Main Spotlight: Building Partnerships for Main Street Success
Learn how Main Street America's work with the DOT's Thriving Communities Program is supporting transformative efforts with community partners like the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe.
Community leaders along with representatives from Main Street America, Living Cities, and Fortis Capital, gathered in the Overtown neighborhood in Miami, Florida, in July. © OneStop Studios
The Where It Starts: Breaking Barriers to Business (B3) initiative, supported by Truist Foundation, is a transformative effort led by Main Street America and Living Cities, aimed at bridging critical gaps in support for entrepreneurs across five key southeastern cities: Atlanta, Charlotte, Memphis, Miami, and Nashville. This ambitious project, driven by collaborative partnerships between government entities and small business leaders, addresses pivotal issues such as access to capital, policy reform, and targeted assistance for underserved small business owners, including entrepreneurs of color.
The initiative’s latest endeavor, the Miami Action Commercial Acquisition Fund (CAF), exemplifies its commitment to fostering equitable business growth and safeguarding local small businesses from displacement due to gentrification. Launched in July, this fund represents a significant stride toward empowering Miami’s small business owners by facilitating their acquisition of commercial properties in at-risk neighborhoods.
Take a deeper look at how this initiative is reshaping business landscapes and supporting local entrepreneurs and how Main Street leaders can begin to create anti-displacement initiatives in their own communities.
The Miami Action Commercial Acquisition Fund
The Miami Action CAF kicked off in July with a launch event in which representatives from Main Street America, Living Cities, City of Miami, and representatives from three local business-supporting organizations, Allapattah Collaborative CDC, Overtown Business Association, and Miami Dade Chamber of Commerce, all united to celebrate this transformative project.
The Miami Action CAF aims to help local business owners buy commercial properties in areas across Miami at risk of gentrification and displacement. This initiative began when Mileyka Burgos-Flores, CEO of the Allapattah Collaborative CDC (one of two Main Street organizations in the city of Miami, along with the Overtown Business Association) highlighted the steep commercial rents hurting businesses in Miami’s underserved districts. Their call to action, supported by Main Street America and Living Cities, sparked a collaborative effort leading to the creation of The Miami Action CAF.
At the launch event, Main Street America and Living Cities presented $475,000 in checks to Miami’s community and business leaders, marking a significant step forward for Miami small business owners.
The Miami Action CAF represents a collective effort to tackle a pressing issue through community-led solutions. In Miami, we’re proving that capital is more than just money; it’s about building strong foundations with various resources to make financial support truly effective.
In Miami, we’re proving that capital is more than just money: it’s about building strong foundations with various resources to make financial support truly effective.
Establishing An Anti-Displacement Effort in Your Community
The Miami Action CAF’s approach is straightforward but powerful: social capital + knowledge capital + financial capital = wealth building. Main Streets can effectively use this same formula to create anti-displacement efforts in their own communities. Here’s how.
1) Social Capital
Foster relationships with organizations with shared goals.
Social capital is the benefit obtained when a person or group of people work together with others with a common goal. Strong social capital is required when working towards long-term and sustainable change.
In Miami, Living Cities and Main Street America organically facilitated valuable social capital by connecting Miami local government leaders with business-serving organizations and members of other initiatives like the Inclusive Capital Council. At the first Inclusive Capital Council meeting in Atlanta, Allapattah Collaborative CDC’s CEO Mileyka Burgos-Flores fell into a natural conversation about commercial property challenges with Brian Smith, CEO of Fortis Capital, a former local government leader turned community-based capital allocator (CBCA) from Minneapolis who was part of Living Cities’ Closing the Gaps network. Because of that conversation, Smith and his team have provided guidance to the Miami Action team through the creation of the Community Acquisition Fund.
For Main Streets interested in creating anti-displacement efforts for the small business owners in their community, we recommend starting by partnering with funders and organizations with shared goals that are aligned on the mission of preserving community character while promoting equitable ownership. It’s particularly important to form relationships with community-based organizations and residents at the helm of the planning process to ensure the fund addresses local needs and priorities.
Lastly, set an unwavering goal to work towards transparent governance structures that allow for community oversight to ensure that funds are used to support initiatives like down payment assistance and small business support.
At the Miami CAF launch, community leaders took a tour of each of the participating corridors. In Allapattah, they visited Leo Travel & Tours. © OneStop Studios.
2) Knowledge Capital
Learn from leaders who have paved the way.
Once you have established strong connections with organizations with shared missions and values, lean into these relationships to build knowledge capital – or the value gained from the lessons learned from others who have experience and expertise in the goal you’re working towards.
After joining the Inclusive Capital Council as a member, Mileyka asked her peer members if they’d be willing to step up and help her troubleshoot addressing the rapidly rising commercial rent in certain corridors that were stifling existing and potential small businesses in the area. Smith, who had faced a similar challenge, came forward to offer insight and support.Through sharing technical knowledge, the Minneapolis team guided the Miami team, which includes the city’s Department of Human Services and commercial corridor leaders, in what has now become a dual acquisition fund vehicle. This vehicle will be a force to redress the ever-looming threat of what has become a common American formula: profit-only driven investors swoop in, purchase large swaths of commercial property, and hold the property hostage until developers are interested in buying it at high prices to flip.
The motivation of most investors and developers is purely to maximize their cash profit, creating terms that are rarely favorable for existing small business owners in those commercial properties whose growth is often stifled by their financial demands. This includes things like a lack of cap on leases, which means developers can – and do – raise rent exponentially, pushing small business owners who may have less capital than others out of the neighborhood.
For Main Street leaders, reach out to partner organizations or other Main Street leaders who have led initiatives like this before, and ask if they’d be willing to share their insight and support. Engaging with these experienced professionals can provide valuable insights and support, helping to ensure the success of your efforts. Think holistically about your goals and approach to ensure aligned partners.
(From left to right) Miami Foundation Senior Director of Economic Resilience Brittany Morgan, Overtown Business Association Executive Director Trina Harris, Fortis Capital President and COO James E. Terrell, Allapattah Collaborative CDC Executive Director Mileyka Burgos-Flores, and Miami Dade Chamber of Commerce CEO Eric Knowles lead a panel on the Miami CAF for stakeholders and potential funders in Miami. © OneStop Studios.
3) Financial Capital
Use your strong social and knowledge capital to call for additional support.
The social capital facilitated by Main Street America and Living Cities led to the knowledge capital between leaders within Miami and with similar organizations in Minneapolis. These components led to the Miami commercial acquisition fund vehicle, which currently consists of $200,000 going toward structuring a community-based acquisition fund that will help business owners in certain commercial corridors acquire property, and $50,000 going toward a complementary governmental project that will test a policy in curtailing property acquisition costs under specified conditions.
Our hope, and expectation, is that this vehicle is merely a fraction of the total financial capital that will comprise the Miami fund. Leaders in the city estimated it would take $50 million to begin addressing the issue of rising rents across many commercial corridors. So, along with our partners in Miami, we are calling on funders, foundations, nonprofits, and government partners for ideas and resources to bolster the fund.While this project is focused on specific sections of one city, it’s one that has been similarly done with success in Minneapolis. We believe the ideas behind the Miami fund could help redress displacement and the shuttering of small businesses in other cities and communities around the country.
Supported by robust partnerships and reinforced by their demonstrated success, local leaders will present a more compelling case to potential funders when soliciting their support. For Main Street leaders, it’s important to think strategically about commercial property acquisition. Identifying key properties that can serve as anchors for community growth and ensuring these assets remain in the hands of local stakeholders can be pivotal. Partnering with organizations and leaders who have successfully executed similar projects will not only provide valuable insights but also strengthen your case when approaching potential funders. Robust partnerships and proven successes enhance your ability to secure the necessary support.
Representatives from Main Street America, Living Cities, the City of Miami, and leaders from Overtown Business Association, Allapattah Collaborative CDC, and the Miami Dade Chamber of Commerce, accept seed funding for the Miami Action CAF. © OneStop Studios.
Other Breaking Barriers to Business Success Stories
Other cities in the Where it Starts: Breaking Barriers to Business cohort have begun to see the benefits from initial catalytic investments and the power of social capital, particularly through the launch and support of community incubators and the development of office space in Charlotte.
Thus far, the initiative is providing the foundation for shaping and defining what a thriving ecosystem can look like in cities like Nashville. Providing a pathway for business-serving organizations to work with local governments, building strong relationships, and providing capacity and organizational support truly fosters impact and supports local businesses. Such collaborations are key to ensuring that these investments not only attract businesses and resources but also create sustainable, long-term opportunities for the entire community.
As the leads for this initiative, we are thrilled about the work we’re doing. We at Main Street America and Living Cities are excited to see what becomes of the initial seed in Miami, and how it will impact underserved commercial corridors. We know that addressing the existing issues faced by business owners in the area, and preventing new ones from arising, will take a multi-faceted approach and collaboration between local government, financial institutions, and local leaders. Our goal is not just to provide funding, but to understand and address the core issues affecting these communities. We’re working closely with local leaders to ensure we’re meeting their needs and helping them achieve their goals.
Learn more about the Where it Starts: Breaking Barriers to Business initiative here.
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