PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Burlington County is encouraging people to support Black-owned businesses this month as part of Black History Month, through a program that is free for businesses.
They are using a free interactive map on its website to connect residents with Black-owned businesses.
The map lists about 60 Black-owned businesses. The map details the location, contact information, and websites for residents to easily find them, and pushes that info out to social media.
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"Since we have that information in our database, we now can go and share that information for our community to know where they can go for certain Black-owned businesses," said County Commissioner Felicia Hopson.
"We know how Black-owned businesses create and support the infrastructure of the local economy, so it’s extremely important that we be strategic and be intentional about supporting Black businesses, particularly during Black history month."
The county is encouraging new local businesses to register, too.
"We want to know that you exist. We want to know where you are. We want to know what your hours are. We want to know what services you provide, so we make sure that we can gather that information in one place so this interactive map allows us to have a database of these businesses," said Hopson.
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There are also county maps listing Hispanic and Latino-owned businesses, as well as women-owned and veteran-owned companies.
Burlington County is considered the "cradle of emancipation" for its connection to the Underground Railroad.
Hopson said she is living proof of that.
"For me to be a Black county commissioner in a predominately white county speaks volumes, but it wouldn't have happened without that emancipation piece that we played a huge part in," she said.
Click here for the Burlington County Black business map.
Businesses that would like to be listed on the maps and promoted on the County’s social media sites should email information to news@co.burlington.nj.us.
