Black Business Association of Oregon unveils strategic roadmap ahead of 2027 legislative session
Oregon’s Black business community has never had a coordinated development agenda — until now.
In an interview on KGW’s “Straight Talk,” leaders with the Black Business Association of Oregon, or BBAO, outlined a new Strategic Roadmap designed to translate years of coalition-building into concrete policy wins ahead of the 2027 Oregon legislative session.
The organization, officially formed in 2022, grew out of a question few people were asking in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, they said: “Why was Floyd using a counterfeit $20 bill in the first place?”
“I think what it did is it catalyzed a lot of momentum and movement around social inequities and injustices that exist in our country,” said Alando Simpson, chair for the board of directors of BBAO and CEO of City of Roses Disposal & Recycling. He and other Black business members of the Portland Metro Chamber began organizing around what he calls the “invisible knee” — a metaphor for the economic barriers facing Black Americans that, in his view, receive far less attention than social or environmental justice concerns.
Building visibility and coalition
Nate McCoy, interim executive director of BBAO and CEO of the National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMC Oregon), said one of the organization’s first priorities was simply making Black-owned businesses findable. The association built a custom CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system to connect with businesses across the state — whether they’re in Pendleton or in Portland — and track their needs around contracting opportunities, capital access, and technical assistance.
So far, the organization has identified more than 500 Black-owned businesses in Oregon, though McCoy said the true number is likely higher. He said the association hopes to partner with the Secretary of State’s office to capture businesses at the point of registration.
The database has also helped fuel events like the Black Business Breakfast forum held in March, which brought together policymakers, agency decision-makers, banks, and private sector leaders for what McCoy describes as a robust conversation about what Black businesses need to achieve parity.
The roadmap and what comes next
With Oregon climbing out of a recession, McCoy said the timing of the roadmap is deliberate. As the state recovers, the association wants Black business concerns embedded in the policy response — not added as an afterthought.
“We want to make sure that Black business concerns are not just at the table but a part of making policy changes that support their business lines, which is not just synonymous with to Black businesses, but really all small businesses that are the backbone for Oregon and across our nation,” McCoy said.
Simpson emphasized that the roadmap reflects genuine community input, gathered through a coalition that now includes mainstream economic organizations.
“What we’ve invested a lot of sweat equity in over the past several years is building coalition,” Simpson said, “and it’s not just solely within our own communities, but it’s also with more conventional organizations like the Portland Metro Chamber, like Oregon Business and Industry, like Oregon Business Council, and a lot of other organizations who advocate for economic development and business matters. We’re trying to make sure that there is a voice that is very honest and unapologetic about the needs within the Black community.”
On the legislative front, Simpson pointed to the state’s roughly $70 billion annual budget as both the problem and the opportunity. Decades of disparity studies, he said, consistently show that public dollars are not reaching Black-owned businesses at equitable rates. The roadmap is intended to identify specific legislative vehicles that would change that — and create accountability mechanisms to ensure they deliver.
Income gap drives urgency
McCoy said the data point that concerns him most is household income. According to U.S. Census data, Black households in Oregon hover around $55,000 annually, compared to roughly $85,000 for white households — a gap made more acute by rising housing costs that wages have not kept pace with.
“If we can incrementally over time change that trajectory,” McCoy said, “we’ll see a little bit more parity with folks having a little bit more ease in their pocketbooks.”
On a more optimistic note, McCoy said Black Oregonians have demonstrated strong entrepreneurial drive. What’s been missing, he argued, is sustained support — particularly around technical assistance, which he said remains chronically underfunded across both the public and private sectors.
The second interview this week on KGW’s “Straight Talk” was a candid conversation about addiction, recovery and prevention in Oregon. The leaders from 4D Recovery in Oregon, Tony Vezina, co-founder and executive director, and Pam Pearce, board member and longtime prevention advocate, joined the show.
