After the Thanksgiving shopping holiday, the next couple of weeks are the best opportunity to support local small businesses. Hispanic leaders and organizations supporting Latino-owned companies are urging consumers to support Hispanic businesses to boost the economy.

“The purchasing power and consumer influence of our community should not be underestimated at a $2.3 trillion contribution towards GDP. Think of local and small businesses when you make purchases and vendor decisions,” said Ramiro A. Cavazos, President & CEO, United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.“Every dollar spent at a Latino-owned business supports them in creating jobs, sustaining families, bolstering other businesses, and providing valuable services in cities across the country,” said María Samaniego, senior program manager at The Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program. “It’s time we recognize the economic contributions that Latino-owned businesses make to the U.S. economy and support them so that we could collectively build back stronger.”

Business directories are popping up to help consumers find Hispanic-owned stores and companies.

Here’s a few of them:

Business Directory

Support Latino Business (SLB), a nonprofit, recently hosted its second annual National Support Latino Business Day on Sept. 14. SLB announced the launch of the SLB Impact Fund to provide grants to Latino/x-owned small businesses across the country. To be eligible, companies had to be majority Latino/x-owned and have been in business for at least one year and register to be part of the FREE Support Latino Business Directory at www.supportlatino.biz. Cavazos and Samaniego made their statements in a press release promoting Latino Business Day. SLB is championed by a diverse group of partners, including The Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program, Small Business Majority, U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Amplify Latinx, MXDC, We Are All Human, Momento Latino, Latino Business Action Network, and Friends of the American Latino Museum, among others.

http://hispanicya.com/

This is a site “dedicated to the Hispanic Market both online and traditional.” It was created by Danay Escanaverino, CEO of LunaSol Media. In addition to the business directory, the site has several resources, including a LinkedIn networking group, a Facebook group, and an event calendar.

https://www.shoplatinx.com/

This site calls itself the “leading beauty, fashion, and lifestyle e-commerce designed by and made for Latinas.” The brainchild of two Los-Angeles-based Latinas Brittany Chavez and Raquel Garcia, launched their website before Black Friday in 2016. It features more than 200 brands.

Hispanic Business Resource Center

Hello Alice, a free multichannel platform that helps small to medium-sized businesses launch and grow, is developing an online Hispanic Marketplace that should launch soon, according to the Hispanic Business Resource Centre site. Hello Alice, founded by Carolyn Rodz and Elizabeth Gore, also has teamed up with Miami singer Pitbull (Mr. Worldwide)  and the Global Entrepreneurship Network to offer Hispanic businesses cash grants of up to $10,000 to help them get through the pandemic. A report from the National Bureau of Economic Research said 32 percent of Latinx small business owners disappeared between February and April 2020. “I know that being an entrepreneur is hard,” Pitbull says in this online promo.“This program is directly benefiting Latino entrepreneurs helping them keep their businesses open and their employees paid.”