“This moment is really a dream come true. There has been a lot of thought and love and long hours that went into making this moment possible,” Northland BIPOC Business Directory Founding Member, Stephanie Williams said.

A ribbon cutting celebrated a unique new business directory. BIPOC is short for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. The Northland BIPOC Business Directory launched in June, but Thursday’s event was the official public launch.

“I see this opportunity as a way to amplify the business sector and all the different parts of it. I think this is a mechanism to show collective power,” LISC Duluth Executive Director, Sumair Sheikh said.

It happened at The Culture: Pop-Up Co Lab. Eight businesses who won grants from the Greater Downtown Council and the Duluth 1200 Fund are stationed here and will be until October 15th.

“One of the benefits that I see with this directory is it’s a centralized location where people who are wanting to invest in communities of color know exactly where to go to. And then it also provides a space for entrepreneurs of color to connect with each other,” Davila Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Consulting, Chris Davila said.

The directory is a guide for BIPOC owned businesses and is a place for these businesses to promote, talk about goods and services as well as events.

“Representation absolutely matters. We are all here to support each other and to just unite and then brag about each other and really just, if I don’t have it I know that my friend at this store has it and so we just really want to promote ourselves and each other and let everybody know that we’re out here,” Williams said.

If you want to connect with over 100 minority run businesses in the Northland, visit their directory at WWW.NorthlandBIPOC.com.

To read this original story and more news, follow this link to the Fox 21 News website.

Related: The Entrepreneur Fund: Providing support to Cook County business owners