Intentionalist, Major League Soccer, the D.C. United Foundation, and Black Players for Change are teaming up to incentivize support for diverse local businesses as part of the 2023 MLS All-Star celebration in Washington, D.C.
“All of our Clubs have robust engagement with their local communities,” said Sola Winley, EVP & Chief DEI Officer at Major League Soccer. “MLS All-Star being one of the Leagues major events is a natural moment for the League to continue to build on the work of our local clubs and extend the reach and exposure for local businesses even deeper.”
According to Shanell Mosley, Executive Director at the D.C. United Foundation, “With a massive event and platform like MLS All-Star, we are excited to shine light on some of the incredibly diverse local businesses which serve as the heartbeat of our nation’s capital. We know that each business has a special story to be told and we hope to leverage MLS All-Star as a space for people to learn more about them.”
“We are honored to come together with Intentionalist, D.C. United Foundation, and Major League Soccer to bring this initiative to fruition,” said Quincy Amarikwa, Founder BPC “We aspire to ignite a wave of inspiration among other sports organizations to generate additional avenues for amplifying and bolstering small businesses, and encourage fans to embrace a newfound awareness and purposefulness in their support of diverse businesses on a consistent basis.”
“We are excited to partner with Major League Soccer, the D.C. United Foundation” and Black Players for Change to celebrate diverse local businesses as a part of MLS All-Star in Washington, D.C.” said Intentionalist CEO, Laura Clise. “Through our collaboration, we are harnessing the power of the MLS All-Star celebration to drive local economic impact that prioritizes benefit to small businesses and the diverse people behind them.”
MLS All-Star Small Business Pass
The partnership encourages fans to explore and experience the small businesses powering the local community and economy. Through the MLS All-Star Small Business Pass, from July 15-19 local and traveling fans will be able to access promotional discounts at dozens of local businesses including Little Food Studio (Black-owned, Woman-owned) in Petworth, Del Sur Cafe (Latino-owned, Woman-owned), Colada Shop (Latino-owned, Woman-owned) and Hank’s Oyster Bar (LGBTQ-owned, Woman-owned) in Dupont Circle, Roaming Rooster (Black-owned, Woman-owned) and RAWish in Western Market, Ramen by UZU (Asian-owned) at Union Market, and Mozzeria Pizzeria (Deaf-owned) and Hill Prince (Black-owned) in the H Street Corridor.
How it works:
- Fans access the MLS All-Star Small Business Pass via Intentionalist’s website (prior to July 15, 2023 fans will be prompted to enter an email address to be notified when the pass is live)
- The pass features promotional discounts at local businesses that can be claimed and redeemed by presenting a unique QR code to be scanned at participating businesses.
- Local businesses are reimbursed for the discounts provided so that participation does not impact their bottom line.
Highlighting Diverse Local Businesses
As the local club for this year’s MLS All-Star events, Mosley emphasized that collaboration elevates diverse local businesses as a way of building on the club’s ongoing engagement with the community. “At D.C. United, our commitment to the community reaches far beyond the field of play. The D.C. United Foundation’s work is centered around programming and partners that encourage and provide opportunities for our community members to thrive, unite and have essential support. We prioritize serving populations that lack equitable access to important resources, educating and empowering the next generation and using our platform to lift people up and support their visions. This collaboration is an extension of our work to support the local DMV community and we are proud to be teaming up with Intentionalist, Black Players for Change and MLS to make it happen.”
Intentionalist is built on one simple idea: where we spend our money matters. We make it easy to find, learn about, and support small businesses and the diverse people behind them through everyday decisions about where we eat, drink, and shop. #SpendLikeItMatters