Minority-Owned Businesses in Biddeford, ME
Acknowledging the minority-owned businesses in Biddeford, ME in order to encourage the UNE & Biddeford community to support their businesses
The Meaning Behind the Map
We made this map as a resource to the UNE and Biddeford community on local minority-owned businesses as a way to contribute our support. Including a variety of business categories such as food, salon, clothing, and more. In addition, we also included information on each business such as its name, location, contact, website/social media, and images on each location.
Minority Owned Businesses in Biddeford, Maine
How to Identify Minority-Owned Businesses
To be considered a minority-owned, the business must be at least 51% owned and operated by one citizen or more with an ethnic background of 25% or more (i.e. Asian-Indian, Asian-Pacific, Black, Hispanic, or Native American).
The map provided in this StoryMap only includes minority-owned businesses in Biddeford, ME. If you are looking to find and support a minority-owned business near you here are a few resources.
- A quick Google search of "minority-owned businesses near me", can usually do the trick. Filter the search as you please. You can change the search to include a specified ethnic background or the type of business you're looking to support (i.e. restaurant, nail salon, barber, convenient stores, etc.)
- Consider using Etsy or Facebook Market Place. These kinds of cites are smaller than typical online shopping cites such as Amazon and are much easier to find a minority-owned business on.
- Social media. This is a great resource to find minority-owned businesses and aside from purchasing from them, you can also give them a follow and share to show your support. These social media pages also commonly include the business owners website which can help prevent you from ordering from a third-party cite that would take away their profits.
- Here is a great resource for Black-owned businesses in all of Maine.
Why Support Minority-Owned and Local?
Annual business survey ( United States Census )
Minority-owned businesses are very important to your local economy and are the reason our cities continue to grow and prosper.
How to Help and Support These Businesses
Buy from them!
This is the easiest way to show your support. By supporting these minority-owned businesses you are also building the diversity in your communities.
Don't utilize services that take their profit.
Try to avoid using a "middle man" at all costs. This includes a service that another company would provide that takes profit way from the minority-owned local business.
For example, DoorDash. If you use DoorDash to deliver food from your local minority-owned bakery, they are actually taking away 30% of the profits .
Avoiding these kinds of services is a simple way to support. Instead you can ask the company if they themselves offer a delivery or pickup service.
Promote their goods.
A simple way to do this is by making a social media post and tagging them.
To take a step even further, if you own a business yourself, consider hiring them as vendor or something along those lines.
Write them reviews.
Similar to making a social media post, consider leaving these businesses a good review either on their website or on other review sources. This costs you nothing but a minute of your time and can help a local minority-owned business in many ways.
Expanding on this support method, include photos when possible. These acts can increase the businesses visibility and help them grow.
Support internal workforce diversity.
Prioritizing diversity in your own place of work is a step towards supporting minority-owned businesses in your area.
The diverse employees your business employs can support others in the community and promote minority-owned businesses that are not on your personal radar.
Diversity in the workplace can also bring new perspectives and ideas for the future of the business.
