When Mincy Pollock made a pitch to other African-American business owners about joining him as a JAX Chamber member, the response typically was a dismissive "why bother" shrug.
As much as Pollock sees the chamber as a valuable way for growing his two small businesses — Florida Care Insurance and Pollock Group — he could understand the skepticism.
"When I go to the (chamber) meetings, a lot of times, as my grandma would say, I'm a fly in a glass of milk," he said. "I would go and I would talk to other business owners about 'Hey, you really should be connected with the chamber,' and they have said in the past, 'It doesn't look like we fit. I don't know if they want us.'"