Page 15 - Florida Sentinel 1-29-16 Edition

Feature
The Southern Florida Minority Supplier Development Council (SFMSDC) Changes Name To Reflect Expanded Service Area
MBEs now represents $8.8 Billion in sales and 75,067 em- ployees across Florida; ex- panding into Tampa
Miami — The Southern Florida Minority Supplier De- velopment Council (SFMSDC), a non-profit organization ded- icated to advancing access and growth for minority busi- nesses in Florida, announced today that it is changing its name to Florida State Mi- nority Supplier Development Council (FSMSDC) to reflect an expanded service area that now includes Central and Northern Florida.
The Council is led by Beat- rice Louissaint, whose role as SFMSDC CEO and presi- dent has expanded to cover the entire state as CEO and presi- dent of the FSMSDC. The or- ganization is set to roll out a variety of new services and programs to its corporate members and MBEs
statewide.
FSMSDC, an affiliate of the
National Minority Supplier Development Council Inc. (NMSDC), will be headquar- tered in Miami with regional offices and staff in Orlando, Tampa and Tallahassee.
A transition advisory com- mittee has been established and is chaired by April Harley of Duke Energy, with corporate and MBE represen- tation from the entire state of Florida. The committee’s main role is to guide a smooth tran- sition during the next few months.
The Council is currently in the process of updating its branding with new logos, web- site, e-mail addresses and more – which will be rolled out in the coming weeks.
For additional information, please visit www.sfmsdc.org. To access the online media kit please visit https://goo.gl/BABl4P.
Old West Tampa Neighborhood Association Celebrates Arbor Day
On Wednesday, January 20th the Old West Tampa and McFarland Park Neighbor- hood Associations in partner- ship with the City of Tampa Parks and Recreation Division held a tree planting ceremony at the E. J. Salcines Park in honor of National Arbor Day. The park located at 1705 North Howard Avenue is the business district of Old West Tampa.
The ceremony opened with Judge E. J. Salcines giving an oral history of the park. Others in attendance in- cluded: Melisa Martin, President McFarland Neigh- borhood Association; Thom Snelling, Director of Plan- ning and Development; Rob Irving, Urban Forestry; Dwight Bolden community activist and students from Dunbar Middle Magnet School.
Abeba Salter-Woods, the newly elected President of the Old West Tampa Neigh-
JUDGE E. J. SALCINES AND ABEBA SALTER-WOODS
borhood Association (OWTNA), closed the cere- mony by reviewing the rich legacies of West Tampa left by the Clara Frye Hospital, Buddy Anthony, Moses White, The Bexelys and the Henrys of the famed Bar-B- Cue King.
According to Ms. Salter-
Woods, the goal of the OWTNA is to assist residents with community clean-ups, crime prevention and other areas that negatively affect their quality of life. OWTNA meetings are held at 6:30 PM the 4th Monday of every month at the MLK Center, 2200 North Oregon.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2016 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 3-B