L to R: The Center’s President and CEO, Tunua Thrash-Ntuk, The Center’s founder, Joy Bramble and Reverend Peter Bramble
June is Immigrant Heritage Month, and we are proud to highlight The Center’s founder, Joy Bramble.
Joy Bramble immigrated to the United States with her husband, Reverend Peter Bramble, from Montserrat, an island in the Caribbean with approximately 5,000 residents. She was an educator in the Baltimore City school system before she and her husband purchased a grocery store and turned it into a lucrative business. Their store was their introduction to a lifetime of business ownership.
Mrs. Bramble and Reverend Bramble founded The Baltimore Times – a free weekly newspaper that covers the African-American community, from their home in 1986. Under Mrs. Bramble’s leadership, it quickly became a powerful voice for the African-American community and the largest-circulated Black-owned newspaper in Maryland.
The Baltimore Times was the first company to offer free community events in Baltimore that provided services like health care screenings and women’s seminars. Still operating today, it remains a trusted source of news that shines a positive light on untold African-American stories.
Mrs. Bramble has dedicated her life to creating economic opportunities for the BIPOC community in Baltimore. Her life’s work has uplifted the importance of business acumen, ownership, and engagement in the Black community.
It was this dedication that led Mrs. Bramble to create The Center by Lendistry, an organization aimed at helping Black entrepreneurs that did not have the capital to purchase businesses or property.
Today, The Center continues to uphold that mission. More so, The Center has evolved to provide education, technical assistance, and access to competitive financing to drive small business growth, job creation, and generational wealth-building in underserved communities across the country.
As we celebrate National Immigrant Heritage Month, it’s important to acknowledge the critical role that immigrant entrepreneurs play in our nation’s economy. The Center is proud to support immigrant entrepreneurs and help them reach their dreams.