Black Lives Matter Is Launching A Site To Help Shine Light On Black-Owned Businesses

In the midst of holiday season, Black Lives Matter has launched an online database to help shoppers find black-owned businesses across the U.S. The site, BackingBlackBusiness.com, will help users find businesses through category searches like “food and beverage,” and “entertainment and lifestyle.”

The organization will be working with ad agency J. Walter Thompson New York in order to help complete the project. Although the site is now in a beta form, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors said the goal of the site is to build it and to shine a light on all black-owned businesses:

“Black-owned business have long been a staple in the Black community providing jobs, economic security and somewhere for us to go and feel seen and safe. In these uncertain times, we need these places more than ever.”

BackingBlackBusiness currently lists more than 300 locations on its interactive map, with most of them landing in heavily concentrated metropolitan areas like New York, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco bay area. Users will be able to use a drop-down menu that will let them filter out brick-and-mortar businesses as well as black-owned nonprofits and e-commerce sites. J. Walter Thompson CEO Lynn Power said the site will be promoted by social media efforts and that the agency is excited to be involved:

“Working in advertising, I believe that the messages we push out have an impact and that we have a responsibility to try and shape culture positively. I am really glad that our partnership with Black Lives Matter is giving us the opportunity to play a truly active role.”

The site is still a work in progress, but Mashable reports how the goal is to build a sizeable directory for all 50 states.

(Via The Huffington Post & Mashable)