CL-August 2024 - 4

OUR COMMUNITIES
Cooperative Living
ISSN 1529-4579
VOL. 79, NO. 8 ●
OUR MISSION
To inform you about your cooperative and
its eff orts to serve your energy needs; how to
use electricity safely and effi ciently; and the
people who defi ne and enhance the quality of
life in communities served by electric co-ops.
GREGG MACDONALD * Executive Editor
LAURA EMERY * Deputy Editor
JOHN GROTT * Creative Services Coordinator
MARIN SANDERS * Creative Services Representative
SONJA KINNEY * Advertising Account Representative
JIM ROBERTSON * Manager of Member Services
TOMMY CAMPBELL * Digital Producer
NINA JACOBS * Production Coordinator
Published by the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware
Association of Electric Cooperatives
C. MICHAEL SANDRIDGE * Chair
GEORGE N. GOIN * Vice Chair
FRANK W. BACON * Secretary/Treasurer
BRIAN S. MOSIER* President & CEO
Board of Directors: Christopher D. Bott, Belvin Williamson Jr., A&N;
C. Michael Sandridge, Bill Buchanan, BARC; George N. Goin,
Gary E. Wood, Central Virginia; Robert E. Arnold, Micheal E. Malandro,
Choptank; Jeannette S. Everett, Steven A. Harmon, Community;
James E. Huff man, Jeff M. Ahearn, Craig-Botetourt; Patricia S. Dorey,
Rob A. Book, Delaware; Fletcher B. Jones, Casey J. Logan, Mecklenburg;
Russell G. Brown, Brad H. Hicks, Northern Neck; Wade C. House,
David E. Schleicher, Northern Virginia; David T. Kindle, M. Brad Coppock,
Powell Valley; Herbert R. Patrick, Sarat K. Yellepeddi, Prince George;
Sanford Reaves Jr., John D. Hewa, Rappahannock; G. Todd Van Horn,
Greg S. Rogers, Shenandoah Valley; Frank W. Bacon, Jason C. Loehr,
Southside.
To advertise in Cooperative Living, contact:
advertising@co-opliving.com 804-297-3429
National Advertising Representative:
AMP, 611 South Congress Ave., Suite 504,
Austin, Texas 78704 * 800-626-1181
Member of AMP network of
publications, reaching more than
9 million homes and businesses.
To change your subscription,
contact your electric cooperative.
For editorial inquiries, contact
editor@co-opliving.com.
COOPERATIVE LIVING (USPS 473-300) is published
10 times a year, monthly except for combined JanuaryFebruary
and November-December issues, by the VMD
Association of Electric Cooperatives. POSTMASTER,
address changes should be sent to: Cooperative Living,
4201 Dominion Blvd., Suite 101, Glen Allen, VA 23060,
804-346-3344. Periodicals Postage paid at Glen Allen, VA,
and additional mailing offi ces. Subscription: $5.69 per year
for members of subscribing co-ops; $10 per year for all others.
ADVERTISING published is accepted on the premise that
the merchandise and services off ered are accurately described
and willingly sold to customers at the advertised price.
Neither this magazine nor the electric cooperatives in Virginia,
Maryland and Delaware endorse any products or services
advertised herein. If any readers encounter noncompliance
with these standards, they are asked to inform the Association.
Please recycle.
2 * Cooperative Living * August 2024
In the Black
Celebrating diversity in business
by Gregg MacDonald, Staff Writer
AUGUST IS NATIONAL BLACK BUSINESS MONTH, a recognition that began in 2004
when civil engineer, businessman, activist, veteran and author Fredrick E. Jordan, working
with John William Templeton, president and executive editor of the Access Corporation,
advocated for a national annual acknowledgment of Black-owned American businesses.
According to the Minority Business Development Agency, the overall goal of National
Black Business Month is to encourage people to purchase goods and services from
Black-owned businesses in August to help raise awareness and support these businesses.
For generations, Black-owned businesses have made signifi cant contributions to
America's economy. Since the late 1700s, free and enslaved Black people have opened
barbershops, tobacco shops, shoemaking shops and other small businesses. The real boom
in Black business growth was during the period of 1900-1930, particularly in the South.
This was a time of remarkable expansion, driven by the resilience and determination of
Black entrepreneurs in the face of segregation imposed by Jim Crow Laws.
One such business was started by Richmond, Va., native S.J. Gilpin, born in 1850 of free
parents. He learned the shoemaking trade from his father and opened a shoe shop in 1873.
Another was a watchmaking and jewelry business, also started in Richmond by Elijah Jackson
Crane around the same time.
These early Black entrepreneurs were both featured in the Richmond Planet, a
Black-owned newspaper founded by 13 former Richmond slaves in 1882. Its fi rst editor
was Edmund Archer Randolph, the fi rst Black graduate of Yale Law School.
According to the Department of Small and Local Business Development, the economic
impact of Black-owned businesses is signifi cant. As of the latest census data release,
there are currently 3.12 million Black-owned businesses in the U.S. today, generating a
substantial $206 billion in annual revenue and supporting 3.56 million U.S. jobs.
*
co-opliving.com
Elijah Jackson Crane's
watch and jewelry store,
Richmond, Va.,
circa 1899.
PHOTO COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

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CL-August 2024

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