2016 Annual Report for
Brother Tracy Gibson and Associates, INC.
Mission Statement: Who
we are
We are a Black education, public relations, advocacy,
advertising, marketing, and customer service & philanthropy company
dedicated to helping Black youth stabilize, learn traditional Black family
values, and become a viable and useful part of the Black community. We also
want to and have helped stabilize our entire Black community nationally, in
Pennsylvania and in Philadelphia. We do this through education projects,
philanthropy and through projects to support Black businesses.
List of Achievements:
1] Started to resolve our problem with 2015 taxes for our
2015 Summer Intern. We will send in a $50.00 deposit to get the tax problem
resolved. [We are NOT getting any pressure whatsoever from the Internal Revenue
Service, but the Pennsylvania Unemployment office has been writing
intermittently.] This ``problem’’ boils down to a retroactive payroll for a
$1,060.00 payment to our 2015 Summer intern, Mr. Andre Paulhill, that was never
paid taxes on. I am, frankly, ashamed that it has taken so long to resolve, but
no legitimate payroll company wants to touch it. I have written and called at
least two accountants and still haven’t resolved the situation. I don’t think it is nearly as major as I
think, but it is a pain in the foot. It will get resolved within the next three
months. We have not had much luck in our
attempts to get funding for the summer of 2017.
2] Did informal promotions for the Black Bank in
Philadelphia, United Bank. This was a
joy to do. I spent time talking to different people and asking if they have a
bank account at United Bank. I asked a group of Black activists and even they
only raised about five to ten hands in a room of about 30 to 40 Black
people. We have a ways to go on this
one, but I actually did ask a United Bank official how many and where they
would like to open new branches. They said they wanted three new branches: one
in South Philadelphia; One in West Philadelphia (where they closed a branch a
few years ago); and finally, one in Upper
Darby, the suburbs. This is a project I
will keep working on throughout 2017. I sent an e-mail promoting United Bank to
a prominent pastor here, [ Reverend Doctor Renee McKenzie is the Pastor of
Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia -- a black church with a fine reputation
of activism.] She responded, so I asked Reverend Renee
[revrenee@churchoftheadvocate.org], if I could send United Bank her e-mail,
which detailed how the bank can improve on services and generate broader appeal
while competing more effectively with major banks in the city. Pastor Renee
allowed me to forward the e-mail to United Bank. I did so and was thrilled!
Another Assistant Pastor friend was also contacted by me, but he had some
concerns about United bank’s lack of
services and rating in the bank regulatory community. I think, however, his church is considering
switching to United Bank. I have sent
many promotions to churches to get them to switch to United Bank.
3] We were largely unsuccessful at getting major corporate
sponsors for some of our corporate ideas. This was rather discouraging, but we
have prevailed and kept a stiff upper lip. I will be sending this Annual Report
to possible Black corporate Angel investors, and other people who might be
interested in investing with us. Never give up hope, even in the face of defeat.
4] We have written about 30 articles on various subjects
including Black Gay Pride and Decency; Keeping Faith; Black Business and how to
Preserve it and promote it and why that is important; We promoted the concept
of having African Principals and are about to ask for an endorsement of our
African Principals with Dr. Molefi Asante Chairperson, Temple University’s
African American Studies Department; and Maulana Kaernga who is the founder of
Kwanzaa (which, by the Way is celebrating 50 years of existence). We had a TV producer who wanted to look into
producing a show dedicated to the Principals, but since we didn’t have the
money to hire a lawyer, I let that go, not wanting to get the African Principals
tied up in a legal battle and no program being produced. (See if you can get
the name of the production company). The African Principals carry my name
(Gibson), but were thought of because of the work of the late Reverend Leon
Sullivan and his work on dismantling South Africa’s Apartheid system.
5] I personally was awarded my certificate after passing the
Serv.Safe food service test in October, 2016. The class was taken at the
People’s Emergency Center and was a delight.
I am now looking for gainful employment for kitchen work or a Chef’s
Assistant, which will help me funnel money into my corporate interests.
6] My lover and I have saved over $376.00 towards buying
stocks and bonds in June when our special account at United Bank matures. I am
personally interested in buying stock in Waste Management; Sonny TV and
pictures; and General Electric. This money is untouchable until June of 2017.
My lover and I will have to talk over this soon. This will give a boost to our
financial status and help the corporation.
7] I have sent out movie ideas in as formal a state as I
could for now. I have not received any formal responses at this point, but I
think it will be only a matter of time before I further formalize this and get
something accepted. I have to read up on this and reapply.
8] I closed down my account with Face Book because I was
unhappy with the results I was getting and was hindered by personal family
messages when I was more interested in using Face Book for corporate interests.
This was risky, but I think it is paying off in getting more acceptance from
established sectors of the community of business people in Philadelphia. I
recently attended a job fair given by City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell and
just had a ``feeling’’ there was more seriousness and acceptance there. I have also been writing more public
officials and trying not to be so emotional with my e-mails and letters. I have
not always succeeded in this regard, but I am not giving up.
9] We have continued to support small Black businesses; and
Black individuals who are working to improve the Black community. We do this through directly supporting more
Black and Latin businesses and through giving small donations to Black people
who are asked to use the funds at Black stores. We usually give only $7.00 or
$7.77 since we have so few funds to work with.
10] We worked at applying for a $3,000.00 loan, but didn’t
have the $125.00 application fee. The application languished for months. I
finally had to withdraw it and ask for my tax returns back. They couldn’t find
them and had to order my 2015 personal tax returns from the Internal Revenue
Service. We were rejected for a loan from the same company last year (2015).
They are the West Philadelphia Financial Services Institute. They have a major office near 52nd Street and
Giraud Avenue.
11] We have also promoted the concept of Africa Town in a
few articles this year and plan to step up this promotion next year [2017]. The
concept of African Town is creating a business strip that will serve mostly
Black customers and consist of 100 % Black businesses for a strip of at least
20 businesses. Other ethnic groups have such exclusive places to shop for their
people and it definitely help stabilize people of color communities and serve
as a center focal point of pride and dignity for ethnic groups such as the
Chinese (China Town); and the Italian Market (The Italian people). I will have to ask for an appointment with a
City Council person next year to be taken more seriously on this one. I noticed
that on the web page for Black Wall Street (every Black person should visit
www.BlackWallStreet.Com and discover this for their selves). The Black Wall
Street staff has a whole prospectus and well-thought-out plan for creating
predominately Black business strips throughout our Nation.
12] Over the summer of 2016, I met with the Executive
Director of BEBASHI [Blacks Educating Blacks About Sexual Health Issues] and
talked about reaching the Black men-who-have-sex-with-men populations of
Philadelphia through erotic videos that promote safer sex. The idea was not
received warmly and the Executive Director said the Board of BEBASHI would not
take to such an idea as producing sexually explicit films even though I
explained that they would be more like soft pornography that regular
pornography. I let him know I would keep in touch and that I was very
interested in helping him reach this population which is highly infected with
the illness.
13] We stopped having regular board meetings since I could
not get our regular board to attend meetings and could not find an adequate
meeting space. Again I was discouraged and let down, but only for a short
time. As I get a regular funding stream
in 2017, I will reengage our board, find new board members, and open our headquarters
in West Philadelphia.
President’s Notes
I HAVE A LIST OF BOOKS YOU CAN ASK
ME FOR THAT WILL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND THESE SITUATIONS BETTER AND HELP YOU GET A
BETTER HAND ON WHAT TO DO TO INCREASE POWER FOR YOURSELF AND END THE FEELING OF
HOPELESSNESS YOU MIGHT BE FEELING. Call me at 1 (215) 823 9985 and send me your
e-mail address [or leave it clearly on my phone] and I’ll send my book list to
you. You can also buy a copy of my
poetry book ``Let the Children Gather,’’ by Tracy Gibson to help me out
financially. Change costs money. My corporation is an ``S’’ corporation. We are
celebrating our 10th year (we incorporated on December 18th, 2006). Reach us by
regular mail at Brother Tracy Gibson and Associates, INC.; 670 North 41st
Street,; Apartment B; Philadelphia, PA
19104. 1 (215) 823 9985. Contributions are accepted, but not tax deductible.
This article is written through the auspices of Brother Tracy Gibson and
Associates, INC. If you wish to write for us, please submit an article at
BrotherTracy11@GMail.Com some articles will be published anonymously.
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