Reporting by Cesar Canizales

Black-owned businesses in Seattle have been earning revenue at a much lower rate than their counterparts, an occurrence created by long-standing systematic racism. Now, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has announced a plan he hopes will help correct that. Dubbed the Liberty Project, this collaborative effort launched by the city, the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, Seattle University’s Albers School of Business and Tabor 100 will focus on industries that have a high concentration of Black-owned businesses.

“We know we'll focus on certain businesses where we think there are opportunity retail, personal services, commercial construction, food and beverage manufacturing, restaurants and power utilities contracts. We’ll be very intentional, very deliberate and very proactive in our attempts to address the revenue disparities faced by communities that have endured disinvestment.”

Harrell unveiled the initiative in front of the historic Liberty Bank Building, the site of the first Black-owned bank in the Pacific Northwest. Ollie Garret, the President and CEO of Tabor 100, said the Liberty Project will provide the services that will enable businesses to reach the next level.

“One of the things that I said, being a small business owner myself, a lot of businesses get started without knowing, not knowing what they don't know that they don't know. So they get into this and get going and realize, wait a minute, I didn't know. I need to understand labor laws. I didn't know I need to understand, have a CPA, have a bank.”

You can see more from the announcement in the video.