Build community: The casual encounters enjoy at neighborhood, Black businesses and the public spaces around them build relationships and community cohesiveness. They’re the ultimate social networking sites.
Strengthen Your Local Economy: Each dollar you spend at independent businesses returns 3 times more money to your local economy than one spent at a chain (hundreds of times more than buying from an online mega-retailer) — a benefit we all can bank on.
Shape our Character: Independent businesses help give your community its distinct personality.
Lower Taxes: More efficient land use and more central locations mean local businesses put less demand on our roads, sewers, and safety services. They also generate more tax revenue per sales dollar. The bottom line: a greater percentage of local independent businesses keeps your taxes lower.
Choices: A wide variety of independent businesses, each serving their customers’ tastes, creates greater overall choice for all of us.
Give Black to Your Community: Small businesses donate more than twice as much per sales dollar to local non-profits, events, and teams compared to big businesses.
Increase community wealth (everybody eats): The multiplier effect created by spending locally generates lasting impact on the prosperity of local organizations and residents.
There are several Buy Black campaigns that can be found online. Bean Soup Times is working directly with the BuyBlackMovement.com. Go there to shop, browse or to simply set up a free account to stay plugged into the movement.
Do you have a reason not listed for buying Black? Post it on the comments and please share this post with others via Facebook and/or Twitter.
Article republished with permission from Bean Soup Times.
Toure Muhammad is the head bean, publisher and chief strategist of Bean Soup Times. The Morehouse graduate has written front page cover stories for The Final Call and N’digo. He has been featured in the Chicago Reader, Upscale magazine, rolling out newspaper, and N’Digo magapaper. He’s been featured on Tavis Smiley’s radio show on NPR, on Chicago’s WBEZ (Chicago public radio), and many other radio shows.