Press, 01/19/2022

News Center Maine

Black Owned Maine giving away $13,000 to those in need

This marks the fourth time that the nonprofit has given out financial relief to families and people who need it during the pandemic.

Read More
01/18/2022

Skye's Fitness

Read More
When you’re an active 18-year-old, the last thing you want to hear is that you’ll never be able to play sports again. Well, that’s just what Skye Washington was told by a doctor after she tore her ACL during a…
Read More
Press, 12/20/2021

News Center Maine

Black Owned Maine showcases new Portland hair school

PORTLAND, Maine — Maine has a shortage of stylists who know how to work on and style hair for Black women, men, and children. Rafiki Shop in Portland aims to change that.

The staff hopes to boost the number of stylists able to work with Black hair and bring more Black-owned businesses to our state.

So on a snowy Saturday night in Portland, dozens of people came to a Black hair show...

Read More
12/14/2021

ListedB

Read More
When Roydon Jeffrey moved to Maine, he couldn’t find the right barber. Being a Black man, it took him six weeks of looking, searching online, and asking around until he found a barber who knew how to handle his type…
Read More
11/27/2021, Business Spotlight

Fred's Fried Dough

Read More
Kyle “Fred” McNair was in Portland’s Old Port when an idea hit him. It was around closing time for many bars and he saw a line out the door for Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Seeing that line, he realized two things: one, Five Guys was making quite a bit of money staying open late, and two, that there obviously weren’t many late-night options for food in Portland. So what did he decide to do? Start a fried dough cart, of course.
Read More
Press, 02/02/2021

Bowdoin Athletics

Celebrating Black History at Bowdoin: Track Teams "Bear the Torch" For Black Owned Maine

BRUNSWICK, Maine - In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement in the summer of 2020, head women's track and field coach L.J. Que along with students Claire Traum '21, Gillian King '22, and Jada Scotland '23 approached Jerry Edwards '04 and Rose Barboza of Black Owned Maine...

Read More
12/22/2020

The First Six Months

Read More
Last May, the world reacted in horror to the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. Here in Maine, Rose Barboza mourned for a few days—and then turned her sadness and anger into action. Her brainchild, Black Owned…
Read More
Press, 11/11/2020

News Center Maine

Black Owned Maine partners with Portland Buy Local

Rose Barboza was at home with her four-year-old child in late May of this year when she saw news coverage of the death of George Floyd, and watched the video of the 46-year-old Black man being handcuffed and pinned to the ground as Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck long after Floyd was dead…

Read More
Press, 11/11/2020

Portland Phoenix

‘Filling in the pieces’ to help Maine’s Black businesses

When Rose Barboza lost her job last spring, she never imagined she would soon gain two new business ventures and more than 14,000 Instagram followers as a result.

Barboza, 30, is the founder and co-director of Black Owned Maine, a passion project she started as a way to bring attention and support to businesses owned by Black people statewide...

Black Owned Maine Podcast

Echoes of Old Systems featuring Ali Ali

Ali Ali came to the U.S. from Ethiopia as a child in 1999. As a teenager, Ali was incarcerated at Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland, first briefly and then, after a parole violation, for 18 months. While at Long Creek, he quickly got his GED, then started taking college classes and joined a theater program that focuses on the stories of incarcerated youth. He became artistic director of Maine Inside Out, which runs those programs, after his release.