Black-owned and POC businesses continue to grow through local directory

SCRANTON, Pa. — Back in 2018, Glynis Johns, came back to her hometown of Scranton with an idea to highlight Black and POC-owned businesses, like the ones she shopped in at cities across the country.

“You’d be surprised. There are some folks that are black-owned businesses that you wouldn’t expect, and I think it just breaks down another stereotype because black is not a monolith, black doesn’t look like a certain thing. And just because you’re promoting something as a black business doesn’t mean that you’re excluding any other businesses,” said Glynis Johns, founder and CEO of Black Scranton Project.

As founder and CEO of the Black Scranton Project, Johns brought her idea to life, creating a directory that lived on a sheet of paper, “So, when I started out, I had about eight businesses in the business directory. A couple of them were at the marketplace at Steamtown. 2019. We had grown a couple more. By 2020, um, we had probably about 25 or so businesses,” she said.

At its peak, Johns says the directory had listings for more than 80 businesses, reaching thousands across the city, Lackawanna County, and beyond, one being Chef Von and Mom along Linden Street in Downtown Scranton.

“I was in the middle of getting this restaurant here we talked about it way before, you know, I mean, it came to fruition, so once I opened the restaurant, I was one of the first ones there with it, and it’s just, it’s growing my business it’s good for black people, brown people, white people, every people, you know what I mean,” said Chef Ryan Von Smith, owner of Chef Von and Mom.

Chef Von says the directory opens new opportunities for business owners looking to get a head start or continue a legacy of entrepreneurship passed down through generations, “Great to see you know, like, I was born and raised in Scranton, PA. I left when I was about 23, so I was gone for 15 years, and there wasn’t, there wasn’t too many black businesses here. My grandfather that’s up on the wall here actually has one of the first ones that’s him and my great-grandmother in that picture, but to see the growth of it and to be able to see people that look like me and my skin color, it’s a great feeling, and I hope that we can continue to do it.”

Sharing that same passion, Johns looks to keep expanding the directory, offering more opportunities to businesses across the area, “If you are a black-owned business in Northeastern PA and you want to be featured on our business directory, please go to blackscranton.org/blackbusiness, and we would love to add you to our business directory. So I hope to see you there.”