In recent weeks, our team has walked all over Upper South Providence, Olneyville, Hope Street, and Cranston Street to connect with the small businesses that we know are the backbone of Providence’s economy. During every visit, I was excited to learn about our entrepreneurs and talk to them about how City Hall can help their small businesses flourish
When asked earlier this year, 60 percent of our small business owners noted our city services and support from City Hall for their business needed improvement. This feedback led us to form a new partnership with the Small Business Administration (SBA) focused on providing educational and technical support workshops around key business development areas like access to financial capital, getting MWBE certified, building a digital presence, and more. In the upcoming months, we will begin hosting the following free workshop opportunities at the Joseph Doorley Building located at 444 Westminster Street. Here are some of the ones to look forward to:
Minority and Women Owned Enterprise Certification Overview, August 15th, 5pm: geared towards helping businesses understand the process and documents needed to complete the MWBE federal certification application.
Minority and Women Owned Enterprise Certification Application Assistance, September 6th, 5pm: helping businesses receive dedicated assistance to the Federal certification application and bidding process for the City of Providence.
Access to Financial Capital,September 28, 11am: help businesses discover and find connections to microloans and loans.
This series is just one of many improvements we implemented to make opening a business in Providence easier and transform City Hall into a better business partner. Through the budget passed, we will focus on cleaning and beautifying our public spaces, especially our business corridors that welcome people daily. We are taking a critical look at processes with the goal of streamlining and digitizing critical paperwork so that it is easier to do business in Providence. Lastly, we are making progress on reinvigorating our PVD311 system, improving its efficiency and effectiveness for over 79,000 residents and business owners who use it.
I look forward to continuing to learn from our creatives and entrepreneurs as I do more walks throughout our neighborhoods in the upcoming weeks. Together, we are making Providence the best-run city in the country for both our residents and businesses.