HYANNIS — In the aftermath of George Floyd's murder in 2020, which ignited worldwide protests, Tara Vargas-Wallace found herself getting calls from people across the Cape.

"People wanted to find ways to support the Black community," she said. "They wanted to know if there was a list of local businesses owned by people of color. There wasn’t a local list."

So Vargas-Wallace set out to create one.

She was the southeast coordinator for the Massachusetts Women of Color Coalition, and was a member of the Cape Cod and Islands Commission on the Status of Women. She belonged to NAACP and worked for Hyannis-based Housing Assistance Corp.

She had more than 20 years experience, some of it lived, working with marginalized people in the Bronx and on Cape Cod.

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She gathered the names of businesses, created a list and put it on a website, amplifypoccapecod.com, accessible for all to see. She formed Amplify POC and is in the process of turning it into a nonprofit.

To date, Amplify POC has partnered with area banks to host webinars on the Paycheck Protection Program and an educational series on wealth building, she said. Amplify POC has collaborated with other Cape organizations on programs and panel discussions on leadership, homeownership and a pilot program that will help small businesses on Main Street in Hyannis.

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Where and when is the POC holiday market?

Vargas-Wallace and her Amplify POC team have organized a Holiday Vendors Market for Dec. 10 in Hyannis. This will be the first holiday market featuring businesses owned by people of color, but it won't be the last, Vargas-Wallace said. The event, which will showcase 30 POC-owned businesses on the Cape, will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Cape Codder Resort and Spa on Route 132.

"I'm here to amplify these businesses," she said.

Reducing the racial wealth gap is one of the missions of Amplify POC. It's a significant challenge, given the disparities in wealth between different racial groups in the U.S. None are more so than the differences between white, Black and Hispanic families, according to a 2019 study by the Federal Reserve, the country’s central bank.

In the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, the typical white family had eight times the wealth of the typical Black family and five times the wealth of the typical Hispanic family.

In median wealth dollars that translates to $188,200 for white families, $24,100 for Black families and $36,100 for Hispanic families. Median wealth refers to the wealth of a typical household.

“People are shocked when they hear the numbers,” Tara Vargas-Wallace said.

Vargas-Wallace wasn't shocked at the numbers. Nor were many of her friends of color. Reducing the racial wealth gap won't be easy, she said, and it won't happen unless people patronize and support POC-owned businesses.

Who are the vendors and what gifts will you find?

Vendors at the Holiday Market will have everything from clothing to jewelry, dolls to jerk sauce, baked goods to books and kitchen knives.

One woman creates clothing from specially designed fabrics. Another makes Cape Verdean and African dolls. One vendor knits handmade blankets using soft fibers. A health fitness professional has her own line of workout gear.

Wampanoag jewelry and fine and fashion jewelry will be for sale. Body oils, hair products and beauty accessories will be available.

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Keniqua Smith launched the KenniKay Collection, a hair products line, in February 2020, just before COVID-19 hit. What began as a way to help restore and revitalize her mother's hair turned into a business that has grown in spite of the pandemic. She used social media daily — Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat — to grow her clientele base.

Smith's mother had been told by doctors that there was nothing they could do for her hair loss.

"The doctor said it would never grow back," Smith said. So she started doing her own research into peppermint, tea tree and other natural oils.

Smith, who is from Jamaica, didn't take out loans and didn't spend a fortune when starting out, but finances were a challenge. She wasn't a resident, and that posed its own set of difficulties. But she was able to target a particular market with her hair oils, styling products, edge control and hair bonnets.

"No one was really selling the items I was selling," she said.

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Naticia Thorpe-Reid, owner of MiniMe Clothing Boutique in Hyannis will be one of the vendors at the festival. She puts her personal touch on the outfits she sells online for women and girls, creating outfits that mix and match.

"I take some of the work out of shopping," she said.

Thorpe-Reid will participate because of what Vargas-Wallace and Amplify POC stand for.

“I fall under that umbrella being a person of color,” she said. "I feel we’re not fully represented on the Cape.”

The event will not only give her a platform to sell her wares, but also provide her with an audience.

“This was something I could use for networking,” she said. “I can make people more aware of what I have to offer.”

One mission of Amplify POC: Reduce the racial wealth gap

The Federal Reserve’s point-in-time survey lists the varied reasons for the wealth gap’s existence. Homeownership, education, student loan debt, wage disparities and access to retirement plans all play significant roles in the gap.

The intergenerational transfer of wealth from grandparents to parents to children gives some a huge boost.

Consider the following information from the Federal Reserve study.

A typical home value of white families is $230,000 while typical home values for Black and Hispanic families are $150,000 and $200,000, respectively.

Typically, white families have more retirement savings (two and a half times more), more liquid savings (four times more) and more equities (tens of thousands more) they can tap into than Black and Hispanic families.

The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization, cites policies that denied financial services to minority communities, and Jim Crow era’s “black codes,” as contributing to “the disproportionate accumulation of wealth held by white households while exacerbating the economic fragility of many Black households.”

A National Center for Education Statistics study revealed Black graduates face more student debt than their white peers, and that paying the debt was harder for them because their average incomes were lower than their white counterparts.

“Do I think we can erase 400 years of racism in my lifetime?" Vargas-Wallace asked, answering her own question. “No.”

The Holiday Vendors Market won’t level the playing field, either, but it is a step in the right direction, Vargas-Wallace said. “We can try to eliminate the racial wealth gap in our small part of the world,” she said. “We can be more intentional with the money we spend.”

Contact Denise Coffey at dcoffey@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @DeniseCoffeyCCT.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: POC Holiday Vendor Market Cape Cod businesses owned by people of color