Today, we recognize that every dollar is a vote for the world we want to build. BIPOC and LGBTQAI+ entrepreneurs face systemic barriers, from discriminatory lending to hostile business environments, while corporate chains extract wealth from our communities. Supporting community-owned businesses is economic resistance that keeps resources circulating locally and builds power outside white supremacist structures.

Today's Action:

• Eat at Bushell's Kitchen and Cocktails or Taqueria Las Lagunas and savor food made by community members building their own economic freedom

• Order nail polish from Northern Nail Polish at northernailpolish.com and support women's entrepreneurship while contributing to reforestation efforts

• Explore Rufus Snoddy's art at rufussnoddy.com and invest in Black artistic expression that challenges dominant narratives

• Share these businesses with friends, family, and social networks

• Ask these business owners what community support looks like beyond individual purchases

When we choose community-owned businesses over corporate chains, we starve the extractive economy that concentrates wealth upward. Your grief for communities pushed out by gentrification connects you to the determination of entrepreneurs building alternatives to corporate dominance.

When we support community businesses, we build community wealth that can't be extracted by distant shareholders. We create economic democracy one transaction at a time.

Bushell’s Kitchen - https://bushellskitchenandcocktails.com/
Taqueria Las Lagunas - https://laslagunastc.com/