The Aux’s space, located at 2223 Washington Street, was renovated by Chicago’s largest Black-owned construction company, Ujamaa Construction.
May 11, 2025
The Aux — Evanston’s new minority-led business collective — launched at its grand opening Saturday, welcoming the Evanston community and centering local Black-owned businesses.
The Aux will host more than eight Black-owned businesses, serving as a “staple in the community” by providing access to various wellness-focused services and goods, co-developer Jacqui White said.
One inspiration for The Aux was the Sherman Phoenix Marketplace, which features and uplifts minority-owned businesses in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The Sherman Phoenix has also been a model for Arise Baltimore in Maryland and the Urban League of Greater Madison in Wisconsin, said Sherman Phoenix Foundation President Stacia Thompson. Thompson said she expects The Aux to be successful and draw a variety of community members, similar to Sherman Phoenix Marketplace.
“It’s not just Black people that come into the Sherman Phoenix Marketplace,” Thompson said. “Because of the products and services, it’s for the entire community.”
Recently, President Donald Trump has challenged diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives nationwide, both in the federal government and through private sector investigations enforced by two executive orders from the start of his term.
Co-developer Lori Laser said Trump’s DEI rollbacks are misaligned with Evanston community members who believe in The Aux mission of racial equity. Supported in part by fundraising and grants, The Aux is community-owned, meaning anyone can become a stakeholder starting at $1,000 per share.
“We’re hoping to engage others at this local community level, because so much is happening on the national scale,” Laser said. “We know that we can be empowered right here, right now, with our own hands and heart.”
Chicky’s Kitchen Creations, one of The Aux’s tenants, is owned by fifth-generation Evanston resident Nicole Henry.
Henry will manage the shared kitchen space at The Aux and said she will work to foster the culinary interests of both kids and aspiring professionals by teaching classes for varying experience levels.
“There’s definitely still systemic pushback against Black entrepreneurs that we see that just doesn’t seem fair, but at the end of the day, we’re paving the way for the generation after us,” Henry said.
Henry hopes to be an educational resource at The Aux by addressing the gap in information for women’s dietary needs during hormonal changes.
Co-developer Tiffini Holmes said the focus and care of these business owners is fundamental to The Aux’s ability to exceed customer expectations.
“We hear so much about the disparities of treatment for people of color, whether it’s a lack of cultural awareness or some sort of bias,” Holmes said. “To have a space where there are practitioners of color who understand those nuances and create an inclusive and welcoming space for everybody, no matter the size, no matter the fitness level, no matter the ethnicity, really excites me.”
In anticipation of its opening, The Aux hosted an opportunity fair in March, inviting locals into the newly renovated building in west Evanston. Krenice Ramsey — an Evanston resident and co-founder of the nonprofit Young, Black & Lit, which increases children’s access to representative books — toured the space.
She said she was looking forward to engaging with The Aux both as a future patron and potential collaborator.
“Especially in the current climate that we’re in — where it seems like, under the misnomer of DEI, that people are trying to roll back their support for initiatives that are particularly impactful for under-resourced Black and brown folks — I am hyperconscious of where I put my dollars, my time and my resources,” Ramsey said.
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