A new business hub featuring businesses focusing on Black-owned and/or wellness businesses opened in Evanston at 2223 Washington Street on May 10.
Named The Aux, the hub will be able to house up to 12 businesses at its building when fully occupied. The Aux so far hosts a Wintrust Bank kiosk, a community kitchen, a gym, a laundromat/cafe, a podcast studio, a hair salon, a doula office, a startup office and open spaces for socializing and community.
Co-developer Tiffini Holmes said that while people might assume wellness only adheres to physical exercise, the businesses at The Aux are meant to focus on health and wellness holistically, including mental health and more. “There are some basic necessities: Safety, money (and) shelter that also embody wellness. Because I can’t worry about taking a gym class or movement class if I can’t afford to do laundry or if it’s not a safe place for me to go and do those things,” she said.
The Laundry Cafe, owned by police officers Jacqui White and Tosha Wilson, opened its doors to the public prior to Saturday. Holmes said the two Evanston natives from Florence Street were looking for a retirement plan, and that they viewed laundry as a necessity and wanted for their customers to be in a clean, comfortable environment that wouldn’t make doing laundry feel like such a chore.
Wilson said the idea of combining a laundromat and cafe stemmed from a curious search on the internet. “(Europeans) chill at the laundromat, they do things at the laundromat, they have bean bags, they have a library within in the laundromat. So I’m like, ‘Well, why can’t we have that here?’” she said.
White, an officer with the Highland Park Police Department, said she saw how people connected with each other in cafes in that area over coffee. “We created an environment where you can relax and chill, get the necessity done, plus have a nice cup of coffee and some light bites and just bringing people together,” she said.
“We grew up on Florence Avenue here in Evanston, the 2nd Ward,” said White. “So we are the Florence kids, and we were inspired by our experience on Florence. Really, this is Tosha’s idea, but just coming from Florence, we wanted to give back to Florence and the Evanston community in general.”
The laundromat/cafe business is open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, and also has pick-up and delivery services.
Located at The Aux is a doula agency and doula training academy named Sokana Collective. Co-Founder Nancy Cowans said Sokana has been around for over 20 years and has trained over 60 people to be doulas, or what’s commonly known as birthing coaches. The collective assigns doulas to serve families and also trains and employs people to work as doulas.
“Our mission is to help marginalized communities, Black and Brown communities, BIPOC, and if they can’t pay, we do it for free,” Cowans said.
Holmes said Sokana’s role in maternal health is why they were selected to locate at The Aux. “We know that there’s a population of women, Black women in particular, who have higher death rates. Doulas help mitigate some of that by being there before, during and after the process for those new parents,” Holmes said. Per the CDC, the maternal mortality rate for Black women is 2.6 times higher than for non-Hispanic white women.
Several businesses at The Aux, including The Laundry Cafe, hair salon Embrace Your Crown, Chicky’s Kitchen Creations, are owned by graduates of Sunshine Enterprise, a business academy based in Chicago’s South Side.
Sunshine Enterprise’s Managing Director Laura Lane Taylor said the group launched in 2012 in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood to help people in the neighborhood turn their talents into businesses, and has expanded to Evanston with The Aux.
“This neighbor who has been selling cakes out of their house, someone who has a home child care service, how do we grow businesses like that in the community?” she said.
In 2012, the enterprise began a fast-tracked 12-week business class program for entrepreneurs to learn more about starting or growing their businesses. Sunshine Enterprise classes and workshops are held periodically at the The Aux.
Taykir said the office space will be a meeting place for coaching, mentoring and networking that entrepreneurs need to grow their businesses.
“Social capital is just as important; you need professionals around you. You may not know a lawyer who works with small businesses. You may not know an insurance agent who works with small businesses, and so we help them build that professional social capital as well.”
