Mother's Day Edition The Port City Review May 2023

A Mot her ?s Lov e

President andChief ExecutiveOfficer JuliusP. Hall

ExecutiveEditor ChantayeMcLaughlin

ManagingEditor Epiphany L Williams

Senior Editor TomecaEvans

AdvertisingDirector BelindaBradley

Director of Information Technology ChrisSmith

ContributingWriters Dr Amir Toure?

Sharon Butts

CraigButts

Eboni Holmes

AshaDickerson

Harrison Davis

ChantayeMcLaughlin

LeonoraMoore-Bogus

JuliusP Hall

cont ent s

07.Pr omises Made,Pr omises Br oken

Lookingat thetourism industry in our city--what istheChamber of Commercedong?

11.Mayaangel ou-- Phenomenal Woman Poem of Excellence

17. Savannah- Chat ham Count yPubl ic School s

Graduation Scheduleat EnMarket Arena

22.JuneTeent hJubil ee- Cit y of Port Went wort h

CelebratingOur RichHeritage

30.What is AChamber Of Commer ce?

Theroleof aChamber of Commerce

39.Start Your OwnShippingContainer Business

A how to for importingandexporting---Entreprenuership

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.

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.

QueenMother

Knowledgeable

Fierce

Resilient

Consistent

Savannah - Chatham County Public Schools 2023

Commencement Excercises at Enmarket Arena

Details have been sent to families of graduating seniors along with other important information about the remaining weeks of school.

All graduating seniors will receive 15 tickets to their school's ceremony. Enmarket Arena enforce a clear bag protocol for entry into the Arena 17

Attentive

Loving

FRIDAY 6.16.2023

City of Port Wentworth

City Hall 7224

US Ga Highway 21

5PM - 9PM CELEBRATING

OUR RICH HERITAGE

Encouraging

Supportive

Overstanding

Enthusiastic

What is a Chamber of Commerce?

By: Chantaye McLaughlin

A Chamber of Commerce is defined as an organization of businesses that seeks to promote and protect the interests of its members and communities. (Dictionary.com)

The Chamber of Commerce, sometimes referred to as the Chamber, is typically a conglomerate of businesses who pay dues each year for this membership. They work collectively to support and advance community initiatives, agendas as it relates to the impact of these businesses. There are various Chambers to include local, national, and they are sometimes specialized to include The Afican American Chamber of Commerce, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce, etc. The Chamber of Commerce is designed to promote and increase finances, equity and commerce within the community by assisting with the development of its members. The Commerce typically has job fairs, promotes grand opening of businesses, educates and empowers its members around the legislation and legalities of doing business.

The first Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1599 in Marseilles, France. They have been around since the History of Mesopotamia. The earliest forms of "Chambers" were coalitions. The Chamber of Commerce was established by the local Council as a show pf government power.

The New York State Chamber of Commerce was formed in 1768. This was the first statewide Chamber of Commerce. In 1773, Charleston, South Carolina launched the first local Chamber of Commerce. Whenever the business community wanted to stand together, joining a Chamber of Commerce was always beneficial because it was a way to have their needs met by the government by them being able to stand together. It is important that individuals either join or have a well-established relationship and rapport with a Chamber of Commerce.

Welcoming

Phenomenal

Start Your Own Shipping Container Business

By: Chantaye McLaughlin

The import/export industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry in the United States and a trillion-dollar worldwide industry. By engaging in this industry, an individual can purchase a container through the Ports Authority and operate as an independent freight owner. According to the U.S. Bureau of Trade and Goods and Deficits, this month (May), the exports increased to $256.2 billion, and the imports decreased to $320.4 billion. Shipping containers can be purchased and just like there has been a boom in the trucking and freight industry, shipping containers create a similar opportunity for marginalized communities primarily. An individual can register a name for a business in the State of Georgia for $25.00. Within 30 days, that name registration comes back then you can incorporate tp am S Corp, C Corp, LLC, Sole Proprietor, and now a B Corp. When you incorporate your business, you can also register with Sam.gov to be able to bid on government contracts.

There are various certifications that can be obtained which allow businesses to compete that normally would not have the opportunity such as Minority, Women Owned, Disables Veterans and those in the HUBZone. Learn the language, control the narrative.