Rebuild & Heal
Minnesota
An Immigrant-owned Business Collaborative
Immigrant-Owned businesses need help now more than ever.
Immigrant businesses have been attacked -- these businesses are a pillar and life in our community and we need to stand by them.
These businesses
have Revived our neighborhoods and make the community what it is today.
Rebuild the businesses that have revived our community who have been traumatized thrice by the killing of George Floyd, traumatized by the chaos and “destruction” and trauma from gentrification.
We invite you to invest in small, immigrant-owned businesses! A number of businesses lack insurance, and the majority do not have access to the critical supports needed to weather this crisis.
WHY IT MATTERS
Our plan is to fund exclusively through an equity lens. There’s a need for organizations who have deep relationships within immigrant communities to lead the way in support and recovery efforts. In addition to a community lens to the effort, these organizations serve as CDFIs and bring decades of experience related to supporting BIPOC businesses and providing access to resources and technical support. In the days to come, we will assemble an advisory committee of community members to help administer and distribute the funds. Already weakened by the Covid-19 pandemic, we encourage everyone to give generously. We witnessed as our communities received the least in trickle-down resources during the pandemic, and we CANNOT let this happen again!
HISTORY
The twin cities are home to a growing immigrant and black community that have completely changed the city by building micro and macro businesses that have fully revived economically depressed neighborhoods and corridors. Lake Street, Midways and many other corridors have been destroyed during the recent protests for Justice for George Floyd.
WHO IS INVOLVED
This fundraiser is a joint effort between the African Development Center (ADC), African Economic Development Solutions (AEDS), Council on American-Islamic Relations - Minnesota Chapter (CAIR-MN), and the Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) in support of immigrant-owned businesses on Lake Street, Midway, and across the Twin Cities. As community-led organizations in the social and economic development space, we invite you to give generously in supporting immigrant-owned businesses and supporting long-term solutions to racial justice.
As community development corporations, ADC, AEDS, and LEDC will get resources directly to immigrant-owned businesses. As a civil rights organization serving the immigrant and Muslim communities, CAIR-MN will use this moment to develop a harm reduction agreement for businesses to adapt. We will advance strategies like alternatives to calling the police (with the exception of life-threatening circumstances), and other strategies to address the violence on Black lives within the business context.
Henry Jiménez
Executive Director
Latino Economic
Development Center
(651) 395 4033
Gene Gelgelu
President and CEO
African Economic Development Solutions
651-815-9367
