Category / Client Highlights
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Ohio Minority-Owned Construction Firms Awarded $495 Million Contract From U.S. Army
Two minority-owned Ohio companies have been awarded a nearly half-billion construction contract with the United States Army. Clemons-Vazquez JV — comprised of Dayton-based Clemons Construction Co., Inc, a Black and veteran-owned small business established in 2005, and Vazquez Commercial Contracting LLC, a Hispanic-owned firm founded in Kansas City, Mo., in 2008, with additional offices in…
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Road to success: Cleveland minority-owned firms awarded major ODOT EV contract
“Opportunities such as this don’t come by often for companies like ours. Minority contractors face many roadblocks.” So says Ike Samson-Akpan, Sr., President, and founder of SAF, Inc., construction company. This summer, however, SAF and fellow minority-owned contractor Alternalite Electric, founded by Jose and Trudy Ramos, knocked these roadblocks down – with the help of…
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Black History In The Making: LaRese Purnell Of The Real Black Friday
Giving back has been an essential part LaRese Purnell’s life since childhood. Even when his family didn’t have a home, his mom made sure they volunteered to help others. Today, that message of giving back informs everything Purnell does — from his role as the Managing Partner of CLE Consulting Firm, an Accounting, Tax and…
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Black History In The Making: Clevelander Ethan Holmes And The Rise Of An Applesauce Empire
In 2005 at the age of 15, Holmes launched his first venture from the family kitchen: Holmes Made Foods. “I had to do a chocolate bar,” he says. “I’d always tell people that I was going to be the next Willy Wonka of Cleveland.” But it didn’t take long for Holmes to see that this…
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Tortilleria La Bamba – Greater Cleveland Partnership
Video about La Bamba Tortilleria
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Tortilleria La Bamba fills a need in Cleveland food scene
Leticia Ortiz saw a void in the Cleveland food scene: not enough tortillas. She decided to fill it. In 2009, she and her sister, Enedina Ortiz, founded Tortilleria La Bamba to provide fresh, high-quality tortillas to restaurants in Northeast Ohio. “We began Tortilleria La Bamba 2009 to fill a need for local restaurants,” she said on…
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Pulpo Beer Co. to open in Crocker Park
The local Latin-owned brewery establishes its own identity in the tropical-themed Westlake space. A pink octopus sculpture hovers over the door to Pulpo Beer Co. in Crocker Park, one tentacle wrapped around a pint of beer, cartoon eyes gazing up at the sky. Draped behind the concept’s Ohio-themed branding, the creature appears elsewhere inside the…
