At the end of a difficult week for our country, I’ve seen many social media posts asking how they can help with creating the change needed to address our country’s racial injustice and systems of oppression. There are no clear or easy or one size fits all answers. But it is clear we all have work to do! For some it is being on the front lines of protests, for some it’s educating oneself on how to be anti-racist, for some it’s putting resources (money AND network) to use, and many other roles that must be played for change to actually happen this time. Because let’s be clear that this is not new work and some folx have been in the trenches for years.

There’s a lot I feel and could say, but I’ll spare you that soapbox. In my reflections, I keep coming back to my coaching philosophy which is reminding us all of the power of our ability to choose. Choose Joy. Choose Love. Choose Justice.

One of the ways I have chosen to live my values and own my power to choose this week has been to create a crowdsourced list of POC-owned businesses to support. POC = People of Color. This initially started as way to collect and create a list for a local mom FB group and has since expanded beyond. A fellow mom suggested converting to a website for ease of use and expanded access. I think that is a great idea so here we are!

Here is the POC-owned businesses spreadsheet that mostly includes businesses local to Decatur, GA and Metro Atlanta with a few national sites as well. Everything from dentists to clothing to restaurants to plumbers and everything in between. Please share with your networks and shop on these sites before clicking on your favorite meal divery site or online giant retailer.

If you have suggestions to add to the list, add them directly to the spreadsheet. We want to keep this crowdsourced and true to it’s intent to support POC businesses so please make sure you only add POC-owned businesses to the list.

And above all else, please figure out your role and let’s all use our strengths and our power to choose to make change for racial justice a reality. Keep choosing!