Black Business Leaders Participate in White House Signing of Executive Order Establishing the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB)

 (Los Angeles) Earl “Skip” Cooper, II, President /CEO of the Black Business Association (BBA), headquartered in Los Angeles, attended the Executive Order Signing Ceremony in the White House establishing the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB). The signing, by President Barack H. Obama, took place on Friday, February 6, 2009, in the East Room of the White House.

Also in attendance representing Southern California was Ms. Rosalind Pennington, President of the National Black Business Council (NBBC) and Mr. Ezekiel Patten, President/Founder, Patten Energy Enterprise.

The President made remarks to an audience of small business, women, people of color business owners and labor organizations before signing the Executive Order to create the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.  The Advisory Board will provide insight to the President and appropriate staffers as plans are formulated for economic recovery. 

The new Economic Recovery Advisory Board will be charged with offering independent, nonpartisan information, analysis, and advice to the President as he formulates and implements his plans for economic recovery. 

The PERAB will provide regular briefings to the President, Vice President and their economic team. The PERAB will be established initially for a two-year term, after which the President will make a determination on whether to continue its existence based on its continued necessity.

Detailed information on PERAB and other programs established by the Obama administration is available on the White House website at www.whitehouse.gov.  At this site citizens are also invited to and are able to submit their opinions and comments on the issues facing our nation.

A video replay of the announcement and signing ceremony is available at http://www.cspan.org/Watch/watch.aspx?ProgramId=HP-A-40562.

The Black Business Association will provide a report from the signing ceremony and cover other issues that the PERAB will address in the March 2009 of the Black Business News, the monthly publication of the BBA.

The BBA congratulates President Barack Obama for the decisive actions he is taking to move the nation forward in the area of job creation and long-term economic growth.

We encourage our members, other business owners and the community at large to be proactive with President Obama as he works to deliver on his campaign promises and address the vital challenges of our nation.

For more information on the Black Business Association (BBA) visit www.bbala.org or contact the BBA office at, (323) 291-9334, P.O. Box 43159, Los Angeles, CA 90043.