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SourceLineThe Black Civic Data Platform

Our mission is to make sure Black communities are not simply informed about the decisions shaping our future, but equipped to help make those decisions. An informed community is a powerful community.

Stories

Business stories

Each story starts with the national record, then breaks it down to your state, county, city and address: how it affects you, who decides and who pays. Newest first.

Showing 1 of 17 stories. See every story

Business, by the numbers

What would it take for more Black-owned businesses to grow and hire?

Black Americans own 1 in 7 one person businesses but about 1 in 30 that hire. What it takes to grow them, and who writes the rules that decide it.

I was at a DeKalb County town hall in Stonecrest held by our county CEO, Lorraine Cochran-Johnson, when residents began asking a question I have heard for years: why are the big box stores not coming to Stonecrest?

Inside: We are already in business · The gap is in growing · Why the step up is so steep · Some states already changed the rules · What you can do, wherever you live · Where you live

Read the story › October 29, 2026 · 7 minute read

About these figures

Every figure on this page shows the year it describes. Public agencies release their numbers on their own schedules, often a year or more after the work of counting is done. The Census Bureau, for example, publishes its five year community survey each December, and the national reading test is given every two years. That is why some figures are not from this year. SourceLine updates each one as soon as the agency publishes it.

For some counties and small towns, SourceLine has not found meeting records online. Where it has not, we add them as they become available. A page that says SourceLine hasn’t updated a record yet means exactly that.