For greater than 25 years, the Acres Residence Chamber for Enterprise and Financial Improvement has relied on a $44,857 annual allocation that flowed from the State of Texas by Texas Southern College (TSU).
That funding has stored the chamber doorways open and the programming operating for considered one of Houston’s oldest Black neighborhood enterprise establishments.
This fall, nonetheless, that long-standing assist has come to an abrupt finish.
TSU knowledgeable chamber leaders that the appropriation, which had been delivered constantly since 1998, wouldn’t be issued this yr. With out that cash, the chamber faces a sudden price range disaster that threatens its capacity to proceed serving considered one of Houston’s most historic African American neighborhoods.
“We’re not shutting down,” mentioned Warren Fitzgerald Muhammad, Chamber CEO and board Chairman. “The mission nonetheless continues. We’re nonetheless dedicated to the work that we’ve completed in the neighborhood. Nevertheless, we do want assist. So, if there was ever a time to step up and assist those that have been working to make our lives higher on this neighborhood, now could be the time.”
Funding rooted in legislative historical past
The chamber started receiving the state appropriation greater than twenty years in the past after advocacy by then-State Rep. Sylvester Turner and former State Senator and present Mayor John Whitmire. The funds had been administered by TSU as a passthrough and have become a routine a part of the Chamber’s annual working price range.
“Persistently with out fail, we now have acquired these funds yr after yr after yr,” Muhammad mentioned.
He discovered the Chamber wouldn’t obtain its allocation solely after following up with TSU in regards to the standing of the request.
“What I used to be instructed was that on this present surroundings, TSU is having to overview all of their expenditures and accordingly, some will renew, some might be reduce, and they’re trying into what statutory authority exists for that fee,” Muhammad added.
He was additionally confirmed to the Houston Defender that TSU’s ongoing audit and potential investigations ordered by Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick had been a part of the backdrop for the choice. A state audit discovered proof of poor bookkeeping and monetary mismanagement on the college, which shaped the premise of the investigation.
“We will get into January”
With out the funding, the Chamber’s capacity to function in 2026 is unsure.
“I do know we are able to get into January,” Muhammad mentioned of how lengthy the chamber may survive with out the allocation. “That’s some huge cash as a shortfall to your price range when it’s one thing you’ve come to depend on constantly over years and over a long time. It’s tough.”
The Chamber has not but decided which packages could must be reduce. Leaders plan to carry a board retreat to evaluate what can proceed and what can not.
However the potential impression is critical. The chamber operates a 6,000-square-foot constructing, hosts small enterprise workshops, helps a farmer’s market, runs a hydroponic farm, offers entrepreneurial teaching, hosts neighborhood occasions, and serves as a gathering place for residents searching for data or sources.
TSU’s resolution reverberates by Acres Properties
Elected officers and enterprise house owners expressed shock and a way of urgency in response to the announcement.
State Rep. Charlene Ward Johnson, whose district contains Acres Properties, urged residents to rally across the chamber by organizing occasions and donating.
“The Chamber has been there for many people,” she mentioned. “We have to stand with the chamber. We don’t need to lose a staple like this. It’s too essential that it’s within the coronary heart of the Acres house neighborhood. We need to proceed to listen to the heartbeat.”
Now a candidate for the 18th Congressional District, Harris County Legal professional Christian Menefee, referred to as the Chamber “extremely essential” to supporting Black entrepreneurship. He linked the funding loss to broader political hostility in opposition to minority-serving establishments.
“There are people in authorities within the state of Texas who’re gleeful after they have the chance to assault traditionally Black establishments,” Menefee mentioned. “It’s one thing you’ve seen all the way in which from the White Home to Congress after which on the state degree as nicely. We must be doing all the things we are able to to assist our minority-owned companies. It’s a travesty that right-wing teams goal Black owned companies, submitting lawsuits in opposition to them, attempting to get them reduce down, and attempting to get funding at each degree of presidency stopped.”
Native advocates echoed that sentiment. One longtime resident and enterprise proprietor, Norma Thomas, mirrored on Houston’s Black communities being “accustomed to unfair” disinvestments.
“When ‘unfair’ occurs, we are able to’t roll over and die,” Thomas mentioned, noting that state funds nonetheless exist however should not being launched to the Chamber. She urged leaders to determine a brand new fiscal sponsor if TSU won’t serve that function.
Name for assist
Leaders famous the disaster will not be distinctive.
“Our historical past is marred with the fact that governments have the power to remove their assist if and after they want to take action,” mentioned Rain Eatmon, government director of the Acres Properties Group Advocacy Group. “We’re not a stranger to being left to our personal gadgets and ensuring that we now have to assist ourselves as a result of our story will not be based mostly on what’s handed to us, however what we’re in a position to until from the bottom and develop and serve others.”
The Chamber plans to proceed working for now and is urging residents to develop into members and make donations.
The Defender has reached out to TSU for remark.
