IOWA CITY, Iowa (KWWL) – Every small business owner has a story. It might be a story about why they got into a specific line of work, or how they’ve been able to stay open. The success of local businesses usually relies on its ability to communicate that message to the general public.
The Iowa City Area Development Group and some representatives from the University of Iowa recently teamed up to help minority business owners share those stories through the Grow Black-Owned Story Map website.
“I think they all understood it needed to be personal in order to really make a connection and really, truly identify what the community is,” Tracy Jon Sargeant said, director of the Multicultural Development Center of Iowa.
Sargeant works in IT and started MDC Iowa as a way to offer free STEM training to low-income and minority community members. He says BIPOC individuals make up only 10% of STEM jobs historically and he wanted to change that.
“I used to carry a coin that said, ‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’ And I thought, ‘I need to do something,'” he said.
Sargeant is now working on a new program called the BIPOC Business Accelerator to support businesses with less resources. One of the first people he’s working with is DeVale Gates, who is reacclimating to society after prison.
“You need to surround yourself with positive, productive people,” Gates said.
Gates is now the owner of Victory Over Odds Clothing and makes custom, one of a kind jackets. He says having Sargeant’s support has been huge.
“It helped me tremendously to have a mentor like Tracy,” Gates said.
Sargeant is one of 100 minority-owned businesses on the new Story Map website. There are businesses in both Linn and Johnson County.
Another member is Mark Lowe, who owns a basketball training gym in east Iowa City called Complete Player Evolution.
“I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else since high school,” Lowe said.
At just 26, Lowe has five employees and his own facility. He’s happy to see programs like this and says we can do more to support Black businesses.
“The room for support is definitely growing but everything can always be better.” Lowe said.
Kate Moreland with the Iowa City Area Development Group says it’s time we “rethink economic development” through a more equitable lens, and she hopes to do more projects like this in the future.
