A lot of folks think about Miami and Key West when it comes to Florida vacations, but there are at least two people who think prospective Florida vacationers should add Ft. Lauderdale to that list. Although it’s within a half hour from Miami, it doesn’t have that city’s party reputation, but it does have plenty of advantages. Albert Tucker, VP Multicultural Business Development and Nicki Grossman, President of Greater Ft. Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau are among the people responsible for bringing the National Urban League and other initiatives to Florida. They want you to know that Ft. Lauderdale is an amazing destination.
“We’ve got a variety of beaches. There are eight different types of beaches in Fort Lauderdale,” says Grossman. “You can go rustic, and see beautiful sand dunes in some of them, you can do diving 100 years offshore or you can just shop and eat at some of them.”
Grossman says that the challenge in attracting visitors is that, well, there’s plenty of competition, and its nearby. But the Urban League held its annual convention there because of the city’s rich history and current accommodations.
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“There’s no community that has the same sense of mission and purpose as Broward County does as it comes to the mission and purpose of the National Urban League. They reflect us and we reflect them. You’ve got to have something no one else has, and we believe we have something no one else has.”
Tucker says that the Urban League has brought more than $10 million to the community and that money is going back into the community. Their initiative ‘Black Dollars Matter’ means that African-American groups and visitors are welcome in the city. Ft. Lauderdale, a city of 1.8 million is over 50% Black. When the Urban League leaves, they will be replaced by the American Tennis Association and the National Black Elected Officials groups, meeting in the city in the next few weeks.
‘We have a targeted initiative to talk to people in their language and to spend money on them as well,” says Tucker.
Grossman says that the billions of dollars the city makes in tourism annually does show up in support for Black businesses in the area.
“One of the interesting things about our visitors is that they spent $1.5 billion in the destination. With the Urban League here, that’s Black hands spending green dollars into Black businesses. That’s one of our goals is that the small, minority-owned businesses in this community share in the profit of being a tourism destination. Nothing does that better than the Urban League.”
