As part of Monday's celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, the Newtown Florist Club of Gainesville revealed plans to release a Black Business Directory, featuring black-owned businesses, non-profits and other resources to spur economic parity within the Black community.
Rev. Rose Johnson, the Executive Director of the Newtown Florist Club, said the project has been in the works since 2017.
"One of our priority economic justice projects for the past three years has been the research, development and preparation of our Black Business Directory," Johnson said during the online MLK celebration. "There is an exciting and dynamic committee of members who have worked hard to bring this [project] ready for release."
Angela Middleton, the coordinator for the Black Business Community Resource Project, said the idea was first floated at a 2017 business brunch sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She said the enthusiastic interaction among the owners of the community's black-owned businesses at the event prompted the Newtown Florist Club to start collecting information on various minority businesses.
"They were able to identify 130 businesses and resources, but the project stalled," Middleton said. "In the fall of 2020, the project was reignited. With the help of a great team, we were able to identify over 150 entries to go into our directory."
Andrew Davenport, the owner of A Good Look Home Inspection, has been part of the project, and he was also part of Monday's online presentation.
"I am excited to be a part of this venture, I'm excited to bring Gainesville's version of 'The Green Book' to life, I'm excited to be a part of all the great stuff that Newtown Florist Club has coming," Davenport said.
Project coordinators began calling the directory "The Green Book" in reference to the printed guide known as "The Negro Motorist Green Book." The guide was a directory of safe places where Black Americans could stop, stay and eat as they traveled across the country during the Jim Crowe era.
Middleton said the group had wanted to have the directory ready for distribution by MLK Day 2021, but the ongoing coronavirus pandemic delayed the plan.
Now, she said, the goal is to introduce the directory to the public in February, which is Black History Month. Specific plans for the release are forthcoming.
