In 2014 we watched Maggie Andersons TED-Talk on the Economic lifespan of a dollar. (see video below) She is the author of “Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy.” After diving a little into her book, we looked around Knoxville and wondered if we could spend a year or just six months buying from not just only black-owned companies, but from companies that created jobs in our community, gave back to our community, and cared/fought for the concerns of the Urban community. Based on our current knowledge, No. We figured that it was possible these companies existed and we just didn’t know about them.
We searched online and noticed that East Tennessee didn’t have a centralized list of businesses that supported our communities. There wasn’t a list of companies or professionals that we could turn to for specialized urban care.
Where were the companies that carried products for my skin type? Where were the restaurants and bars that played the music that we loved? Driving around it was easy to find a Salon or Bar-B-Que spot. Finding a Dentist, Realtor, Locksmith, or Doctor was difficult. Then what about the online-only stores. Where there any hidden gems that would offer amazing products? Through a little research and digging, we found some excellent professionals and companies that we never knew existed. We began to build a list that turned into this UrbanKnox.com website.
We hope and pray that you would use this list to support our community, by buying from our community first.
We are passionate about taking care of each other by spending with each other. UrbanKnox.com plans to support our community by allowing new, local urban companies on our list for FREE; we will also provide affordable marketing options for companies to advertise their latest promotions.
Check out the instructions to submit a your urban business listing here.
– UrbanKnox.com Staff