Townr is a community-driven storytelling publication and platform designed to champion commercial revitalization, spotlight local merchant networks, and highlight the unique cultural heritage of neighborhood business districts. By bridging a community’s rich history with present-day grassroots enterprise through powerful visual and narrative storytelling, the publication serves as a catalyst for local commerce, cultural storytelling, and sustainable, community-led economic development.
Vol. 1: OVERTOWN, MIAMI, FL
CONTRIBUTOR | Group O Strategies LLC & Kamila E. Pritchett
President/CEO Black Archives History & Research Foundation of South Florida, Inc.
FROM THE OBA PRESIDENT
This edition is more than a collection of places and stories. It is a reminder that Overtown’s history is still alive in the entrepreneurs opening their doors each morning, the legacy businesses that have remained rooted here for generations, and the new ideas taking shape throughout our community.
As President of the Overtown Business Association, I believe our responsibility is not simply to celebrate Overtown’s past, but to make certain that the people and businesses of Overtown have a meaningful place in its future.
I invite you to experience Overtown beyond these pages. Walk our streets. Visit our businesses. Meet our entrepreneurs. Learn our history. Experience our culture. And most importantly, invest in the people who continue to make Overtown what it is.
FOOD AND BEVERAGE
Where Overtown’s flavor fuels businesses, community, and legacy!
Food & Beverage profiles Groovin’ Bean, Red Rooster, Lil Green House Grill, Jackson Soul Food, and House of Wings, revealing how Overtown businesses blend entrepreneurial grit, growth, soul, authenticity, reputation, and decades of flavor to nourish community and sustain legacy.
GATHERING SPOTS
Places where culture, connection, and new energy come together!
Gathering Spots explores the Lyric Theater, Dunns Josephine Hotel, OVRTWN Corner, Center for Black Innovation, and Dunn’s Farm & Market as places where culture, hospitality, entrepreneurship, and history meet, encouraging connection, celebrating renewal, and keeping Overtown’s communal spirit alive together.
RESOURCES
Local organizations turning support into opportunity and impact!
Community Resources highlights Overtown Business Resource Center, Touching Miami With Love, Overtown Youth Center, Ebene Naturals, Just Right Barber Shop & Beauty Salon, ILA Local 1416, Optimist Club, and Overtown Performing Arts Center, showcasing support, culture, wellness, education, and connection.
HISTORY
Honoring Overtown’s past while shaping its future!
History follows Overtown’s legacy through a walk across its past, the Black Police Precinct and Courthouse Museum, and the Interstate’s displacement. These stories confront memory, loss, resilience, identity, and preservation, emphasizing determination to honor roots and help shape Overtown’s future together.
Vol. 1: OUR STORY
How Voting Means Resources
The candidates we elect and the policies we approve shape much more than headlines. They influence the funding, rules, infrastructure, and opportunities that determine whether neighborhoods—and the businesses rooted in them—can thrive.
A vote is often described as a voice. It is also a decision about resources.
At the local level, elections help determine who writes budgets, sets zoning rules, oversees public services, negotiates development priorities, and decides which projects move from proposal to reality. Those decisions can affect the condition of a commercial corridor, the reliability of a bus route, the future of a public park, the availability of small-business assistance, and the safety and accessibility of the streets people use every day.
In other words: voting is not separate from a community’s economic life. It is one of the ways residents help shape it.
By TOWNR Staff
Beyond the Dock
At the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, the yachts may command the headlines—but the economic opportunity stretches far beyond the water.
When the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show returns October 28 through November 1, 2026, it will bring the usual spectacle: gleaming superyachts, high-performance vessels, marine innovation, international buyers, and an audience that arrives ready to see what is next.
But F.L.I.B.S. is not only a boat show. It is a concentrated, five-day marketplace for hospitality, transportation, design, security, logistics, marketing, wellness, repairs, events, technology, and luxury service. The show’s official economic-impact figures point to approximately $1.79 billion in statewide economic output, more than 100,000 visitors, and an estimated $47.3 million in spending by non-local visitors and exhibitors. Nearly half of attendees come from outside Florida.
By TOWNR Staff
Growing and Sourcing Locally
How buying and sourcing your business needs locally can grow your business.