Four years ago black-owned businesses were among the hardest hit by the disruption of the pandemic.

Many of them have rebounded and in one retail space in Washington, D.C.

supporting local black entrepreneurs

has been a key mission.

From the Newstower Student Reporting Lab's

Journalism Training Program,

Morgan Hawkins has our story.

We are a tribe here like a black Wall Street tribe.

Sycamore Oak in Washington DC is a retail village showcasing 12 black-owned businesses ranging from a food market and art boutique to a gym.

It also serves as a community space that supports black entrepreneurs through training and mentorship.

Sycamore and Oak has been an incredible resource for myself and for my business.

Coming in here as a small business, it has been an incubator space where we learn all the

professional things.

This retail village opened in June of 2023, one of many black-owned businesses

to open in the past few years.

According to the census annual business survey,

the number of majority black-owned businesses

has grown by nearly 30% since 2017, but Black Entrepreneurs still faces struggles, according to Bridget Weston, the CEO

of SCORE, a non-profit free mentor and educator for small businesses.

From what I can see in my role

and in talking with black entrepreneurs

across the country, unfortunately,

...