Main fundraiser photo

Fight Discrimination - Ja’mal’s Dream

Some of you may have heard or even read the article in The Daily Camera this week, that my good friend, neighbor and brother from another mother, Ja’mal Gilmore, is losing his dream. His barbershop. His livelihood. The life savings he poured into it all. 

“The barbershop established to serve Boulder County's non-white residents, and one of only a few black-run businesses in the city, is being uprooted after sinking tens of thousands of dollars into its rented space in favor of a wine bar run by the owner of a competing barbershop.” (The Daily Camera)

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_32301076/boulder-barbershop-despite-investment-pushed-out-make-room

It’s so shady and wrong how he and his team are being treated by the landlord and the soon to be new tenants.  This is what subtle, legal, discrimination looks like in 2018 

Ja’mal always paid his rent on time, and completely  gutted the space and invested tens of thousands of dollars toward tenant improvements that the new wine bar will benefit from. Using his own life savings to make his dream a reality because no one would give a small business loan to a black, first-time business owner. The shop is rad!

The landlord never even offered to extend his lease - why?especially because Ja’mal has brought so much light and attention to the center and is so busy, he has to turn customers away. Ja’mal has been a resident of Boulder for some 20 years, married and raising his family here. An incredibly kind, generous and loving father, friend, husband and business owner. He would give you the shirt off his back in a heartbeat if he knew you needed it. 

This isn’t right. It just isn’t right. I want to help raise money for him to relocate his business, because it would be the biggest shame to see him have to walk away from everything. 

Currently, even if Ja’mal were to find another space for his shop he wouldn’t be financially able to relocate. Here’s hoping we can raise enough money to help get him a small business loan now that he has three years of successful business ownership under his belt.

The name of Ja’mal’s business is The Brooklyn Barber Academy. His wife and business partner is Kelly Stapleton.

Organizer and beneficiary

Sarah L. Rice
Organizer
Boulder, CO
Kelly Stapleton
Beneficiary

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