By WMBD-TV

BLOOMINGTON – Lieutenant Gov. Juliana Stratton (D-Ill.) stopped by the Minority Business Development Center at Eastland Mall in Bloomington to hear from minority women business owners for her new initiative “We Thrive”.

“We Thrive” is an effort spearheaded by Stratton to financially empower minority women business owners by increasing access to existing resources. Bloomington was the first of many stops throughout the state for “We Chats” with minority women business owners.

“When women thrive, we all thrive,” said Stratton. “I want every woman to feel financially whole and well, and I want them to have that confidence…Talking to primarily Black women business owners is important because in addition to the barriers they have economically, the gender wage gap is even higher for women of color.”

Helping women with financial issues is also one of MBDC’s key initiatives for 2024.

“Women are oftentimes the last ones to know about funding that’s available, often not eligible to get funding. Not because they’re not ready, but because they don’t know what the process is,” said Denise Moore, CEO and founder of MBDC.

Mimi Lam, owner of Mimi’s Boutique in Eastland Mall, said government support is crucial for small businesses to succeed.

“We want the government to support small black-owned businesses because its tough running a small business and we need all the resources and all the help we can get,” she said.

Stratton said the information learned from the “We Chats” will help inform the initiative about what business owners need from the state.

“What I learned is that there’s women business owners who have started their businesses but sometimes they feel they get to a point where they plateaued and they need some support in how to grow businesses. I also heard information is not readily available for women, that there’s still lack of access. So we need to do more to make sure women have what they need to thrive,” she said.