When Imaan Ennis moved to Colorado from Georgia, she experienced a bit of culture shock. Ennis is used to moving and living in predominantly Black spaces but in Colorado that wasn't the case.
Since the move, Ennis has been adjusting, finding her spaces and networking. She's a birthing doula who owns The Goddess Touch Birthing Experience, which offers pre-birthing and birthing experiences, along with placenta encapsulations and yoni steamings.
Doulas are trained non-clinical professionals who provide physical, emotional and educational support to mothers before, during and after childbirth. There are also death doulas, who provide end-of-life care.
One of the things helping Ennis network and find those needed community spaces is the website ShopBIPOC and the organizations behind it.
ShopBIPOC is a growing directory of over 450 small businesses owned by minorities throughout the state, including Ennis' doula services.
On Thursday, the organizations who curated the site celebrated its official launch with a networking event, making Ennis feel right at home.
"Having a database is just huge. We can connect with each other and be able to give each other resources and work together," Ennis said. "Having a place where [business owners] are allowed to list our business and gain free resources is also very helpful."
ShopBIPOC is the brainchild of several organizations throughout Denver led by the Center for Community Wealth Building. In total about 11 community groups came together to build and curate the site, and connect with business owners to introduce the concept. Many of these organizations, like CCWB, already work with minority-owned small businesses, assisting them with branding and financial knowledge.
Yessica Holguin, the executive director of CCWB, said the idea stemmed from the 2020 murder of George Floyd by law enforcement and the social unrest and demand for justice that came from the incident.
Holguin said many companies began putting out Black Lives Matter statements and were looking to support BIPOC individuals and their businesses. Discussions surrounding the racial wealth gap and disparities Black and brown business owners face were growing and being talked about for good reason.
About 7.7% of businesses in Colorado are owned by "racial minorities" while 11.6% are owned by Hispanics, according to a 2022 economic profile of Colorado from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Combined, that's about 118,985 small businesses throughout the state, out of 691,230.
Large companies who said they wanted to support Black and brown businesses also said they had no idea how to find these businesses.
Hence the idea of a business directory.
"Three years ago this was just an idea and a wild one at best," Holguin said, during the launch party. "It really is about supporting local businesses...When we shop BIPOC we're not only celebrating diversity we're standing up against historical injustices that have been embedded in our economic system. Choosing BIPOC means that we are voting for equity and representation through our dollars."
So CCWB, along with other organizations such as CEDS Finance, the Rocky Mountain Microfinance Institute and Energize Colorado, got together to start building the site.
ShopBIPOC launched last year and has since added 450 businesses to its roster. On the food side and drink side, there are places like Fritay Haitian Cuisine, Sweet Sweetz Ice and Dessert, Raices Brewing Company, Novel Strand Brewing Company, Little Bodega and Konjo Ethiopian Food. For clothing Lunapparel and Truong An Gifts. There are medical services, IT services, auto repair, and graphic design. Whatever business you can think of, ShopBIPOC has an option.
Holguin said while the website began because of requests from corporations and because the notion of shopping locally and specifically with BIPOC business was so prevalent, the initial push to make these commitments turn into actions have sort of died down.
"The sense of urgency to close the racial wealth gap is not there like it was in 2020 and yet the need is even greater now," Holguin said. "We need to make sure that we are collectively taking action to be intentional about closing the racial wealth gap and that's what ShopBIPOC is about."
Thursday's launch was about reinvigorating the efforts and moving the website into phase two of its stage.
CCWB said the next phase will include a big marketing push to bring people to the site and there'll be a dive into the analytic side. The organizations will be looking at how people are finding the site and how many people the site is bringing to businesses. And not just regular consumers. The site is also geared toward connecting large institutions with BIPOC vendors and vice versa.
Though the website is essentially a directory, it has the potential to become more than that as Ennis noted. It can be a place where other business owners connect with each other while also introducing their patrons to the website. In Ennis' case she said she plans to use the site to provide references for her clients. Chiropractors, acupuncturists, anything of medical need or even a fun need like MyKings Ice Cream, which reminds Ennis of home.
Ennis said she hopes the directory can continue to expand and maybe even grow in other states. Ennis said there's a ton of Black and brown businesses across the U.S. who could benefit from this service and there's tons of money to be spent to support these businesses.
"My hope for them is to get nationwide because it's not just our region that has these disparities and things like that," Ennis said. "I hope it becomes a household name, like oh I need a service, let's check ShopBIPOC...My hope is that it becomes a habit and we shop there first...When we're supporting each other our businesses can do so much better...It's just a matter of like making those connections and knowing that each other exists."
