AFRO ranks 81 in the Inner City 100 Awards

By Megan Sayles AFRO Enterprise Writermsayles@afro.com

The AFRO ranked 81 within the 2023 Internal Metropolis 100 (IC100) Awards, a recognition given by the Initiative for a Aggressive Internal Metropolis (ICIC). The group celebrates the 100 fastest-growing companies in underserved communities throughout the nation. The ceremony passed off throughout ICIC’s Annual Convention, which was held in Miami on Dec. 11 by means of Dec. 12. 

The AFRO, for 131 years, has centered the Black neighborhood in its award-winning protection. The group joined a number of different Baltimore-based companies, together with MD Vitality Advisors, SCB Administration and Watkins Safety Company, as IC100 Award winners.

“Generally when individuals hear ‘legacy’ and ‘Black newspaper,’ they’re considering previous, dated and never related. However, that’s not who we’re, and that’s not who we’ve been over 131 years. The corporate has needed to innovate at each stage,” mentioned Frances “Toni” Draper, writer of the AFRO. “What’s not previous is the truth that individuals want correct data. We nonetheless want to spotlight our successes and our neighborhood, and nobody does it higher than the Black press.” 

The AFRO was based in 1892 by Draper’s great-grandfather John Henry Murphy, a former enslaved man, with a $200 funding from his spouse, Martha Howard Murphy. The family-owned, legacy newspaper has remodeled itself right into a media firm through the years. 

Not too long ago the media firm rolled out its Digital Billboard Community, a program the place companies throughout the Higher Baltimore space function unique content material from the AFRO on on-site screens. Its philanthropic sister group, Afro Charities, can be presently within the means of digitizing practically 3 million pictures, letters, enterprise information, audio recordings and reporter’s notebooks from the AFRO’s 131-year-old archival assortment. Each corporations are wanting ahead to the upcoming renovation of the Upton Mansion in West Baltimore, the place all workplaces and the AFRO Archives will probably be housed collectively. 

This was the primary time the AFRO was named a winner within the IC100. 

“We had been thrilled to be among the many IC100,” mentioned Draper. “They measured your success over a four-year interval. These are the most effective small companies within the nation primarily based on the standards they used to evaluate, which was principally income development and neighborhood impression.” 

ICIC’s mission is to propel inclusive financial prosperity in under-resourced communities throughout the nation. Its different initiatives embody the Internal Metropolis Capital Connections, Constructing for Progress and Succession Prepared. 

ICIC began the IC100 in 1999. The 2023 IC100 winners represented 23 distinct industries, hailing from 54 cities and 26 states, and had a mean income development of 454 % from 2018 to 2022. 

Fifty-seven % of them had been BIPOC-led or -owned and 50 % had been woman-led or -owned. Collectively, the companies created greater than 2,700 jobs from 2018 to 2022.

“They’re confirmed catalysts and so they’re engines for job development,” mentioned Steve Grossman, CEO of ICIC. “Over time, they’ve contributed to the enhancement of their neighborhood as a result of they at all times know that–regardless of how profitable their enterprise is– until they’re reinvesting again into the lifetime of their neighborhood, lifting individuals as much as create higher wellness outcomes and sustainable small enterprise ecosystems, the work isn’t actually getting completed.”

“I salute them for his or her funding within the communities through which they reside, charitable causes, organizations and the lives of their workers,” mentioned Grossman. 

Megan Sayles is a Report For America corps member.