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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.
“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.
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.
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.”
Learn more about the amazing work of the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition >
Learn more about Where It Starts: Breaking Barriers to Business >
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