Diversifying Your Spending and Suppliers
If you’ve been following and supporting the Black Lives Matter protests, then you’ve probably shared on social media, signed petitions, read a book about race, and donated to organizations leading this work as a starting point. You might be wondering what you can do next.
Here’s my challenge to you: Look into your wallet.
Before I worked in real estate, I worked in supplier diversity and inclusion supporting women-owned businesses trying to become corporate suppliers. I am well aware of the challenges these businesses face. You can say the same for Minority, LGBTQ+, Veteran, and Disability-owned businesses.
I am nowhere near perfect, there are still plenty of things I order from large chains, but I do attempt to support small and diverse businesses with my dollars. I make an effort to source from these businesses when I can and I’m always looking for new businesses to support. These aren’t the least expensive options, but it’s a decision I make to support and invest in my community.
As a business owner, I’ve taken advantage of discounts provided to me through my brokerage and I’ve been less intentional about making sure I’m sourcing from diverse suppliers. That’s a failing on my part. So I’m looking at the spend for my business and looking for ways to improve.
Here are the resources I’m using to get me started. Have others? Please share them in the comments.
OwnHers - Directory of Black Women Owned Businesses
BuyWomenOwned - Directory of Consumer-Facing Women Owned Businesses
Equality Chamber of Commerce DC - Directory of LGBTQ+ Businesses in the DC Metro Area
This isn’t a complete list and I will add to it as I find more. There are also plenty of lists of Black Owned Restaurants you can dine at.
If you aren’t a business owner, but want to encourage the company you work for to diversify their suppliers try connecting with these organizations:
I’ll leave you by reminding you that to be a true ally, you need to be willing to do the work. These businesses aren’t always easy to find. They have a harder time getting access to resources and networks. Highlighting that they are different has traditionally been harmful to these business so highlighting the fact that they are part of a minority group is not something many of them do. If you really want to be an ally, take the time to find them, purchase from them when you can, connect them to resources you have access to, and highlight them when they’ve provided you with a great product or service.
