First to conduct trade mission aboard.
The Council was the first advocacy organization in the region to host a trade mission focused on minority business opportunities. Representatives of the Dallas/Fort Worth Minority Business Development Council and the Dallas Citizens Council spent four days in London and Birmingham, England to share ideas about growing minority businesses. They met with Prince Charles, as well.
The D/FW MBDC would be recognized on a national basis through its participation in helping to provide proactive leadership in the NMSDC network. Jim O’Neal participated on the NMSDC Executive Committee and search team that hired Harriet Michel as the president of the NMSDC. Bill Alcorn (JC Penney) helped establish the Business Consortium Fund. Alcorn served for many years as the Chair of the Business Consortium Fund, a fund designed to assist MBEs with capital to manage contracts.
In early 1988 the Council added a Business Development Center, staffed by Greg Campbell, an executive-on-loan from Frito-Lay. The center was charged with linking minority and women owned businesses to specific corporate business opportunities.
Last, but not least, the Council wins the Council of the Year Award from National Minority Supplier Development Council.