*A laborer or construction worker may walk three times as many steps a day as the average person, sometimes clocking in at more than 30,000 steps. This week, steps were taken to make it easier for Philadelphia residents to support local black workers and African American-owned businesses, just by presenting a simple discount card.
So far, 80 Philadelphia area black businesses have signed on for the discount card program. For those consumers who purchase the $10 card, they’ll receive discounts of up to 15% at a variety of businesses, including restaurants, child care services, construction companies, and more.
While business discount cards are certainly not a new concept, the iBuyBlack discount card is specifically geared towards supporting Philly’s black businesses and keeping those revenues within the community.
According to Michael Rashid, a former healthcare chief executive who helped to come up with the concept for the card, money doesn’t stay in the black community very long.
“Economists say the average dollar earned by blacks stays in our community for just six hours,” Rashid said in a report to Philly.com. “Compare that to the white community, in which dollars circulate for 17 days. That’s wealth-building.”
Just this week, the Philadelphia Community of Leaders released the discount card, which they hope will encourage consumers to spend their money where it counts.
Organizers hope to enroll 500 businesses and 10,000 area residents by year’s end. Since the program’s start, around 1,500 people have already signed up. All proceeds from the cards, which are available at iBuyBlack.org, go to a local nonprofit that promotes African American culture and history.
In the Philly.com report, Rashid expressed the importance of supporting the local community.
“If we spent 9% of our collective dollars with black-owned businesses, we could employ every single man, woman, and child within the black community. Strong black businesses are good for the entire community, with the potential to lower crime and create jobs.”
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