MINORITIES
Micron executives meet with officials from Upstate Minority Economic Alliance. The executives are, from left, Bo Machayo, Fran Dillard, Heather Baldwin and Robert Simmons.
Helping Minority-Owned Businesses UMEA has seen a greater influx of new members. Nonprofit, known as Minority Chamber of Commerce, helps minority businesses grow in CNY By Stefan Yablonski
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inority businesses in CNY have a strong advocate in Me’Shae Rolling. In September 2020, she became executive director of Upstate Minority Economic Alliance (UMEA) in Syracuse. Founded in 2015, UMEA remains the only minority chamber of commerce in the 16-county Upstate New York region. Its board of directors is comprised of some of the region’s most prominent members and organizations and is “exploring means and initiatives to combat an economy plagued by economic disparity,” Rolling said. The nonprofit’s mission is “to harness the economic power of the mi-
nority community for the benefit of the Upstate and Central New York region, with a vision to create greater regional prosperity through enhanced minority economic opportunity,” she explained. UMEA’s vision: “We strive to create a greater regional prosperity through enhanced minority economic opportunity,” according to its website. UMEA and CenterState CEO partnered to create the region’s first minority chamber of commerce, which works on behalf of minority business owners and as an agency for economic development focused on professionals of color. Through its alliance, UMEA and CenterState CEO offers members of each organization greater opportunity
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to connect, network and collaborate, while advancing shared goals to create a more inclusive economy. Rolling planned to grow the group. It already had about 150 members by December 2020. It has 170 members nowadays, she said, primarily African American and Latino.
UMEA ‘exploded’ “I’m running UMEA solo. I am in the process of hiring not one but two people to help me expand capacity. UMEA has exploded! Our membership has exploded,” she said, emphasizing the word. “The chamber, the grants every-
