Port Wentworth Salon Warehouse Space and the need for Vocational Rehabilitation Services in Port

By: Chantaye McLaughlin

Wentworth.

When Governor Kemp reopened the state of Georgia, one of the first industries to reopen were beauty salons. Upon the opening of the beauty salons, life began to normalize. Is it because many of the gig workers who were drawing unemployment were able to return to the work environments that were conducive to their trade or skill? It could be argued that after the SBA put almost a trillion dollars into the community, everyone began having businesses and purchasing office space.

If Port Wentworth were to develop more warehouse space that could be converted into office space, then it would allow for more skilled labor and for more youth to be trained and developed in vocational rehabilitation services. If we would convert office space into things like beauty and barbershop it would lead to more business ownership, a decrease in crime and an increase into the overall economy. The reason why the office space would lead to business ownership is because a container inside of a warehouse is less expensive and less harmful to the environment than a building.

The pandemic showed us the value of the working class. The first industry to open up outside of the first responders were the beauty and barbershops. Many argued conspiracy due to the industry being filled with individuals who are often considered as the working class or even gig workers. The reality is beauticians and barbers have been around since the beginning of time and they are service providers. Beauticians and barbers set the tone for the culture and for a multibillion-dollar industry. Everyone wants to look and feel good, and that is what they create.

Warehouse space and containers allow for creatives to create. Tattoo artists, fashion designers and musicians having access to space that they can own would assist with stabilizing the economy further and lowering the deficit. The more consumerism that takes place, the more money there is that floats throughout the economy. That is why it is often stated that African-Americans are the largest consumers with spending powers exceeding a trillion dollars.

Barbershops in the African-American community have often controlled the narrative of business, politics, family, Black love and any other topic that could not be discussed at home or where there was no man in the home. Beauticians in the African American community served as the therapists and counselors and they were there before reality television, to tell the young girls how to dress, how to be courted properly and even to absorb and gather all the gossip and information. When I was growing up, we had Too Groovy in Savannah and every Black male has at least heard of Boyz II Men. This is where the youth got their lives back when it was popular to look good before it was the in thing to carry guns and fight out problems by shooting and killing.

These containers and warehouses could revitalize an entire generation and provide positive opportunities for a culture that has been destroyed from gangs and violence. These containers could reinforce the importance of trade schools and colleges. It is my hope that we normalize businesses that stabilize the economy as well as put money back into the communities that are the most impacted by crime.