Business
BE NYC: Advancing Black Entrepreneurship in the Heart of the Nation’s Business Capital
(MANHATTAN, NY – August 2, 2025) – In a city as vibrant and diverse as New York, the potential for Black entrepreneurship is as expansive as the skyline. Yet, a stark disparity tells a deeper story: while Black residents make up 22% of New York City’s population, only 3.5% of its businesses are Black-owned. This glaring gap is not due to a lack of ambition, innovation, or talent—but a legacy of structural barriers that have long denied Black entrepreneurs equitable access to capital, mentorship, and opportunity.
To confront this head-on, the New York City Department of Small Business Services launched Black Entrepreneurs NYC (BE NYC) in September 2019—an unprecedented initiative to close the racial wealth gap and drive generational economic mobility for Black New Yorkers.
A Vision Rooted in Equity
BE NYC isn’t just a program—it’s a movement. Born from deep collaboration with community leaders, business owners, and policy advocates, the initiative marks the first time a major American city has committed to building an ecosystem explicitly tailored to support Black entrepreneurship.
The mission is bold yet necessary: to create equity of opportunity by tackling Black entrepreneurs’ systemic challenges and empowering them to build thriving businesses across the five boroughs.
From Harlem to Brooklyn, Queens to the Bronx, Black entrepreneurs are laying the foundation for tomorrow’s economic renaissance. BE NYC stands firmly behind them—not with platitudes, but with targeted resources, culturally competent programming, and strategic partnerships.
Programs with Purpose
BE NYC has developed a wide array of services, each aimed at moving the needle toward business equity. Among them:
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BE NYC Startup Intensive: A free, comprehensive program that equips early-stage Black entrepreneurs with the tools and mentorship to launch strong, sustainable businesses.
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BE NYC x VOLS Legal Services Partnership: This initiative, in collaboration with the Volunteers of Legal Service, provides crucial legal assistance, covering everything from incorporation and contract drafting to intellectual property.
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Black Business Solidarity Initiative: A storytelling campaign that celebrates the voices of Black entrepreneurs and emphasizes the power of unity, resilience, and shared experience.
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Publications like the “Advancing Black Entrepreneurship in NYC” report offer data-driven insight into the state of Black business in the city and actionable policy recommendations.
And most importantly, BE NYC connects residents to Black-owned businesses and creates digital infrastructure to help consumers discover and support them.
Building Community Through Education and Events
Beyond services, BE NYC curates a growing slate of events and workshops. One recent highlight:
“Lessons from 30 Years of Black Entrepreneurship”, an online masterclass scheduled for August 26, 2025. Featuring Bentley Ritter, founder of BeneFit Personal Training, this one-hour webinar dives into the triumphs and trials of surviving—and thriving—as a Black business owner for nearly three decades.
In a format that mixes heartfelt storytelling with actionable advice, Bentley pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to build a legacy in a competitive and often inequitable marketplace.
It’s this kind of intimate, real-world learning that sets BE NYC apart. The initiative doesn’t just teach business principles—it builds confidence, nurtures networks, and affirms that Black entrepreneurship is essential to the city’s present and future.
The Road Ahead
As more cities look to replicate BE NYC’s model, it serves as both a blueprint and a beacon. It reminds us that real progress requires intention, investment, and intersectional leadership. It’s not enough to celebrate Black-owned businesses during special months or after national reckonings. Sustained support and systems change must be the norm.
For Black New Yorkers who’ve long dreamed of launching their own businesses, BE NYC is a declaration: Your vision matters. Your enterprise is valuable. And your success is non-negotiable.
To learn more or sign up for upcoming events, visit:
👉 https://nyc-business.nyc.gov/nycbusiness/business-services/initiatives/black-entrepreneurs-nyc-be-nyc
Follow BE NYC on LinkedIn: Black Entrepreneurs NYC
Also on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NYCBusiness/
#BlackBusinessMatters #BENYC #BlackEntrepreneurs #EconomicJustice #NYCInnovation #BlackWallStreetToday #BlackUSANews
(RICHMOND – February 23, 2026) – Black-owned newspapers are disappearing before our eyes.
Historic institutions that once carried our stories, defended our dignity, and documented our victories are folding across the country. Newsrooms that anchored neighborhoods for generations are going quiet. Seniors who relied on the printed word are now being forced into a digital world that did not wait for them.
This is not just a Black problem. It is not even just an American problem. It is global.
Technology disrupted everything.
We once used pagers. Then cell phones replaced them. House phones became optional. Now news lives in the palm of your hand. A single influencer with a smartphone can reach more people in seconds than a newsroom once could in a week.
The game changed.
Years ago, The Baltimore Sun recruited me to blog for them. Soon after, their reporters were required to shoot video on their phones. The thing is — I had already been doing that. Innovation wasn’t new to us. We were early.
But disruption leaves casualties.
When a Black newspaper closes, something more than a business disappears. Institutional memory vanishes. Accountability weakens. Community narrative shifts into someone else’s hands.
That void is dangerous.
That is why we built BlackUSA.News.
Not as nostalgia.
Not as resistance to change.
But as adaptation with intention.
I have worked in the Black Press since 1994. I have seen what happens when we control our story — and what happens when we don’t.
BlackUSA.News is our answer to this moment.
We are not watching the Black Press die.
We are rebuilding it — digitally, nationally, unapologetically.
And we welcome all who are ready to build with us.
(OKLAHOMA – August 17, 2025) – When I first started researching my family’s genealogy, I thought I was just going to fill in a few blanks.
Instead, I uncovered a lie so deep, so systematic, it reshaped everything I thought I knew about who we are as a people.
I want to show you something personal.
Below, you’ll see two official U.S. government records—both documenting one of my direct ancestors. Thomas Jefferson Adams Harjo.
Creek Nation certificate
📜 The first is from the Dawes Roll, the federal list created in the early 1900s to register members of the Five Civilized Tribes.
As you’ll see, my ancestor is listed as a Full-Blood Indian—a clear acknowledgment of their tribal heritage and cultural identity.
1900 US Census
But then, take a look at the second image:
📄 That’s the federal census record from just a few years later.
Same ancestor.
Same location.
But this time, the government marked them as Negro.
No tribe. No Indian classification.
Just folded into the general Black population—without consent, without explanation.
That wasn’t a mistake.
That was paper genocide.
This is what happened to millions of Indigenous Black Americans across the South.
Their identities were stripped away on paper—one document at a time—by a system designed to erase, absorb, and exploit.
This wasn’t just about racism. It was about land, power, and control.
By reclassifying tribal people as Negro or Colored, the government could:
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Deny them land rights
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Remove them from tribal rolls
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Steal their inheritance
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And make sure future generations never knew who they really were
This is why so many of our elders say, “My grandma said we had Indian in us.”
They weren’t lying.
They just didn’t have the tools to prove it.
Now we do.
And I’m not showing you this to just share my story—I’m showing you because this might be your story, too.
If you’re ready to go deeper, tomorrow I’m going to pull back the curtain on how far this went—how the reclassification of Black Indians was not an exception, but the rule across the Southeast.
You’re not crazy.
You’re not reaching.
You’re remembering.
—Mike
Founder, Native Black Ancestry
The Black Press Is Not Dying — It’s Being Rebuilt
Remember Who You Are: The Indigenous Series 📱
Remember Who You Are: The Indigenous Series
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Indigenous Series: Reclaiming Our Legacy
Remember Who You Are: The Indigenous Series
Remember Who You Are: The Indigenous Series 📱
Indigenous Series: Reclaiming Our Legacy
Indigenous Series: Reclaiming Our Legacy 📱
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