This Challenge to Support Only Black-Owned Businesses for 30 Days Was Founded Right Here in Astoria

Propelled by the current energy behind the Black Lives Matter movement and the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, Astoria native Dorissa White co-founded the #BuyBlack30Challenge along with friend Kiera Mallett. The challenge urges Americans to support Black-owned businesses both national and locally by buying exclusively from them for the month of June, also in hopes of creating enough of an economic dent that lawmakers must enact legislation on police reform.

They’ve broken down the challenge into four phases over the four weeks, allow participants to slowly analyze where they put their money each week and redirect funds to support the Black community. This includes: dining at black-owned establishments exclusively, shopping at black-owned retailers exclusively, canceling all subscription services that are not black-owned, and utilizing only Black-owned nail and beauty services.

The challenge isn’t meant to “get down on yourself if you had to spend money elsewhere this week” or “overwhelm yourself by going completely cold turkey,” the founders expressed on Instagram, but rather to “get participants acclimated into a new way of shopping and using their money.”

To support Black-owned businesses right here in Astoria, definitely check out our ongoing directory (and continue to let us know if you have more to add). The @BuyBlack30 social media page is also full of resources and they provide links to many websites to make it easier to participate.

Here’s what to do:

• Follow @buyblack30 and share the posts and resources with your followers.
• Ask your followers for any black-owned businesses, (this is important because many black-owned businesses are unlisted) make note of all the ones they send you and make a list separated by category (business type) city and state
• Take pictures, videos, etc. of you patronizing black-owned businesses and tag #buyblack30challenge and we will share your post. Leave reviews for black businesses on Google and Yelp if they’re listed.
• SHARE SHARE SHARE…Please post on your social media pages. If you want to begin your own challenge without our platform, we will encourage you and support you.