers of the 12th District Station for their diligent service in protecting the community. He said, “The Police are our first emergency response team, we first call on
them for anything and for everything, including if our pets get annoyed with us”. According to the Congressman, the citizens even call the police when there is a squirrel in the tree in their backyard.
He applauded the City of Philadelphia Department of Commerce for funding community agencies like ACANA to help organize the business association on the Woodland Avenue commercial corridor. He thanked other partners including the Women’s Opportunity Resource Center (WORC) for providing entrepreneurial training, individual business assistance, incentive savings programs, and access to business and financial resources. He recognized SCORE for providing free education to entrepreneurs through mentoring, workshops and educational resources. He thanked members of the Philly Complete Count 2020 Committee for attending the event to encourage people to participate in the upcoming census. He informed the audience about the importance of being counted in the census, which he said will be used to determine the congressional funding allotment for each state, and he further commended the small business owners for creating jobs as well as preserving the livelihood of people in communities across the country.
