Get discounts at local Harlem stores with a new rewards card
Earlier this month, Harlem business owners and charities gathered with local bloggers at the Hue Man Bookstore to kick off a new program: “The Power of One” reward cards.
The cards are designed to help Harlem businesses while raising money for charities in the neighborhood and around the world.
Here’s how it works: Customers who buy “The Power of One” card for $1 will receive discounts, VIP access and other perks at the 25 local businesses sponsoring the program.
Book publicist Marcia Mayne is one of the business owners giving a discount. She’ll cut $100 off her basic publicity package, which usually costs $750. “It feels like something that needs to be done in Harlem, so I signed up!” she said.
Marva Allen, the owner of Hue Man Bookstore and brainchild behind the program, is hoping to raise more than $1 million in six months by selling the cards. She says if all the residents of Harlem spent 10 percent of their income in the local community, that could add up to $140 million and 1,600 jobs.
“I come from Jamaica, where you have no money, but the community supports each other,” Allen said. She based the program on an ancient tradition in Jamaica called Sou Sou, a practice of people pooling financial resources into an informal banking system that reinvests in their neighborhoods.
She says that 15 percent of the money raised through the reward cards will go to local charities such as the Melvin van Peebles Foundation and The Theater of the Oppressed. Five percent will pay for beautification projects in Harlem, and 30 percent will be used to expand “The Power of One” program to underserved areas around the world.
The remaining 45 percent will go back to the businesses who are sponsors. Allen calls this their own stimulus package, but Barbara Byrne Denham, an economist and Ph.D. candidate at New York University, says she’s not certain it will have a big effect.
“It’s good p.r., and a lot of people will take advantage of it, but it won’t save a company,” Denham said. Denham says these type of programs require trial and error, and the difference to a sponsor’s bottom line is usually marginal.
She admits that it’s hard to quantify, thought, and agrees that the exposure could help.
The participants are willing to try anything. Over the last year, 40 percent of local Harlem businesses have closed, according to Lloyd Williams of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce. That’s why Allen feels this is a crucial time to make a difference.
Allen is so serious about her program that she managed to get a music video produced specifically for “The Power of One” program, with singer Tamara Tunie and composer/pianist Georges Francois. Allen wrote the lyrics herself.
“Marva Allen has a vision beyond a normal person,” said Patricia Samara, one of the producers of the music video.
Allen has even found a way to get the reward cards into the welcome package for 1,700 new students at Columbia’s Teachers College. Yvonne Destin, the associate director of student activities and programs, says that Columbia paid for every single card.
Sponsors include the Apollo Theater, Harlem Lanes and the Amsterdam News. Even Lisa Cortes, the producer of the new film “Precious,” is behind the project.
You can find the music video, see a list of their sponsors and buy a card at www.the-powerofone.com.
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