The United States has lost 40% of its Black-owned businesses since the start of the pandemic, says a report from the National Bureau of Economic Research. In Philadelphia, that percentage is much shorter, at only 8%, yet only 3% of Philadelphia's businesses are Black-owned. In pursuit of a more connected network of Philadelphians, Jeanine Cook, owner of Harriett's Bookshop in Fishtown is hosting a weekly event through the end of March.
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Founder and Co-Owner of Franny Lou s Porch, Blew Kind (Image: Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Franny Lou’s Porch in Philadelphia’s East Kensington is not your average cafe. Before the pandemic, it doubled as a hub for members of the Black community and other marginalized people.
“When COVID started and we couldn’t even open our business, the inside, I was really hurt,” founder Blew Kind told WPIV-TV.
Opened in 2015, Franny Lou’s Porch was named after artists and abolitionists Francis E.W. Harper and Fannie Lou Hamer. The cafe was established as a “space to engage in community activism, cultural awareness, relational business practices, be a vehicle for advocacy, and most importantly, to be a place of rest.”
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