As you all know, February is Black History Month. It’s important to give back to Black communities year-round, but Black History Month makes it especially easy to find new Black-owned businesses to support by shining an extra spotlight on them.
Social media can be a great tool for finding new places to shop, eat, etc. It’s an efficient way to find all kinds of small businesses that may not be local to you, either through in-app shopping features or influencers/friends promoting them. Usually, it is quite easy to find out if the business is Black- or woman-owned; look in the bio of an account or the “About” page of a website. Even if you cannot afford to make a purchase, sharing or interacting with their account is a solid way to help instead. If you want to stick to the local economy, check out Guide to Black Lafayette (developed by a Purdue student) or similar sites or pages that are aimed at showcasing the many Black-owned businesses in the Lafayette area. They may not have exhaustive lists and could be a bit out of date, but they are still good resources to start looking at what Lafayette’s local Black community has to offer.
Make sure if you do end up purchasing from a Black-owned business, that you give them a shoutout and promote them to your friends. Sharing their work with your community helps them out even more and is a great way to honor Black History Month.