August Is Black Owned Business Month
August is Black Business Month, a month dedicated to supporting and spreading awareness of black-owned businesses around the country. They can often times be incredibly difficult to spot from the street as it isn’t always obvious what sets them apart from all the other businesses on their street. Online the challenge is even greater. Thankfully, there are a few things we can do to make it easier to find and support these businesses. Here are four ways you can support black businesses this month and every month of the year.
Shop in Local Black Owned Businesses
Are there any black-owned businesses in your area? If you aren’t sure of any there are a number of places you can find directories of them. Websites like Support Black Owned and Black Owned Biz are great places to start. If you’d prefer an app though there are a few available that will help you locate local black-owned businesses. Once you’ve found them, start shopping in them! Doing this means that not only are you supporting black-owned businesses you’re also putting your money back into the local economy instead of the massive corporations that are slowly taking over the country.
Shop Black Owned Online Stores
Shopping local isn’t your only choice when it comes to shopping black-owned businesses. Shopping online is a fantastic way to reach black-owned stores from around the country and the world. Unfortunately, there isn’t really a great list that makes this easy to do. The best one I could find was 5 years old and many of the stores in that list had closed. Still, with a little bit of digging you can find them. Etsy is a great place to find small black-owned businesses, though yes, they are difficult to find. There are some great Facebook groups out there like Buy Black, Supporting Black Owned Business, Black Business Women Network, and Black Business Owners Connected that can help you connect with black-owned online businesses.
Share the Businesses on Social Media
Once you’ve found a black-owned business or if you already know of one then spread the word about it on social media! There’s a good chance that someone you know doesn’t know that these stores exist. Helping others find these stores means that they are more likely to be around for the long term, which means you’ll be able to keep shopping there too. So sing your praises on social media, leave online reviews, and if you’re doing it on Twitter be sure to use the hashtag for your city as well as #blackownedbusiness or even #SupportBlackBusiness. These are especially active hashtags in August while Black Business Month is taking place.
Host Events at Black Owned Businesses
One way to help people find out about local black-owned businesses that doesn’t make you look like you’re a shill is to host events at black-owned businesses. Now of course not every black-owned business will be suitable to host a party or a meeting in. But if you happen to know of a great café or restaurant why not have your gathering there? Even if you don’t have a space like that in your area you can still support black-owned businesses by hiring black-owned catering companies or event planner. Even if all you do is shop at a black-owned business for your party decorations you’re still supporting them!
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.1″ global_module=”4705″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.1″][et_pb_image src=”https://motivatedmom.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/LaToyia-Sig.png” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”4.1″ width=”21%” module_alignment=”left”][/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.1″]LaToyia, The Motivated Mom
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