By Megan Sayles
AFRO Business Writer
msayles@afro.com
The AFRO ranked 81 in the 2023 Inner City 100 (IC100) Awards, a recognition given by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC). The organization celebrates the 100 fastest-growing businesses in underserved communities across the country. The ceremony took place during ICIC’s Annual Conference, which was held in Miami on Dec. 11 through Dec. 12.
The AFRO, for 131 years, has centered the Black community in its award-winning coverage. The organization joined several other Baltimore-based businesses, including MD Energy Advisors, SCB Management and Watkins Security Agency, as IC100 Award winners.
“Sometimes when people hear ‘legacy’ and ‘Black newspaper,’ they’re thinking old, dated and not relevant. But, that’s not who we are, and that’s not who we’ve been over 131 years. The company has had to innovate at every stage,” said Frances “Toni” Draper, publisher of the AFRO. “What’s not old is the fact that people need accurate information. We still need to highlight our successes and our community, and no one does it better than the Black press.”
The AFRO was founded in 1892 by Draper’s great-grandfather John Henry Murphy, a former enslaved man, with a $200 investment from his wife, Martha Howard Murphy. The family-owned, legacy newspaper has transformed itself into a media company over the years.
“We still need to highlight our successes and our community, and no one does it better than the Black Press.”
Recently the media company rolled out its Digital Billboard Network, a program where businesses across the Greater Baltimore area feature original content from the AFRO on on-site screens. Its philanthropic sister organization, Afro Charities, is also currently in the process of digitizing nearly 3 million photos, letters, business records, audio recordings and reporter’s notebooks from the AFRO’s 131-year-old archival collection. Both companies are looking forward to the upcoming renovation of the Upton Mansion in West Baltimore, where all offices and the AFRO Archives will be housed together.
This was the first time the AFRO was named a winner in the IC100.
“We were thrilled to be among the IC100,” said Draper. “They measured your success over a four-year period. These are the best small businesses in the country based on the criteria they used to judge, which was mostly revenue growth and community impact.”
ICIC’s mission is to propel inclusive economic prosperity in under-resourced communities across the country. Its other initiatives include the Inner City Capital Connections, Building for Growth and Succession Ready.
ICIC started the IC100 in 1999. The 2023 IC100 winners represented 23 distinct industries, hailing from 54 cities and 26 states, and had an average revenue growth of 454 percent from 2018 to 2022.
Fifty-seven percent of them were BIPOC-led or -owned and 50 percent were woman-led or -owned. Together, the firms created more than 2,700 jobs from 2018 to 2022.
“They’re proven catalysts and they’re engines for job growth,” said Steve Grossman, CEO of ICIC. “Over the years, they’ve contributed to the enhancement of their community because they always know that–no matter how successful their business is– unless they’re reinvesting back into the life of their community, lifting people up to create better wellness outcomes and sustainable small business ecosystems, the work is not really getting done.”
“I salute them for their investment in the communities in which they live, charitable causes, organizations and the lives of their employees,” said Grossman.
Megan Sayles is a Report For America corps member.
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