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Effort seeks to boost visibility of minority, women-owned businesses
In an effort to bring greater visibility and support, the Manchester NAACP, Citizens Bank and the Center for Women & Enterprise have partnered to develop a statewide directory of minority- and womenowned businesses.
Citizens has donated $10,000 toward the creation and enhancement of a list that so far features more than 90 minority-owned businesses and organizations in a Google Doc spreadsheet, allowing the public to make additions. Granite Staters are also encouraged to join the conversation via social media by tagging their favorite minority and women-owned business using #PurchasePowerNH.
“We intend to shine a light on minority- and women-owned businesses to help drive systemic change through economic opportunity,” said Joe Carelli, Citizens’ state president for New Hampshire and Vermont. “Now more than ever, it is important for business leaders and consumers to support minority-owned small businesses to ensure they can survive these challenging times.”
“This partnership with Citizens and the Center for Women & Enterprise will allow us to expand our work into the area of economic justice inside and outside of the City of Manchester,” said NAACP Branch President James McKim.
In early 2021, McKim took over a list he found and reconstituted it.
He said the impetus to compile the list came when the Paycheck Protection Program was rolled out.
“We recognized that minority-owned businesses were not getting any of it, or very much, and many of the owners didn’t even know that it existed – they didn’t know the Main Street Fund existed – and those that did know and tried were not able to take advantage of it because the rules and regulations and criteria were not conducive to minority-owned businesses,” McKim said.
Often a minority-owned business is a sole proprietorship, meaning it does not have to be registered with the Secretary of State’s office, and even if a minority-owned business does register, the owner does not have to indicate race.
McKim is using the list to share information about available assistance as well as educate business owners.
There are a wide mix of industries on the list, including consulting, construction, financial services and real estate, but a majority of the minority-owned businesses on the list are community-based hair and beauty salons, bakeries, coffee shops, caterers and restaurants, said McKim. The list can be found at www.naacpmanchesternh. com/businesses under “Find a NH Product or Service.”
As part of its partnership, Citizens and the Center for Women & Enterprise will encourage minority and women business owners to add themselves to the list and learn about available programming.
