One of the easiest ways to promote positive change is to think carefully about where you spend your money.
Your hard-earned dollars are as important as your votes,. This is why it’s important to support companies that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in meaningful ways. This also includes shopping at local and minority-owned businesses to help uplift members of your community.
Shop local and uplift minority-owned businesses
Local businesses have been hard-hit around the country due to the pandemic, which is why it’s more important than ever to shop locally. It’s also important to spend money at minority-owned businesses if you want to support diversity in your community.
There are plenty of positive ripple effects of shopping at minority-owned businesses. Along with helping your community members support themselves financially, you’re also sending a message of inclusion to help boost their business. The racial wealth gap is real. According to one study, the average wealth for white families is seven times higher than the average wealth for black families. By spending money at black-owned businesses, you’ll be doing your small part to help close that gap over time.
Shopping at minority-owned businesses helps grow your local economy and creates jobs. The more you support small businesses, the stronger your local economy will become. Spending your money at businesses owned by minorities helps celebrate diversity, which helps uplift minority cultures and promotes equity.
Finding minority-owned businesses
It’s not always easy to know which companies in your community are minority-owned. Luckily, there are apps designed to help consumers find local and minority-owned businesses.
I Am Black Business is one such app that helps people find local businesses that are black-owned. The businesses range from restaurants to hardware stores to hair salons. You can find black-owned business options for many different local shopping needs.
An app that’s great for people who live in less diverse areas but want to support black business is WeBuyBlack. The website features products from thousands of black-owned businesses across the country. This means you don’t have to be limited to your immediate area.
Supporting large companies that promote positive change
If you’re on a tight budget, it’s even more important to carefully consider how and where you spend your money. Before buying products from large companies, do some research and find out what they’re doing to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.
For example, Old Navy clearly states their diversity and inclusion efforts to promote equity in the workplace. The company breaks down the ethnic make-up of its staff to show how its diversity has helped their success over time, and it lays out where the company has room to improve. To make Old Navy fit within your budget, you can simply use Old Navy promo codes to save money.
Another company that’s committed to racial justice is Madewell. The company has a Vote-themed clothing collection and has pledged to donate at least $750,000 from the collection’s sales to the ACLU’s voting rights initiatives. By spending money with large companies that are committed to promoting racial justice and equality in the workplace, you’ll be doing your part to help bolster diversity, equity, and inclusion in large commercial enterprises.
As a consumer, you have more power than you may realize, and it’s important to put that power to good use.
Use the money you’re already spending to help create positive change by shopping at local and minority-owned businesses. If you’re struggling to find companies that are minority-owned, go online and check out apps that help connect buyers with business owners. And finally, do research when you’re shopping with larger corporations to make sure they have a strong diversity, equity, and inclusion program within their company.
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