Declaring each Friday in December 2024 as "Shop Black Business Friday" in the City of Philadelphia.

Declaring each Friday in December 2024 as “Shop Black Business Friday” in the City of Philadelphia. WHEREAS, Black culture runs deep among Philadelphia’s historic sites, artistic havens, cultural offerings-and in Philadelphia’s many Black-owned shops, restaurants, and other businesses; and WHEREAS, These businesses are enjoyed by visitors to Philadelphia and its residents and provide local jobs, goods, services and amenities in neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia, including historically disadvantaged communities; and WHEREAS, Historical structural inequities and systemic racism have presented barriers for Black and Brown entrepreneurs and small business owners to open, operate, and grow; and WHEREAS, The Pew Research Center reports that while the number of Black owned businesses is growing in the US, Black- and Brown- owned businesses accounted for only 3% of all businesses with race and ethnicity data in the Census Bureau’s latest Annual Business Survey; and WHEREAS, Not only are Black-and -Brown- owned businesses vital to the communities they serve, but those businesses also bring in an estimated $183.3 billion in gross revenue nationally; and WHEREAS, It is imperative to safeguard and grow Philadelphia’s existing Black-owned businesses through investing and supporting them individually as consumers and collectively as a City; and WHEREAS, Visit Philadelphia, the tourism marketing organization, is kicking off the holiday season with dedicated marketing efforts to support …