"A race that is solely dependent upon another for its economic existences sooner or later dies," this quote by Marcus Garvey highlighted the need for African American communities to think about the importance of economic development. This message was also heard by African Americans as early as the 1700s. Not only was the message about economic development heard, but the message of being educated was, and continues, to be the focus om many African American organizations. Because many African American organizations provide a variety of educational opportunities, this study asked the question if these organizations fit the model of learning organizations as described by Senge and Ortenblad. To answer these questions, this study look at the Mercantile Business Coalition (MBC) by interviewing the president and members of the organization. Narrative inquiry was used to study the experiences of members of MBC. Through qualitative method, open ended, semi-structured interviews, data was elicited from 17 members who shared their stories noting that despite resources and leadership challenges MBC faced, their focused remained on economic development in the community. Based on the results of this study it showed that MBC is a learning organization and the educational opportunities it offered its members were practical, knowledge was transferred from facilitator to learner and from learner to learner. Recommendations for future studies include exploring other African American, racial, and ethnic organizations to see if they fit the learning organization model, look at their day to day operations, and the challenges and successes of these organization. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]