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These local resources connect New Yorkers to black-owned businesses

Put your money where your mouth is, literally.

Emma Orlow
Written by
Emma Orlow
BLM; protest; black lives matter; new york city
Photograph: Shutterstock/Christopher Penler
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Earlier today, we put together a list of New York City restaurants' reactions to this weekend's protests, which spanned the gamut of passionate solidarity and disappointment in rouge protestors targeting small businesses. Now people are looking for more ways to make a difference and putting money behind their words. Across America, people are putting together spreadsheets and culling together resources to support black-owned businesses: many of whom were doing the work, long before this recent spotlight. Our colleagues at Time Out Los Angeles and Time Out Chicago have just published their guides and now it's our turn. If you're searching for black-owned businesses to support in New York City (and we hope you already were!), here are some resources we find useful. 

Black-Owned Brooklyn

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If you follow Black-Owned Brooklyn, your mental and emotional state have likely been overwhelmed. Managing our lives through racism isn’t new, but having to constantly navigate systems of oppression takes a cumulative toll. Like you, we’re angry about the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and so many others. We’re angry that Black people in America are still fighting for our basic humanity to be recognized. And we’re tired of having to moderate our anger to make other people comfortable. ⠀ Yet we’re also focused on bringing our community some measure of love and joy because our existence is not all anger and pain. We hope to be a space where you feel seen, affirmed and rejuvenated. Where our cultures, history and everyday lives are worthy of examination and reverence. And where our self-determination and collective power are celebrated on the regular. 🖤 ⠀ We’ve seen a huge burst of new followers over the past few days seeking to support Black communities at this time. Welcome — our names are Tayo and Cynthia, and we’re the people behind Black-Owned Brooklyn. We’re proud to be a useful resource, as our aim here is to be actionable. 💵 ⠀ Incidentally, thanks to the generosity of the @nywomensfdn and support from @weeksvilleheritagecenter, we’ve been working to bring more voices to this space. Nearly 200 applicants(!) answered our call for contributors, and we’ve already started commissioning stories. Over the days and weeks ahead, we look forward to bringing you more and richer content. In the meantime, enjoy, look around...and buy something from a Black person today. ✊🏾 Photo by Curt Saunders (@cosmicinsanity) #blackownedbrooklyn

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An online platform devoted solely to amplifying the voices of black-owned businesses in Brooklyn. Though not all businesses featured are restaurants (there are wine shops, hairdressers, clothing designers and more), it includes stories from some of our favorite spots like Peaches in Bed-Stuy. 

Eat Okra

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An app devoted to mapping black-owned restaurants in New York and beyond that currently has over 2,250 spots listed. 

Spreadsheets

The New Yorker's food critic Hannah Goldfield and Bon Appétit's social media manager Rachel Karten have put together two separate spreadsheets that not only list the names of black-owned restaurants near you, but also let you know if they're delivering or doing takeout during the pandemic. Here's Goldfield's and here is Karten's.


Equity at the Table

It's easy to turn to the people of color in your circles to ask them which chefs you should support, but the fact of the matter is, it can be tiring for POCs to be bombarded with the same question over and over (especially now). So you're looking to find more chefs of color who do not necessarily work in a "traditional" professional kitchen to support? You can click through this database. It also has lots of other categories to search through, such as writers, food stylists and more. 

Shoppe Black

Shoppe Black is a global resource that has lists on black-owned businesses such as tech-companies, farms, vintage shops, plus so much more. 

Eboneats

Another, smaller food-related database where you can search for black-owned businesses in New York City. Currently, only 12 are listed. 

Have other NYC-specific resources you think we should add? Feel free to email us.