York County joins effort to help small business owners of color recover from the pandemic

York County organizations are pulling together to help small business owners of color recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The City of York, York County Economic Alliance, Downtown Inc., York County Government/York County Planning Commission, Four Squares Development, Powder Mill Foundation, Community Progress Council, Main Street Hanover, Pennsylvania Community Development and Finance Corporation, and the Pennsylvania Downtown Center, have joined with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s second annual Reinventing Our Communities program to offer statewide support.

This 10-month program is for the collective of York County-based organizations to:

• Develop policy solutions to financing and access to credit for small business owners of color.
• Promote small business ownership as a means of building wealth for business owners and their communities.
• Support small businesses to scale to become employers.
• Develop a multiyear racial equity plan for small business recovery and growth.

“Small businesses play many roles in the U.S. economy as drivers of job growth and innovation, creators of employment opportunities, and engines for building regional economies,” said Theresa Singleton, senior vice president of the Community Development and Regional Outreach Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. “However, the pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities of small businesses, especially small businesses owned by people of color, and created urgency around the need for equitable support. We are excited to work with this group of cohort members from York County on approaches that prioritize racial equity in their small business support.”

York County will participate in racial equity training led by Race Forward, a nonprofit racial justice organization, and in smaller groups with practitioners with small business expertise. The goal is for the cohorts to identify the structural barriers they face as small business owners of color and create a plan to address them.

“We are honored to be part of this national cohort of communities,” said Dr. Silas Chamberlin, vice president of the York County Community and Economic Development Corp.  “Over the last year, with the support of our community partners, York County finalized its 10-year economic development plan, the York County Economic Action Plan, with recommendations for economic mobility and entrepreneurial support with diversity, equity and inclusion as a driving pillar. This is a unique opportunity for York County to connect with statewide and national experts as well as other communities and further drive policies and change to support our entrepreneurial ecosystem through their business life cycle.”