“Sticks in a Bundle are Unbreakable” – Kenyan proverb

There are more than 430 Federal agencies throughout the country, but how many of them are working with Black-owned businesses? This was one of the goals of the “Grateful Hearts Gather” event on Friday. As several Government contracting firms met, it was not only to share business cards, but to give back to the community.

In an event that only took eight days to put together, they met at Jirani’s Coffeehouse in Manassas. Designed to collaborate and build synergy with one another, they accomplished their goal as entrepreneurs of different businesses and ages showed up. Ranging from the aerospace, defense, and health care sectors, doors were being opened up to discuss strategies on how to best utilize their resources to help one another, and provide opportunities for future projects.

Each of the businesses were able to pitch their services, as well as discuss programs such as the Emerging Leaders Program hosted by Prince William County Economic Development. In addition, each business brought at least 13 canned goods to help with distributing food through the holidays.

We spoke with Al Durr of ALD & Associates about what it meant to have this successful event in such a short time.

“The reward is the people coming in and sharing their gifts,” said Durr, who has been involved in several DEI projects, “and their capabilities that they have to promote awareness as well as economic growth in our community. It couldn’t have gone any better than what it did tonight.”

“Right now, there’s an opportunity and an appetite for greater inclusion. Whether it’s African-American, Hispanics and Asians, it’s these communities that are creating a better space for businesses to come together. We’ve worked with the Virginia State Police, and the Virginia Port Authority. We want greater unity within our workplace, and that is what drives us on a daily basis.”

“This was an appetizer to get a pulse to see where people were at. The Grateful Hearts theme was about giving back.”

While this event was focused on the food drive, they will have another one with a coat distribution being the next community project. That was the vision, said Durr, of bringing everyone together.

“Our focus was to ensure that those in our village are taken care of.”

Check out the website https://www.restaurantji.com/va/manassas/jirani-coffeehouse-/ for more details.