Building Equitable Local Ecosystems for Small Business
A new LISC brief offers insight and guidance to stakeholders looking to forge robust small business ecosystems in historically under-invested communities, the same communities that have also borne the brunt of the pandemic's economic fallout.
In a new brief, “Building Equitable Local Ecosystems for Small Business,” LISC’s economic development team offers a guide for how cross-sectoral groups can analyze local small business opportunity gaps and implement data-driven strategies to redress them.
This brief aims to help stakeholders—from business development organizations (BDOs) to small-business lenders to community advocates and government representatives—identify and eliminate disadvantages that have nothing to do with an entrepreneur’s grit and talent and everything to do with unequal access to what makes up a small business ecosystem: the network of capital, services, and supports that every enterprise needs to get on its feet and grow. These ecosystems are critical to fostering opportunity and long-term resiliency for all entrepreneurs who confront entrenched inequities, including people of color, women, immigrants and refugees, and people with lower incomes and wealth.
Setting the Stage for an Equitable Small Business Recovery
Bill Taft, Senior Vice President of Economic Development at LISC, discusses how LISC and our partners can foster opportunity and long-term resiliency for all entrepreneurs – especially those who confront entrenched inequities.
