CELEBRATE DIVERSITY
in Orange County, NC
LOCAL BIPOC BUSINESSES
Our commitment to Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity in Orange County, North Carolina
Embracing diversity and supporting Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) and their owned businesses are crucial steps in fostering a more inclusive and equitable community.
Supporting BIPOC-owned businesses is a tangible way to promote economic equity.
Communities in Orange County, North Carolina — including Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough — have created directories and online platforms that highlight these businesses, making it easier for residents to find and support them.
Local governments throughout Orange County offers grants, mentorship programs, and business development workshops specifically for BIPOC entrepreneurs to help them thrive.
Moreover, the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau encourages residents and visitors to patronize BIPOC-owned businesses.
Creating inclusive spaces where everyone’s voice is heard is essential.
By embracing diversity and actively supporting BIPOC-owned businesses, all of us can build a more just, vibrant, and prosperous environment for everyone.
Carrboro’s Gates of Beauty
Carrboro, North Carolina, Chapel Hill’s cool cousin, has an old soul. For decades, Carrboro has embodied a smart, interesting and — more than anything else — a warm and welcoming personailty, its arms open to all comers. You can be yourself in Carrboro. It’s vibrant...
Sommelier Paula De Pano’s New Shop, Rocks & Acid
In December 2022, Paula De Pano, the former beverage director at the Fearrington House and one of the South’s most prestigious sommeliers, opened a wine shop in Southern Village, Chapel Hill, Rocks & Acid. De Pano — who grew up in Manila in the Philippines and...
Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe
Vimala's Curryblossom Cafe is an Indian restaurant on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. Vimala Rajendran, an Indian immigrant to the United States, opened the restaurant in 2010. The restaurant purveys home-style Indian cuisine, and Southern food with local produce and...
Nomad Hillsborough
Nomad is located on King Street in Hillsborough and offers a global dining experience unlike anything else in the area. B.J. Patel, co-owns the restaurant with his wife, Smita, and his brother, Sejal. “With its proximity to Chapel Hill, Durham, Carrboro we definitely...
Talullas Chapel Hill: Authentic Turkish Cuisine
Established in 2004, Talullas has become a favorite dining and late night destination among locals and visiting foodies alike with their unique Turkish Cuisine, perfectly situated on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. Turkish cuisine is one of the world’s top cuisines,...
Carolina Car Wash & Detail
Driving around Chapel Hill it’s impossible to miss the Carolina-blue building at the intersection of Franklin and Main Streets. It juts out like a small peninsula at the precise spot Chapel Hill and Carrboro meet. This is Carolina Car Wash. It’s a friendly place, one...
Tahir Rafiq Opens Popular Breakfast Spot in University Place on Estes Drive
On a cool September morning, The Flying Biscuit restaurant at University Place is filled with dinners who want a hot biscuit, bacon and coffee. The southern-inspired restaurant known for its all-day breakfast menu made its Chapel Hill debut in 2022. “Bringing southern...
Rasa Malaysia
The closing of Merlion restaurant in Southern Village in 2015 reduced the number of Malaysian restaurants in the Triangle to zero. But just three months after Merlion was shuttered, Rasa Malaysia opened in the same space in Chapel Hill’s Southern Village. The place...
Red Lotus Asian Kitchen
Since 2006, Kevin Zhu has owned and operated Red Lotus restaurant in Chapel Hill, near Whole Foods on Elliot Road. Zhu originally worked in kitchens while living in Shanghai, building the knowledge base that he would need later once his family moved to the States. His...
LATEST STORIES
Mama Dip’s Closes
Earlier this summer 2024, Mildred “Dip” Council’s children announced they will be closing the restaurant in mid-August after forty-eight years of service. The Council children make up the core of the staff, and many of them are approaching retirement age. Mama Dip’s...
Midway Barber Shop
Step Edwards has operated Chapel Hill Barber shop for most of his life. He still rents the building on Rosemary Street, Chapel Hill, but due to COVID’s hit on small businesses, the family had to sell the building that’s been with the family for as long as Step can...
Celebrating Mildred Council’s 95th Birthday
Mama Dip’s Kitchen, located at 408 W Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill, commemorated what would have been its founder Mildred Council’s 95th birthday on Thursday, April 11, 2024.
Carrboro Mayor Barbara Foushee
In 2023 Barbara Foushee was the first Black woman elected as mayor of Carrboro and the second Black person to hold the office. Foushee has served on Carrboro’s town council for six years. Foushee grew up in eastern North Carolina and graduated from Saint...
Ms. Lillian Lee
Lillian Lee is one of those guardians of the Chapel Hill community who puts her arms around the town’s soul, holds its close and tries to protect it. And she’s done an amazing job. In 1965, during her husband Howard’s graduate school years, she joined a colleague —...
LATEST NEWS
Bob Drakeford
The Orange County Board of County Commissioners and Carrboro Town Council recently voted to name the new building at 203 S. Greensboro Street the “Drakeford Library Complex” in honor of Bob Drakeford,
Celebrating Juneteenth
Juneteenth, short for “June Nineteenth,” marks the day in 1865 when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to enforce the freedom of all enslaved people, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
Black Restaurant Week in Carrboro
Mayor Barbara Foushee has proclaimed the week of April 26 to May 5, 2024 as Black Restaurant Week in Carrboro. The Town of Carrboro recognizes the importance of supporting local Black-owned restaurants, which play a vital role in building inter-generational...
Carrboro Celebrates: The Braxton Foushee Street Dedication
The Town of Carrboro celebrated the renaming of Carr Street during the Braxton Foushee Street Dedication on Wednesday, March 27, 2024 . Braxton Foushee is a local civil rights leader, a current Planning Board member, and the first Black member of the Carrboro Board of...
AROUND TOWN
