Insights & Analyses
- insight 1
- insight 2
Drivers of Inequity
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Strategies
Grow an equitable economy: Policies to help small businesses thrive
- Connect aspiring entrepreneurs to business mentoring programs, including the SCORE association, Entrepreneurship.org, and Prosperity Now
- Ensure access to affordable growth capital for underrepresented entrepreneurs
- Create dedicated technical assistance and business supports for underrepresented entrepreneurs in high-growth, innovation sectors
- Create dedicated accelerators for underrepresented entrepreneurs in high-growth, innovation sectors
- Direct economic development efforts to support the growth of existing businesses that provide jobs for low-income residents
- Help growing companies owned by underrepresented entrepreneurs access affordable office and commercial space
- Ensure underrepresented entrepreneurs have access to business opportunities created through public sector spending, anchor institution spending, and along the supply chains of major corporations
- Implement workforce development strategies that ensure trained workers for growing companies
Strategy in Action
The City of Atlanta invests in local Black- and women-owned businesses. The Atlanta, Georgia, metropolitan area is one of the most prominent hubs for Black-owned businesses in the entire country: as of 2021, slightly more than 7 percent of regional businesses were Black-owned, one of the highest rates nationwide. Central to this success are business development initiatives designed to surmount historical barriers to business ownership for people of color and women. The City of Atlanta’s official economic development authority, Invest Atlanta, operates multiple programs that seek to cultivate residents of color and/or women as small business owners. Most recently, in 2022 Invest Atlanta partnered with United Way to create the Atlanta Open for Business Fund, which offers a trio of programs: a low-interest recovery loan fund, grants to improve the upkeep of commercial properties, and assistance with down payments on new commercial properties. Funded by a $20 million Wells Fargo donation, Atlanta Open for Business provided half a million dollars in recovery loans in its first year of operations. Learn more.
