A stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in East New York is about to get $100,000 to help its shop owners band together, market themselves, and push for what the corridor needs, BK Reader reported on September 10.
The money is a Merchant Organizing Grant from the New York City Department of Small Business Services, and it went to the Local Development Corporation of East New York, BK Reader reported. It is one slice of more than $8.4 million the agency handed out to groups across the city, according to the same report.
The grant pays for merchant organizing and coordination. A Merchant Organizing Grant is money to get businesses on a commercial strip talking to each other and acting as a bloc, and BK Reader reported the funding will go toward direct outreach, merchant meetings, and figuring out the shared priorities for Pennsylvania Avenue. The idea is that a corridor whose owners coordinate can drive more foot traffic and get residents to shop closer to home.
The Local Development Corporation of East New York, or LDCENY, will start by surveying the businesses along Pennsylvania Avenue and building an updated merchant list so it can reach owners and connect them to services, BK Reader reported. From there the group plans to produce Shop Local marketing materials, newsletters, social media content, and a landing page promoting the strip, according to the report.
The grant also covers merchant leadership development and a study of whether the corridor should form a formal merchant association, BK Reader reported, a standing group that gives a commercial district a single organized voice.
“Small businesses are an essential part of our communities, providing jobs, services and gathering places for residents,” state Sen. Roxanne J. Persaud, who represents the 19th Senate District, said in the BK Reader report.
The funding lands as rising costs squeeze small businesses across the city, BK Reader reported.
LDCENY is not new to this. The organization has worked on economic development in East Brooklyn since 1979, running workshops, networking events, counseling, training, technical assistance, and access to procurement opportunities for local businesses, BK Reader reported. The next phase, per the report, focuses on connecting Pennsylvania Avenue businesses to one another, pinning down what they collectively need, and building strategies to promote the corridor.
Featured image: Photo: Tdorante10 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
