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FROM THE CEO
Welcome to OUR magazine. We are a monthly publication that will be bringing information and content to Our community to better inform Our citizens. Each month we hope to cover the subjects you want to read more about. Unlike the mainstream media, at OUR Black Media, we will highlight positive events, progressive leaderships, and movers and shakers in our community, our state, and our nation
Our monthly publications will thrive to showcase fairness, openness, and transparency. We inform, you decide. Please stay with us while we're in our infancy, and join our growth by letting us know what is important to you in a publication like this. All advice is welcomed, and we also accept letters to the editor.
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Our main goal is to bring information that uplifts and moves all of us forward In the long term, we hope to start a dialogue that will begin to create ans Agenda for America Not just a Black Agenda, but a People's Agenda
Our first two digital magazines, The Port City Review and Hello Savannah, currently goes out to over 50,000 emails in our area. We're projecting an August 5th date for Hello Atlanta and Hello Jacksonville, our newest publications.
Each month will be something you'll be excited to turn the pages of This month is our Mother's Day Edition, where we CELEBRATE and Honor some of the city's GREAT MOTHERS and in June, we will CELEBRATE and honor some of the city's most OUTSTANDING FATHERS.
WE hope through this publication we show our readers the greatness of OUR community in every aspect, from politics to community activism, from sports to entertainment, and from finance to love and relationships
This publication is only available to the general public in a digital format now, with a limited number of printed hard copies. Coming very soon, you'll be able to subscribe to get your hard copy in the mail.
So stay tuned, and as always, share, share, share
Julius Hall, President OUR Media Group

By: Chantaye McLaughlin
A little over a year ago, The Port Wenttworth Chamber of Commerce had a presentation at a Port Wentworth City Council meeting and promised to do certain things that would help grow this city. Since that day there's absolutely no evidence that there have been any attempts to keep any of those many promises.
They put on a presentation that had so many ideas and even had a real Chamber Official, Sabrina Newby, of the Low County Minority Chamber, to present at the Council Meeting along with them. They promised to make the Chamber more diverse. They promised to promote smart growth. They promised to be more visible to the entire business community.
Chairman
Kristine Hamilton

Vice Chairman

Vicki Waters

Secretary
Treasurer
Donna Latham

Board Member
Alfred Boyett
Board Member
Royce Patrick

Staff
Janice Cantrell

Rosetta Franklin
Fast forward--1 year later, with the organization needing a new director, Sabrina Newby applies for the position and is rejected. Alfred and Trisha Boyett told City Officials that Ms. Newby wasn't qualified for the position. The same Sabrina Newby, that runs a Chamber organization ten times the size of the Port Wentworth Chamber. Ms. Newby, a Black woman, presented before the Council to help the now existing Chamber, receive the contract that is in existiance. The Port Wentworth Chamber hired a friend of the Boyett's, Kristine Hamilton, a hotel director, to run the Port Wentworth Chamber of Commerce. Riddle me this, why wasn't she introduced to the City Council at it's April meeting? Was she put in position just to be a figurehead? After looking at the website for the Port Wentworth Chamber, it was found that there are seven (7) Board Members, six (6) white and one (1) black. It was also discovered that six (6) of the seven (7) do not reside in Chatham County, the Black member is believed to not be an active member and the website is full of information that is not accurate and false. The website seems to not have been updated since the Chamber re-established the contract, with the exception of a hastily placed photo of the new chairperson that seems to have been pulled off of Facebook.
This Chamber is being misguided in the least and doesn't have an idea in the most. What ideas are they currently working on with the Council? What historical Port Wentworth sites are they currently working on to showcase to visitors to our city? How much money are they being given yearly from the hotel taxes? What are those funds being spent on? What does anyone staying in one of Port Wentworth's sixteen (16) hotels have to be excited about staying over to visit or tour? How is the relationship between the Chamber and the business community of Port Wentworth?
There are too many unanswered questions. Something has to be done and it needs to be addressed immediately. If we're going to require our elected officials to be held accountable, transparent and accessible, then so to should be the requirement for any entity receiving taxpayer funds.