AHANA Organization in Spokane helps put minority businesses on the map

The state Capitol in Olympia may need as much as $350,000 in new wainscoting. Joe Mitchell, owner of Inland Millworks, covets that contract, and a mock-up panel he prepared for the contractor could give him an inside track on getting the work.

Bert Caldwell
Staff writer Spokesman Review

For a business less than 2 years old, the contract would be a coup. And timely, because Mitchell is about to more than double his manufacturing space in the Spokane Valley.

How did a preoccupied small- businessman get a line on work 300 miles away? A tip from the AHANA Business and Professional Group put Inland Millworks in the hunt.

AHANA, which stands for African-American, Hispanic, Asian and Native American, has found its stride just four years after a bare 40 organizers founded the group.

Executive Director Ben Cabildo says AHANA, with a budget of just $116,000, has already met many of the goals set by the businessmen who wanted to honor the ideals of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and raise the profile of minority enterprises in the Spokane area.

Prior to the formation of AHANA, he says, minority businesses were not only invisible to the overall business community, they were invisible to each other. Resources were scarce, and many had little prospect of success.

Other organizations were focused on social and political goals. Business had no advocate. Cabildo says that was an unfortunate void.

"If we can elevate our community economically, there will be a lot more respect for us in the general community," he says.

AHANA’s core objective: empowerment.

Some of the organization’s achievements are basic, like opening an office and building a staff. AHANA publishes an annual directory with a printing this year of 18,000 copies, as well as a monthly newsletter. A Web site, http://www.ahanabusiness.org, has attracted thousands of hits.

The AHANA database includes the names of more than 400 minority businesses and corporate supporters. The annual meeting in January sold out the 200 tickets available.

Cabildo says AHANA has become the area’s clearinghouse for information on minority business and businesses.

Much has been accomplished through partnerships, Cabildo says. Together with the Spokane Public Library, for example, AHANA co-sponsored a $45,000 grant that will be used to fund programs and books for immigrants.

Local companies that hire minority employees from outside the area seek AHANA help arranging introductions that will connect them with the community.

Or employers that want to diversify their work force may approach AHANA for referrals.

Sometimes, AHANA acts as an ombudsman when businesses or individuals feel they have been the victims of discrimination. He says members work to resolve complaints — many rooted in miscommunication — without litigating. If the matter is something AHANA cannot handle, parties are referred to the Human Rights Commission.

AHANA is an educator. Thursday, the organization and SCORE will co-sponsor a workshop on doing business with government. Cabildo, a financial planner, real estate investor and community and labor organizer in other lives, will present, as will Steve Fendos, a retired Air Force management analyst. Cabildo says the workshop, a first for AHANA, will build on earlier sessions that explained how businesses can get the certification needed to bid for work with the federal government.

Registration is open to all, not just minorities.

Perhaps AHANA’s biggest accomplishment is the consciousness-raising. Now, Cabildo says, business, government and community groups think "Who’s not here?" when organizing a new initiative. Minorities were not at the table when economic development issues were discussed in the past, he says.

Doubters remain.

"People are still looking for `What value do you bring to the community,"’ Cabildo says. "You’re so small."

But so are businesses like Inland Millworks. For Mitchell, AHANA has provided more than just a critical business reference. He located a financial planner for his parents and got help with some real estate questions. He bought gravel from another member. And it gave him something as simple as a place to go for networking.

"I’ve met some really good people," he says.

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