The BlackPRint Chicago Campaign Marks Five Years of Building Business and Community Power


The BlackPRint Chicago Campaign Marks Five Years of Building Business and Community Power


Entrepreneurs, creatives and community leaders gathered during National Black Business Month under a call for mutual support and lasting economic opportunity


Business owners, creatives, entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, elected officials and community leaders gathered Thursday, August 27, for The BlackPRint Chicago Campaign's fifth annual Press Conference and Networking Breakfast. Held at The Support Group headquarters, the event celebrated National Black Business Month and created an intimate space for businesses and community institutions to connect, share resources, and build relationships that can continue throughout the year.


Illinois State Rep. La Shawn K. Ford of the 7th District hosted the press conference and urged the public, government, and media to recognize local businesses as essential community infrastructure. “In order to have strong communities, we need to have strong businesses,” Ford said. “Strong businesses support the workforce in communities. Strong businesses help uplift families, and strong businesses actually help people send their kids to college or to a trade school.” Ford also emphasized that visibility matters, noting that a business cannot thrive if people do not know it exists.


This year's theme, “Businesses Supporting Black Women. Communities Supporting Businesses,” centered on Black women whose careers and livelihoods have been disrupted by layoffs and economic change and who continue to rebuild, pivot, launch businesses, and create new paths forward. The message was both celebratory and practical: resilience deserves recognition, but lasting success also requires customers, contracts, capital, referrals, mentorship, and access to the rooms where opportunities are created.


“Economic opportunity is not separate from civil rights. Economic power is civil rights,” said Remel Terry, president and political action chair of the Chicago Westside Branch NAACP and closing speaker at the press conference. “A thriving business can change a family. A corridor of thriving businesses can change a neighborhood. A neighborhood with economic power can change a city.” Terry called for reciprocal partnerships in which organizations hire, buy, and promote locally, and successful businesses reach back to create opportunities for others.


Bennie Henry, executive director and co-founder of The Support Group, welcomed guests as the campaign's 2026 community partner and venue host. “For a nonprofit organization, it is imperative that we raise money to do what we can for our kids,” Henry said. “We have to do for ourselves. We have to do what we can to raise money for these nonprofits because, at the end of the day, if these programs disappear, it hurts the young people we serve.” The Support Group also highlighted its 1,000 Businesses for $1,000 campaign, which invites businesses to invest in youth wellness, mentorship, and violence prevention so young people can heal, grow, and lead in safer, stronger Chicago neighborhoods.


Bright Leadership Institute sponsored the continental breakfast and served as a valued event partner, helping create a welcoming environment for conversation and collaboration. Guests networked, exchanged business information, and took photographs and networked. The morning reinforced a central idea that meaningful partnerships are built through repeated action: purchasing, referring, sharing opportunities, advertising, mentoring, sponsoring, and opening doors.


Founded in August 2022 by Chicago publicist and entrepreneur Christi Love of With an Eye PR, The BlackPRint Chicago Campaign began with a Black family-owned Momentum Coffee as its first partner. During its first two years, Black businesses were featured as vendors and joined panel discussions with entrepreneurs and community leaders. In 2024, when the Democratic National Convention came to Chicago, the campaign shifted to an annual press conference and began its partnership with Ford. The 2024 gathering also recognized a proclamation from Gov. JB Pritzker honoring National Black Business Month in Illinois. In 2025, The BlackPRint partnered with Chicago News Weekly to connect high school and college students interested in entrepreneurship with working business owners.


National Black Business Month was established in 2004 by historian and publisher John William Templeton and engineering executive Frederick E. Jordan Sr. and is observed each August to focus attention on Black-owned businesses and the conditions they need to grow. According to the D.C. Department of Small and Local Business Development, the United States has approximately 3.12 million Black-owned businesses that employ 1.18 million people and generate $133.7 billion in total sales.


The BlackPRint welcomes businesses and allies of every background that are committed to equitable opportunity, broad participation, and shared prosperity. Its mission is to increase visibility, strengthen relationships, circulate resources and turn community support into consistent economic action. By investing in one another, Chicagoans can create jobs, improve neighborhoods and build institutions and traditions that outlast any one event or generation. The call to action is clear: buy local, refer local, partner local, invest local, and keep building together.

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