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Carrollwood Area Business Association

Tampa, Florida, United States • 2 Employees
Nonprofit Organization Management

The Carrollwood Area Business Association (CABA) is a 35-year-old organization that focuses on assisting its members (over 400 business representatives) grow their businesses through weekly networking events and by providing a vast array of business development tools (member benefits).While CABA's origins began in Northwest Hillsborough County, CABA has become a regional organization with its signature special event, the Taste of Carrollwood; its annual CABA Golf Classic, and a far reaching media relations and social media presence.In 1985, a small group of about 16 committed citizens and business owners in the Carrollwood area came together to address a "growing" problem—specifically, Tampa was "growing" faster than its roads could accommodate. Accordingly, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) had embarked on a number of roadway expansion projects to include the widening of North Dale Mabry Highway from two to four lanes. A few years earlier, business owners had been hurt by the widening of Waters Avenue; in some cases, businesses closed due to the lack of ingress and egress caused by the road construction on Waters.Convened by John Baumann, CPA, the group of Carrollwood business owners organized to communicate with a unified voice to FDOT, and the widening of North Dale Mabry Highway became one of the first major road construction projects in Florida to be completed at night: when businesses were closed.While this successful business advocacy initiative could have been the end of the CABA story, it was only the beginning. Months after the widening of Tampa's Northwest corridor, Dale Mabry's businesses were growing not only because of better roads but also due to the number of business to business (B2B) referrals that were being passed among the members of the advocacy group.Baumann and the other founding members of the organization decided to form the Carrollwood Area Business Association.