Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 12, 1993 TAG: 9311120113
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The 1993-94 edition of Roanoke's Black Pages had a press run of 15,000 copies, according to Gerry McCants, president of Black Pages USA Inc., the Portsmouth company that publishes it. The same number will be printed next year, but an effort will be made to extend the publication's reach into the large black communities south of the metro area, he said.
The directory "has allowed everyone an opportunity to see there are African-American business people out there," said Gregory Fittz, a Life of Virginia insurance agent in Roanoke.
Fittz was among a group of business people attending a breakfast reception sponsored by the directory's publisher at the Harrison Museum of African American Culture.
The first Black Pages directory was started in Atlanta 18 years ago, said Darrin Thomas, vice president of Black Pages USA. "All the major cities have gotten them and now a lot of smaller cities [are] getting into the concept."
The Black Pages directory is similar to the more widely know Yellow Pages directory that is a long-running advertising medium associated with most telephone directories.
The Black Pages directories also include articles about business people and detailed information about a variety of topics, from fair credit laws to AIDS.
"This is simply a tool to help foster growth and development within the community," Thomas said. It's also a marketing tool to marshal support in the African-American community for black-owned businesses, he said.
Claudia Whitworth, publisher of the Roanoke Tribune, a weekly newspaper targeted at Roanoke's black community, said the directory serves a unifying purpose as it lets the entire community know what exists among black-owned enterprises.
The concept of the Black Pages is the "reinvestment of the black community's own resources . . . and the recirculation of its dollars in order to perpetuate self-help and self-reliance," according to a message from the publisher in the directory.
In addition to Roanoke, Black Pages USA publishes directories in Lynchburg; Jacksonville, Fla.; Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.; and Charlotte and Greensboro, N.C. McCants said he has plans other directories in Wilmington, N.C.; Austin, Tex.; and Augusta, Ga.
The company has 16 employees, including sales people in Roanoke and Lynchburg.
by CNB