Decide DeKalb launching Black Business Guide on Aug. 1

Decide DeKalb, the economic development organization for DeKalb County, has announced the first DeKalb County Black Business Guide will launch on Thursday, Aug. 1, during an event at 6:30 p.m. at the Granite House Lofts in Stone Mountain.

The launch is timed to honor the start of Black Business Month, according to a press release. The Black Business Guide includes over 100 businesses ranging from business support, retail, food and dining, and non-profit. The guide goes live on Aug. 1 and can be viewed here.

“We’re thrilled to present the DeKalb Black Business Guide, a platform dedicated to amplifying Black creativity, excellence and entrepreneurship in our community,” said Terra Washington, Decide DeKalb’s vice president of marketing and communications. “By increasing the visibility of these businesses, we aim to recognize their invaluable contributions to our local economy as well as amplify their reach to bring them more potential customers and partners.”

Some businesses listed in the guide include The Cereal Lab, Scraplanta, Billups Homes Inc. and Granite House Lofts.

Granite House Lofts is a historic venue in downtown Stone Mountain owned by husband-wife pair Shani and Jelani Linder. The venue is a boutique-style short-term rental property housed in a restored granite building on Main Street.

“There is a business renaissance taking place in downtown Stone Mountain, particularly among Black entrepreneurs, and it’s exhilarating,” Shani Linder said. “The fact that over half of the businesses on Main Street are Black or minority-owned is a testament to a new narrative being written—not just here but across DeKalb—that you can start a business and be successful.”

According to the Brookings Institute, there are 7,539 Black businesses in the metro Atlanta area.

“If Black businesses represented 36.3% of employer firms (proportional to the Black population), there would be 56,918 more Black businesses,” the press release states. “Additionally, an Intuit QuickBooks survey reported that more than two in five (46%) Black business owners who advertise their businesses as ‘Black-owned’ believe it deters non-Black customers.”

Decide DeKalb has also launched the DeKalb Diversity Decal (D3) program, administered by the organization’s business retention and expansion team. The program provides participating businesses with a decal to signify Black-owned businesses, with more coming to showcase the counties business diversity.

“The economic power of the Black dollar is immense and transformative,” Washington said. “When we support and circulate our spending within Black businesses, we create a ripple effect that strengthens our communities, builds generational wealth, and ensures the success of our entrepreneurs. The DeKalb Black Business Guide is a crucial tool in harnessing this power and driving sustainable growth for our local economy.”

This story was provided by WABE content partner Decaturish.