Business
Chicago Joins Nationwide Efforts to Support Black-Owned Businesses During Corporate Rollbacks of DEI Programs
Ald. William Hall (6th Ward) joins Black business owners and faith leaders at Woodshop Art Gallery on April 17, 2025, to preview an event supporting Black-owned businesses. (WTTW News)
Black business owners and faith leaders in Chicago recently gathered to preview a Saturday event that is part of a nationwide effort to protest corporate retreats from diversity, equity and inclusion.
The event, “Spend in the Black: Resurrecting the Black Dollar” will take place this Easter weekend on Saturday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at 75th Street and King Drive.
The purpose of the event is to redirect collective economic power into local communities, according to event organizers. The event is hosted by Ald. William Hall (6th Ward) alongside Salem Baptist Church and Progressive Baptist Church.
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Black businesses are more likely to employ Black people in the community while also serving as philanthropic arms in the community, Chicago Urban League President and CEO Karen Freeman-Wilson said during a Thursday press conference.
“We also know that Black businesses give life to the commercial corridors in our community,” Freeman-Wilson said. “We see that along 75th Street. We see that along 63rd Street.”
Dozens of local Black-owned businesses and vendors will showcase their goods and services during Saturday’s event, according to event organizers. The event is open to all.
Stephanie Hart, owner of Brown Sugar Bakery, said she opened her business on 75th Street because it was incubated by established Black-owned businesses in the surrounding area.
“We must be intentional with our dollars,” Hart said.
Bill Cooper is president of Inline Designs Office Solutions, which sells furniture to businesses, schools and local municipalities in the Chicago area. Cooper said he’s in disbelief about efforts to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Several major companies have pulled back their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives under pressure from the Trump administration, which has set out to dismantle federal DEI programs and policies. In response, some groups have organized consumer boycotts to protest companies, such as Walmart, Target and Amazon, who have retreated from their DEI efforts.
Saturday’s event will be held in tandem with similar efforts being led by faith leaders in other major cities, like Atlanta and Houston, in protest of DEI rollbacks and to uplift local Black-owned businesses.
Contact Eunice Alpasan: [email protected]