Towns and neighborhoods are a direct reflection of their small businesses, and COVID-19 has impacted black owned businesses the hardest. Want to help them thrive? Lift them up. Today is the perfect day to start investing in them because it’s Blackout Tuesday.

How Did Blackout Tuesday Come About?

Today happens to be Blackout Tuesday, a social media initiative that aims to honor George Floyd and to help bring about the change that is sorely needed in policies, systems, and society for black people and people of color. The idea of taking a break from social media on Tuesday, June 2, began with two black women in the music industry, Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang, as #TheShowMustBePaused on Instagram.

The idea is to fill social media timelines with black square images and then take a pause and use the rest of the day to educate yourself on the Black Lives Matter movement. But you know what’s interesting? There’s Giving Tuesday and Takeout Tuesday (which came about during this coronavirus quarantine by the way), let’s use social platforms to help our followers discover Black owned businesses they might otherwise not be exposed to.

Don’t know where to find black owned businesses?

7 Apps That Help You Find Black Owned Businesses In Your Neighborhood

Local To Us Here In Illinois:

Nationwide:

1. Support Black Owned: All types of businesses by state.

2. Black Owned Chicago: One of the newer platforms. You’ll actually be able to also find businesses in Indiana and some of the surrounding Chicago neighborhoods too.

3. EatOkra (iOS and Android): Food related businesses.

4. WeBuyBlack (web): Businesses that sell products like jewelry, clothing, children’s toys. etc.

5. I Am Black Business (iOS and Android): All types of businesses.

6. WhereU Came From (iOS): All types of businesses and professional services.

7. Official Black Wall Street (iOS and Android): Regarded as the largest directory platform of black owned businesses.

Help spotlight the Black-owned businesses you know and love by sharing their information with DoorDash: drd.sh/wtnwnC/

For Further Reading

History of Black Business Directories, such as The Green Book.

9 Financial Resources For Women And Minority Business Owners Affected By Coronavirus

FiniImpact – How To Support and Help Black-Owned Small Businesses Finimpact, helps empower small businesses access the best funding.

Why Am I Writing This?

A big reason why I wanted to write this is because I honestly don’t know of too many blacked owned businesses here in Tinley Park and the surrounding suburbs.

There’s my go-to cake master Dria (so glad I discovered her when our daughter was born).

Then there are the ladies over at Practical Magic Boutique.

And the Chamber of Commerce websites don’t have a search filter where you can look up exactly which businesses are owned by someone of color (that would actually be inappropriate). But if you live in a neighborhood with almost no black owned businesses, I encourage you to venture outside your comfort zone and order online from a black owned business today, or whenever you find one that has something awesome you love or would like to try. And when quarantine is over and things have calmed down, totally consider dining or shopping at a black owned business in the Chicagoland area. And don’t just go to the famous ones (like the favorites of the Obamas), make sure to research other businesses that don’t get that kind of publicity.

Before I close out this blog article, for those of you who don’t know, there is an accounting idiom/saying “in the black” and I kind of wish a that would become a popular hashtag. It means a having positive net income; having greater income than expenses; making a profit. Basically, it means doing well. So tonight, go search and help support a black owned business on this Blackout Tuesday because when we invest in each other, we all thrive…we all get a chance to be in the black. But most importantly, we get a chance at getting to that new normal where there are no walls between in any respect. Change starts when we start to help each other. Let’s start the process.

A few more black owned businesses I learned about the day after I wrote this article that I wanted to mention:

ALH Fitness (just opened), a personal training studio in Tinley Park.

Fabulously Sweet Creations a family-owned business in Mokena that specializes in handcrafted artisan chocolates and sweet treats.

The Right Choice Home Care – a Certified Dementia Practitioner Agency