‘‘There is a necessity for support and we are trying, through networking, to be that support mechanism,” said Willie Mahone, a founding member of the Frederick County African-American Chamber of Commerce. ‘‘This is more important when you have not historically been a part of mainstream business ... People were precluded from getting into business before, so there is a deficit of those experiences.”

Formed in 2003, the chamber is ‘‘an umbrella,” Mahone said, working to help black businesses, whether through mentoring and education opportunities or promoting services among members and to the community.

‘‘From what I have seen, there has been no mechanism for connectivity and that is something we need to work on,” said Betron Hill, another of the chamber’s founding members. ‘‘What is more important than the numbers [of black-owned businesses] is that there are real opportunities for minorities and women.”

Richard Griffin, director of the Frederick’s department of economic development, said his agency does not keep statistics on the number of black-owned businesses in the city. But, Griffin said minority businesses are on the rise, as is the minority population in general.

In 2006, blacks made up 17 percent of the city’s population, a 2 percent increase from the previous year.

‘‘As our community becomes more diverse, we expect to see more diversity in the business community,” Griffin said.

As president of the Frederick Club of the National Association of the Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Rosalind Munyiri-Wilson said her civic group is also working to highlight services for the black community. The group holds minority fairs and publishes a biannual directory of black businesses and organizations.

‘‘... We need to encourage African-American businesses and show that they can be viable,” she said. ‘‘If you are going to spend money, we want you to spend it with us. If you’re African-American, why spend it somewhere if the product is comparable?”

Sharing experiences

For 14 years, Frederick native Gary Rollins has run Rollins Funeral Home on West South Street, the only such black-owned business in the city.

Rollins says a key to his success has been advertising, especially including a photograph of himself in ads. ‘‘If someone looked in the phone book and you don’t indicate ‘black-owned’ [somehow], they will never know you are there,” he said. ‘‘There are certain traditions in black funerals other [funeral homes] may not be aware of. If people are aware [I’m a black-owned business] they know I can cater to them.”

His advice for other black-owned businesses is to ‘‘get in the public eye and let them know what you do.” Rollins is also a strong advocate of networking, as he refers business to other black-owned agencies and hopes they do the same for him.

Sharing knowledge and contacts is also a belief of Kervin Spivey, owner and president of Jen-esis Communications on North Market Street.

Using his telecommunications experiences from 20 years in the military, Spivey went through the ‘‘challenges” and ‘‘red tape” of getting federal small business loans and works to market his skills to the government, commercial and residential customers.

Spivey is also using his skills to help fellow black business owners. ‘‘I can help African-Americans do things with their business they may not know about,” he said. ‘‘If I can aid them in working with the government ... or with their Web site, I can use what I’ve learned. A lot of us, being African-Americans ... haven’t been in business as long as other groups, so we can use more education.”

Searching for support

Three years ago, A. Renee Smith moved to Frederick with her company, Affiliated Entertainment Industries Inc., providers of entertainment ranging from singers to magicians. She has been working in entertainment since 1967.

While she has maintained business contacts from her time in the Washington, D.C. area, Smith said she is struggling to make connections to both black customers and businesses in Frederick.

‘‘I want to be thorough and let everyone know about me and know there are others out there,” she said. ‘‘It is important to me because you don’t want to feel like you are alone out here.”

Smith does her part through Information Services Unlimited, another small company offering clerical assistance to fellow small businesses, including copyrights and telemarketing lists.

One of the key factors Griffin and Mahone note as an obstacle to small and minority businesses is access to finances, and Smith said she is no different.

Once a paralegal, Smith gave that up and decided to focus full-time on her small business endeavors, but may have to go back to work. ‘‘Too small” for most federal small business loans, Smith said she is looking for answers to keep her businesses going.

‘‘I hope all the work I’ve done for the last three years doesn’t go to waste,” she said.

Moyo Edun, president and CEO of the Frederick County African-American Chamber of Commerce, said the group is working with local agencies to point small business owners to available resources.

The chamber is involved with the Small Business Development Center, at the county’s office of economic development, offering small business loans. The group has also worked with the county and city on minority business databases, used to help keep businesses connect with municipal bids.

‘‘We [the chamber, the county and city] are all economic development partners,” she said.

About This Series

This is the third story in an occasional series about Frederick County’s diverse populations and how they continue to evolve. Read other stories online by typing ‘‘Community in Transition” into the search engine at www.gazette.net.