Black entrepreneurs and business owners will take their rightful place center stage this month, as Empower The Village, Inc., a Morristown-based 501c(3) nonprofit organization, hosts its inaugural Black History Month Empowerment Expo on Saturday, February 11th, 10AM – 6PM, at the beautiful Westminster Arts Center on the campus of Bloomfield College in Bloomfield, NJ.

Empower The Village has planned a fun-filled, multi-faceted community event to not only celebrate Black history, but also, and particularly, to focus on and honor the role Black business ownership has played historically to empower and add to the vibrancy and prosperity of the Black community. ETV invites everyone to Sip, Sample and Shop at its vendor marketplace, recirculating wealth and investing dollars with nearly 40 local Black-owned businesses showcasing a wide range of products and services.

The daylong event will feature dynamic keynote speaker, business executive and community advocate, Jackie Taylor, “The Business Doctor”, and author of soon-to-be released, Give Me A Boost: The Under-Resourced Entrepreneur’s Handbook for Growing and Scaling Your Business. There will also be a moderated panel of academics, entrepreneurs, and business executives discussing the rich African and African-American history, importance, challenges and opportunities of Black entrepreneurship, and answering questions from the audience. Additionally, the festivities will be accentuated by the highly anticipated Village Ventures™️ competition, a business pitch competition where five finalists will vie for $10,000 in monetary awards to re-invest in their respective businesses.

SIGNUPSCRIPT

The centerpiece of the event is undoubtedly the Empowerment Expo, where upwards of 40 Black business owners and entrepreneurs will sample food and drinks, sell their wares, and highlight their services for the 200+ people expected to attend.

The Empowerment Expo is the manifestation of a dream to gather the “Village” together for a celebratory event that is culturally-affirming, impactful and future-focused as ETV’s Black History (+ Empowerment) Month signature program, envisioned by ETV CEO Ayo Sanderson Wilson when she founded the organization in 2018. “It is extremely gratifying to see the vision of a community-building Black History Month program come to fruition! February needs to be more than a time to revisit history – instead, it is a time to reflect on and remember the lessons of history to help us fuel a prosperous future for the generations to come. Educating, empowering, embracing and inspiring the Black community with the help of “the Village” is what ETV is all about. We are also excited to partner with and have the full support of President Marcheta Evans, and her terrific staff at Bloomfield College.” President Evans shared, “As a Predominantly Black Institution (PBI), it was an easy “yes” to support the work of ETV as we continually look for ways to further empower and educate our students to build prosperous lives for themselves and to become meaningful contributors to their communities.” ETV hopes that the overwhelmingly positive and welcoming response from vendors, pitch competition contestants, and expert panelists who share its enthusiasm means that the Expo will be a highly anticipated annual celebration.

The Empowerment Expo is the newest among the powerful portfolio of economic prosperity-enhancing programs and initiatives created by ETV to assist and empower Black businesses and families, help them survive and thrive, and also provide a roadmap to building generational wealth. The Empowerment Expo is an extension of ETV’s Village Empowerment Network™️ (VEN), a program which offers Black business owners and families free business and financial counseling services funded by ETV, and an online, self-guided curriculum of curated businesses courses to help them gain supplemental business knowledge and insights.**BULLSEYE

ETV launched their Make Every Friday, Black Friday® movement in 2020 to encourage the “Village” to be intentional in their support of Black-owned businesses at least once a week, and created the Village Black Pages® directories, an invaluable resource and compendium of 25 directories, comprising over 30,000 free Black-owned business listings, in the 24 states and Washington, DC where over 90% of the U.S. Black population reside and work.

Attendees will be treated to music, delicious food and drinks, and vendors offering health and beauty products, services, books, clothing, jewelry, accessories, art and much more! Admission for the general public is $25 for those who purchase tickets on or before January 31st, and $30 thereafter, and at the door. Student admission is only $10. Click here to purchase event tickets or visit the Empower The Village website at www.empowerthevillage.org.

Empower The Village (ETV) is a data driven 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2018. ETV is focused on restoring Prosperity, Peace, and Power to the Black community by strategically partnering with “Village” leaders and allies to empower Black people, businesses, and community organizations to realize their full potential. **STANDARD

For more information on Empower The Village or to make a donation, please visit the website www.empowerthevillage.org and follow ETV on social media: Facebook @empoweretv,

Instagram @empower_etv, YouTube @ETV-Empower The Village or LinkedIn @ Empower The Village.