With, their successful sites BlackPlanet, AsianAvenue, and MiGente, Community Connect is bridging the online world. By Fahiym Ratcliffe

In the midst of "urban" Web sites like Urban Box Office Network, 360 Hip-Hop, and AKA either closing their doors or restructuring and NASDAQ's falling tech stock prices. many young Internet types with multimillionaire dreams were forced to face the harsh realities of an unstable, high-spending business. But out ofthe ashes, one urban-geared network has successfully survived the tumultuous dotcom burnout: Community Connect Inc. A software company that develops and publishes the popular ethnic-based, online com-munities BlackPlanet.com, AsianAvenue.com, and the newly created MiGente.com, which tar-gets Latino-Americans, Community Connect (CC) has quietly become the model for other Web sites to emulate. Cofounded by Benjamin Sun, Peter Chen, Grace Chang, Michael Montero, and Calvin Wong in 1996, CC's vision was to transplant the experiences of its respective com-munities into the virtual realm. "The audience gets to connect with each other, and we give them a voice." says Sun of CC's purpose.    In 1997, CC launched its first network, AsianAvenue, to rave reviews. Today, AsianAvenue and BlackPlanet.com maybe two of the highest trafficked ethnic-based community sites on the Internet for their target audiences, with more than 3.5 million members, and have garnered more unique visitors than their to; two competitors, BET and Click2Asia, according to Internet tracking firm Media Metrix Inc. "In November, the average BlackPlanet.com user spent an average of two hours," says Sun. "The users are finding our communities worth spending considerable time on." CC stresses the word community because mem-bers can set up their own personal Web pages via one of the ethnic networks. "We give the users tools to express themselves on their personal pages," says Creative Direc-tor Grace Chang. "They can identify what college they went to or what type of job they have as a way to meet other people with similar interests." Atter becoming a member, the user gets to design a homepage with his or her choice of pic-tures, music, wallpaper, writing, and information making each page unique. And, best of all, it's free. With very little marketing and advertising, CC's properties have spread mostly by word of mouth, especially among college students. With quirky member names similar to "sexychinita," "booti-licious," and "well-hungbro," it's not all chat and romantic hookups. Sites host engaging feature sto-ries on entertainment, politics, and love written by their members. Starting with six staffers working out of a one-bedroom apartment, CC has grown to 85 employees. By learning from the mistakes of others, these entrepreneurs are determined to sur-vive. "The secret of our success has been giving the power of our sites to our members," says Omar Wasow, executive director of BlackPlanet. "The next step is for us to take our members from mak-ing friends to making money." A job-posting board, a classifieds section. and an auction board are in the works. "People should not look at the Internet market as all doomed," says Sun. "The good companies are going to be really successful, and we hope to be one of them." For more information, go to www.AsianAvenue.com; www.BlackPlanet.com; www.MiGente.com.