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Community Spotlight: West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition in Charlotte, N.C.
Charlotte, North Carolina skyline. Photo from Pixabay.
In January, Main Street America announced the launch of the Where It Starts: Breaking Barriers to Business project, a $6.3 million, multi-year program to strengthen small businesses and open career pathways for individuals in five cohort cities across the U.S. Funded by Truist Foundation and in partnership with Living Cities, the program will uplift entrepreneurs by providing them with tools and resources as well as collaboration opportunities with community leaders to break down barriers for local small business owners. The five cohort cities are Atlanta, Ga., Charlotte, N.C., Memphis, Tenn., Nashville, Tenn., and Miami, Fla. Within each city, Main Street America and Living Cities are partnering with select corridors to deepen their impact with local support.
One of the corridors is West Boulevard in Charlotte, N.C. The area has long been a home to many African American residents and has experienced years of underinvestment. One of the organizations working to bolster community and economic development in the corridor is the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition. The coalition runs a wide range of initiatives, including financial empowerment workshops, youth entrepreneurial programs, and the West Boulevard Merchants’ Association.
“We use community-driven strategies to promote economic growth for the viability and sustainability of 19 neighborhoods,” said West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition Executive Director Sharika Comfort.
Uplifting Merchants
“There are an estimated 100 businesses along the West Boulevard corridor, and we've been working with the businesses in partnership with Do Greater Charlotte to also provide workforce development, job training, resources, and even labor and resource support to the businesses along the corridor through our merchants’ association,” said Comfort.
The association was originally piloted in 2022, and the launch included 13 businesses. They expanded the boundaries to include the airport and hope to continue reaching new businesses owners. To support the merchants, West Boulevard has provided educational opportunities, grant opportunities, and networking opportunities.
“The goal of the merchants’ association and the businesses is to make the area around the airport and that West Boulevard corridor community and the businesses as much of a tourist destination as uptown Charlotte or south end Charlotte,” said Comfort.
Dealing with Displacement
Charlotte is a rapidly growing city, and the effects of that investment have an uneven impact in the neighborhoods around West Boulevard.
“Gentrification is pricing out a lot of our residents in terms of cost of living," said Comfort. "As property development happens and property taxes rise, it becomes less affordable."
To help keep residents in the community, West Boulevard works with developers to implement community benefits agreements ensuring a certain percentage of affordable apartments in new developments. They are also working on improving the economic landscape in the community to give residents the financial tools to stay. Through the merchants’ association, they are working on creating an economic hub to support existing businesses and new entrepreneurs.
“Roughly 72 percent of the residents self-identified as Black African American and roughly 11 percent identified Hispanic or Latinx,” said Comfort, and preserving this cultural diversity is an important goal of their anti-displacement work.
Breaking Barriers to Business
West Boulevard’s work with the merchants’ association and the business hub are both supported through the Where It Starts: Breaking Barriers to Business initiative, in partnership with the Truist Foundation and Main Street America.
“Initially, when they gave us the business audit assessment tool, we sat down with our businesses at one of our merchants’ association meetings,” said Comfort. “We had about 20 businesses and really were able to assess the state of business opportunity along the corridor. Instantly, we were able to see the value add of being a part of the Breaking Barriers to Business cohort.”
Comfort also recently underwent an anti-racism workshop through the Breaking Barriers to Business program.
“Historically, there have been so many groups and individuals that come into communities of color and extract time, resources, labor,” said Comfort. “We can't go into communities and start prescribing what we think they need. We have to approach business communities with a listening ear, asking questions so that we can get an understanding of their needs and then work with them to co-create solutions.”
Urban Impact Inc., harnesses strategic investments and collaborative efforts to foster a vibrant and sustainable future, from visionary adaptive reuse ventures to transformative development grants for small businesses and property owners in Birmingham, Alabama's historic 4th Avenue Black Business District.
In the last episode of season two of Main Street Business Insights, tune in as host Matt Wagner breaks down how to understand and synthesize local market data.
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In this episode of the Main Street Business Insights podcast, Matt sits down with Casey Woods, Executive Director of Emporia Main Street in Emporia, Kansas.
In this episode of Main Street Business Insights, Matt sits down with Nicole Fleetwood and McKinzie Hodges, co-owners of Scratch Made Bakery in Amarillo, Texas.
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We’re excited to announce that Main Street America will continue to offer virtual and on-demand small business training in 2024 through an evolved program, the Small Biz Digital Trainers program.
In this episode of Main Street Business Insights, Matt sits down with Jennifer Jones, co-owner of Good Times Coal Fired Pizza and Pub in Big Stone Gap, Virginia.
In this episode of Main Street Business Insights, Matt sits down with Tiffany Fixter, owner of Brewability, an inclusive craft brewery and pizzeria that employs adults with disabilities based in Englewood,
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Tasha Sams, Manager of Education Programs, shares highlights of phase one of the Equitable Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (E3) in Rural Main Streets Program and the biggest takeaways from the workshop experiences.
In this video, learn more about the Williams’ family story, how the business is helping to revive downtown Helena, and the impact they’re having on a national level.
In this episode of Main Street Business Insights, Matt sits down with Derrick Braziel, owner of Pata Roja Taqueria and co-founder of MORTAR, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Small Business Saturday is an important opportunity to show your support for local businesses. We asked business owners across the network what your support means to them.
Matt sits down with Jamie and Jerry Baker, co-owners and founders of Trendy Teachers, a teaching boutique and educational toy store located in downtown Rome, Georgia.
Middlesboro Main Street in Middlesboro, Ky., Puerto Rican Cultural Center in Chicago, Ill., and Sugar Creek Business Association in Charlotte, N.C., have each been awarded $100,000 through The Hartford Small Business Accelerator Grant Program in partnership with Main Street America.
Matt sat down with Anette Soto Landeros, co-owner of Casa Azul Coffee and President and CEO of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Fort Worth, Texas.
Matt Wagner sat down with Danny Reynolds, president and owner of Stephenson's, an independently owned high-end fashion retailer in downtown Elkhart, Indiana.
Matt Wagner sat down with The Barbershop Conversation podcast team, co-hosts Kenneth Bentley and Davion Hampton along with executive producer Emory Green Jr., in Goldsboro, Florida.
This three-week live, online course will prepare local leaders to more effectively work with small business owners in their districts and create an environment that is supportive of entrepreneurship.
Meet the 2023 recipients for the Backing Small Businesses grant program, presented by American Express, to provide financial support to small business owners to address critical needs and make a positive impact in their local communities.
In partnership with Grow with Google, our digital coaches will work with businesses in their home states, with a focus on those that operate in small towns and rural communities.
Check out a deep dive into the results of our Spring 2023 Small Business Survey, plus insights to help inform the work of local leaders supporting entrepreneurs on Main Street.
Matt Wagner wrote an article for the OECD blog on how can small business owners can combine digital tools with the power of place to find sustainable success.
Inspired by a session at the 2022 Main Street Now Conference, Main Street Ottumwa has launched the Business Builder Academy, an entrepreneurship course to help aspiring business owners start their ventures.
Whether you are a seasoned American Express Small Business Saturday Neighborhood Champion or an entrepreneur joining this national movement for the first time, we’ve gathered a roundup of resources to support your “shop local” marketing efforts.
We spoke to three women who were awarded Inclusive Backing grants to learn more about their passions, their businesses, and their advice for other women.
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#EquityRising, Old Algiers Main Street Corporation's new job training program, seeks to combat rising cost of living by helping residents train for careers that will allow them to stay in their neighborhood.
We spoke to three Black business owners who were awarded Backing Small Businesses grants from Main Street America and American Express to better understand their challenges, successes, and the kinds of support that have helped them the most.
Main Street Skowhegan opened their new Skowhegan Center for Entrepreneurship, a downtown space for co-working, meeting, entrepreneurial support, trainings, and education.
Main Street Charles City organizes their annual 'WonderFall' event, a business decorating contest designed to have some fun with the autumnal season as well as provide a reminder of the importance of curb appeal in attracting the public’s attention.
Leverage NC, a partnership between North Carolina Main Street and the North Carolina League of Municipalities, hosted a four-part webinar series titled Better Community Planning & Economic Development led by Ed McMahon, Chair Emeritus of Main Street America and a leading national authority on land use policy and economic development.
Main Street Arkansas has brewed a new engaging way for tourists and residents alike to explore local Arkansas commercial districts: the Main Street Arkansas Coffee Trail.
We spoke with two Black entrepreneurs in UrbanMain commercial districts: L. May Creations in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago and The Four Way in south Memphis, Tennessee.
We heard from organizations across the nation about the incredible impact their markets have had on community engagement, entrepreneur and small business support, and keeping their district vibrant.
The global pandemic gave us all a glimpse of a further dispersed future – a time when you don’t sit in a classroom at school, watch movies in a theater, or even go to the grocery store. Where do Main Streets fit in that model?
Being the only person in the know can be fun, exhilarating even. Except when you are the one person out of 600+ in a room and you know bad news is coming.
Fritz the dog has made his way into the hearts of the residents of LaBelle, Florida, and helped our Main Street Community find a way to make what we do more noticeable.
Altavista On Track, the local Main Street organization, is working to cultivate and sustain local entrepreneurs with an educational business launch competition, Pop-Up Altavista 2.0.
The first rule of conducting business is “make it simple.” The easier it is to pay for merchandise, get entertainment or obtain a service, the more likely it is that people will take advantage of those options.
Main Street communities across the country are no stranger to seeking creative strategies to solve their most nagging issues – vacant buildings, marketing downtown, bolstering retail to name a few.
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A lot of signs are necessary to make a downtown work well, but not every community knows what a good sign system looks like, or how instrumental it can be to the creation of a successful downtown.
Main Street Iowa, a program of the Iowa Economic Development Authority’s Iowa Downtown Resource Center, created a one-of-a-kind three-year program to provide help for performance venues located in Main Street districts.