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5 new businesses added to BOOST program in Baltimore
The Downtown Partnership of Baltimore is adding five more businesses to the Howard Street corridor as part of its Black Owned-and-Operated Storefront Tenancy (BOOST) program.The stores will be located in the Bromo Arts District, and the idea is to level the playing field for Black entrepreneurs who have historically had significantly less access to capital and funding. It also helps fill in the gaps in downtown retail, which have been trending downward since before the COVID-19 pandemic.”For our second cohort of BOOSTers, they’re adding to this growing downtown retail landscape,” said Shelonda Stokes, president of the Downtown Partnership. “We’re going to seed their success with money, training, partnership, access to resources and benefits. We know that being a part of the Downtown Partnership opens doors for connecting, and we want to make sure we’re doing that for these businesses.”One of the businesses chosen as part of the second cohort, Bmore Empowered, creates programming for Black girls and women and empowers them through leadership, entrepreneurship and wellness.”BOOST has tremendously helped our business. Right now, we have to turn women and girls away from our programming because of a lack of space. So, this will almost triple the space we’re in right now and allow us take in more girls and women in the city and provide more services for them,” said Nazaahah Amin, program director and co-founder of Bmore Empowered.Bmore Empowered will have a retail shop, where they can sell goods by businesses owned and operated by Black women.Other businesses receiving support from BOOST include From Baltimore, With Love, an apparel brand created by Brian Dawkins; Sacred House, which sells herbal products and services to support health and well-being; Smith Co., a fashion, music and lifestyle retail space; and Decorelle, which sells home furniture.”They’re not just giving us a store, but they really walk us through everything — financial growth. We have a class every two weeks that helps us to build our business,” said Elle Odoi, CEO of Decorelle.BOOST provides up to $50,000 in grants to support build-out and operations for each business, including a $20,000 energizing small business grant from Baltimore Gas and Electric.
The Downtown Partnership of Baltimore is adding five more businesses to the Howard Street corridor as part of its Black Owned-and-Operated Storefront Tenancy (BOOST) program.
The stores will be located in the Bromo Arts District, and the idea is to level the playing field for Black entrepreneurs who have historically had significantly less access to capital and funding. It also helps fill in the gaps in downtown retail, which have been trending downward since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“For our second cohort of BOOSTers, they’re adding to this growing downtown retail landscape,” said Shelonda Stokes, president of the Downtown Partnership. “We’re going to seed their success with money, training, partnership, access to resources and benefits. We know that being a part of the Downtown Partnership opens doors for connecting, and we want to make sure we’re doing that for these businesses.”
One of the businesses chosen as part of the second cohort, Bmore Empowered, creates programming for Black girls and women and empowers them through leadership, entrepreneurship and wellness.
“BOOST has tremendously helped our business. Right now, we have to turn women and girls away from our programming because of a lack of space. So, this will almost triple the space we’re in right now and allow us take in more girls and women in the city and provide more services for them,” said Nazaahah Amin, program director and co-founder of Bmore Empowered.
Bmore Empowered will have a retail shop, where they can sell goods by businesses owned and operated by Black women.
Other businesses receiving support from BOOST include From Baltimore, With Love, an apparel brand created by Brian Dawkins; Sacred House, which sells herbal products and services to support health and well-being; Smith Co., a fashion, music and lifestyle retail space; and Decorelle, which sells home furniture.
“They’re not just giving us a store, but they really walk us through everything — financial growth. We have a class every two weeks that helps us to build our business,” said Elle Odoi, CEO of Decorelle.
BOOST provides up to $50,000 in grants to support build-out and operations for each business, including a $20,000 energizing small business grant from Baltimore Gas and Electric.
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