About MKE Black
MKE Black celebrates and promotes Black business, events, culture, and advancement in the greater Milwaukee area. We are a non-profit dedicated to providing a one-stop shop for locals and tourists, with information on dining, shopping, culture, resources, and more through our website and app. We also help Black Businesses by providing funding and resources to thrive. MKE Black is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Founding
MKE Black was founded in 2019 by Paul Wellington and Rick Banks, two people who wanted to showcase Milwaukee’s Black community to local residents and tourists.
Vision
To create boundless opportunities driving Black community wealth.
Mission
To amplify the Milwaukee Black Community by facilitating intentional investment of resources and building global connections.
Guiding Principles
Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define and name ourselves, as well as to create and speak for ourselves.
Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together.
Ujamaa (Cooperative economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.
Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
Kuumba (Creativity): To always do as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
Imani (Faith): To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
What We Do
Black-Owned Business Directory
MKE Black created and maintains a database of Black-Owned business in the Greater Milwaukee area. This database is available on our website as well as through the mobile app. Businesses can submit their information to be listed here.
Social Media Promotions
MKE Black has creatively used social media platforms to promote positive happenings in the Black community, the launching & saving of local Black owned businesses, and upcoming community events. This has helped us to reach over 200,000 residents in the Greater Milwaukee area.
Facilitate Connections to Opportunities
By maintaining a thorough network of business and community relations, MKE Black is able to facilitate connections to opportunities both between Black-Owned Businesses and from others. We’re proud to have facilitated partnerships between local Black-Owned Businesses and organizations such as The Milwaukee Bucks, The Milwaukee Brewers, and Northwestern Mutual, to name a few.
Black Cultural & Business Focused Events
Since summer of 2020, MKE Black has been organizing and supporting events that promote Black culture and Black-Owned Businesses in the Milwaukee Region. Our flagship event series is our Black-Owned Summer Marketplace, held once a month in June, July and August. Other past events include: Black Business Social Hours, The History of Black People in Milwaukee, Lager & Listen Conversation Series, What is Cooperative Economics, Access to Capital Workshops, and more!
Check out our events calendar to see what’s coming up and sign up for our newsletter to stay informed!
