TAMPA BAY — Green Book of Tampa Bay (GBTB) is an online resource that offers its readers information on black-owned businesses, entrepreneurs, artists, and cultural experiences created out of the African-American/African diasporic perspective, in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.

Created by Joshua Bean and Hillary Van Dyke, two educators who met at Azalea Middle School, the site was started in 2018 to help readers gain insight into locations where they could spend their dollars with black retailers – resulting in greater black economic stability.

Van Dyke explained, “Through some community contacts, namely Veatrice Farrell of the Deuces Live, Gypsy Gallardo of One Community reached out to us, because part of the work that #InThisTogether wanted to do was create a directory of Black-owned businesses.”

Anyone can add a listing for a black-owned business; Bean encouraged visitors to the site to help them increase the number of listings.

Van Dyke and Bean started GBTB with a mission to change the game for black businesses and communities in Tampa Bay.