LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Five-hundred small businesses across the U.S. have been awarded $10,000 by American Express and Main Street America through their Backing Small Business Grant Program.
Sis Got Tea, a Black-owned, woman-owned and LGBTQ+-owned tea café, was among one of the recipients.
The café started in 2019 and opened its brick-and-mortar location last year. It sells several different types of teas, but there’s more to it than just selling tea.
“Our goal has always been to offer a safe, sober, affirmative space for folks in the community, particularly LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized people,” said Arielle Clark, Sis Got Tea’s owner and founder.
Clark saw a need for a space like this in Louisville.
“I wanted to create a space that basically did not exist when I was younger, growing up as a Black queer woman here in Louisville, Kentucky,” Clark said.
The café hosts a number of community events and meet-ups that include name change and expungement clinics. People can also grab Narcan, period products and COVID-19 test kits in the bathroom.
“We always try to give back to the community somehow,” Clark said.
One-quarter of Sis Got Tea’s proceeds from Sunday, June 30 went toward an on-the-ground organization in Gaza called the Gaza Sunbirds. They provide resources to Palestinians.
“For a small business like ours, especially a small business that was started by someone who did not start with any generational wealth, who didn’t start with a nest egg, who is not having much luck with the loan process because of, like, credit history and things like that, this grant is very life-changing,” Clark said.
Clark intends to use the money from the grant toward hosting more free and low-cost events, paying bills to remain open and making the café more accessible.