Action:
Target support to small businesses in commercial corridors in disinvested neighborhoods. Provide grants to address building needs, connect businesses to technical assistance and workforce development programs, and help businesses leverage other supports to help them grow.
Why:
In this way, you will make neighborhoods more livable, help retain essential services, and support household wealth building.
Case Study
Inclusive Economic Opportunity Districts – Indianapolis, IN
In collaboration with the City of Indianapolis and the Indy Chamber, LISC created “Inclusive Economic Opportunity Districts” in the City’s North Mass and East Washington Street corridors in late 2014. This is a local example of LISC’s national economic inclusion framework, which facilitates data gathering, mapping of existing ecosystems and the creation and implementation of a shared, community-led agenda for inclusive economic growth.
North Mass and East Washington St. are legacy commercial and industrial corridors, surrounded by LMI neighborhoods. The industrial corridors consist of small manufacturers, landscaping companies, building materials suppliers, and other business-to-business service firms.
A primary goal of the program is to revitalize these corridors, support their businesses, create good and accessible jobs, and build identities which will attract new businesses.
The program’s partners work with local community development corporations (CDCs) which help small business owners take advantage of resources, such as Office of Community Services Community Economic Development grants, and connect with local residents looking for work. The CDCs also help businesses looking to move or expand into these corridors to access capital, apply for façade improvement grants, and connect to workforce development services. LISC also works with the CDCs to identify opportunities to deploy its lending capital.
The City has prioritized the corridors for its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. This enabled the CDCs to attract City grants to convert industrial buildings into hubs for arts, artisan manufacturing and small businesses. The City has also prioritized the corridors for Environmental Protection Agency Brownfield Assessment grants, which has enabled the CDCs and businesses to reduce the cost of environmental due diligence.
Based on the success of the North Mass and East Washington Street work, in 2018 the Far Eastside was added as an Inclusive Economic Opportunity District.
In 2019:
- 232 jobs were created from businesses starting, expanding or moving to
- Inclusive Economic Opportunity Districts
- 162 businesses assisted
- 38 businesses moved to Inclusive Economic Opportunity Districts
- 5 brownfields were readied for development
- 21 businesses received façade improvement funding
- 581,302 sq. ft. of commercial space was improved
How to Adapt This Approach:
- Identify priority commercial corridors in LMI neighborhoods
- Identify local CDCs and nonprofits that have connections to the local communities
- Facilitate data gathering, ecosystem mapping, cross-collaboration, and agenda-setting among these groups
- Develop a shared action plan with clear roles and responsibilities for community collaborators
- Work with them to engage local residents, business owners, and community leaders to understand their specific needs and aspirations for the neighborhood
- Help partners implement district marketing campaigns highlighting the district’s unique attributes to attract visitors and shoppers to retail businesses
- Support and invest in partner efforts and provide access to City resources and programs such as CDBG funds, façade improvement funds, and/or workforce development programs
- Advocate for Federal dollars to advance local efforts like Brownfield assessment and remediation
Learn more about the Tactical Guide
COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery
Place-Based Strategies: Promote Neighborhoods and Increasing Access to Commercial Space
Background
Immigrants and refugees start an outsize share of “Main Street” businesses — grocery stores, restaurants, and other establishments that help drive neighborhood-level economic development. Cities can play a role in supporting immigrant commercial corridors — and immigrant-owned food businesses in particular — through the implementation of place-based strategies, including providing access to commercial kitchen space for early-stage food entrepreneurs.
Strategies:
A. Promote commercial corridors where immigrant businesses are located. Immigrant- and refugee-owned businesses are often concentrated in specific commercial corridors and neighborhoods (e.g., Koreatown, Mexicantown, Little Italy, etc.). Cities can encourage residents to frequent these areas through creative marketing and promotion efforts. For example, each summer, the City of Philadelphia issues “passports” to Philly residents through a program called Passport PHL that encourages people to explore the city’s minority- and immigrant-owned businesses.
B. Support neighborhood-based community development organizations that serve immigrant small business owners. Community Development Corporations (CDCs) and other community development organizations provide business development services and opportunities for businesses to come together to improve and co-market their business districts. Cities can partner with these organizations to help develop commercial corridors and business districts where immigrant and refugee-owned businesses are concentrated. For example, Philadelphia’s HACE, a community development organization that primarily serves Philadelphia’s Latino community, runs a Main Street Program that provides technical support to business owners and encourages collaboration and networking among business owners in the community.
C. Launch a business incubator with commercial kitchen space. Access to commercial kitchen space is often a hurdle for aspiring food entrepreneurs and can be a barrier to growth. Food business incubators that provide access to affordable commercial kitchen space, as well as business training, technical assistance, and other resources can help immigrants, refugees and other underserved entrepreneurs grow their businesses. See case study: SPICE Kitchen Incubator.
Case Study
S.P.I.C.E. (Supporting the Pursuit of Innovative Culinary Entrepreneurs) Kitchen Incubator, Salt Lake City, UT
Highlights:
- SPICE Kitchen Incubator is a project of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a refugee resettlement organization, in partnership with Salt Lake County. IRC has offices around the U.S.
- Salt Lake County promotes SPICE Kitchen as an economic development priority for the region, helping to attract private and public funding to start and grow the effort.
- The program, which has served more than 130 low- to moderate-income entrepreneurs since its founding and is currently serving 50 enrollees during COVID-19 (10 of which are new since April), as individuals seek to adapt to changing economic conditions through self-employment.
Overview:
Launched in 2013 — and modeled on the work of La Cocina in San Francisco, CA — SPICE Kitchen Incubator provides training, technical assistance, and affordable commercial kitchen space to refugees and other underserved residents who are interested in starting food businesses in Salt Lake County. SPICE Kitchen’s partnership with Salt Lake County dates back to its inception, when county officials helped attract seed funding from American Express to establish the project, and stems from a county-wide focus on integrating and supporting new Americans. Today, the incubator’s annual operating budget is $400,000, 15% of which comes from local public dollars. An additional 20% is funded by income generation, while the majority of funding comes from private foundations, corporations, and Community Reinvestment Act dollars from financial institutions.
Project Components:
SPICE Kitchen Incubator provides access to affordable commercial kitchen space; industry-specific technical assistance in areas like marketing, operations and access to capital; workshops from staff and partner organizations on key food business topics; and support with market access and positioning. The SPICE incubation model includes these four phases:
- Application and enrollment (<1 month): Participants who are recruited from the local community and via local refugee resettlement networks attend an orientation session and go through an intake assessment to determine product viability, entrepreneurial drive and other necessary characteristics.
- Pre-incubation (6-8 months): Participants receive training and technical assistance to develop their business plans, including product development, marketing, finances and operations. This can include financial coaching and credit repair, if necessary, in anticipation of the soft launch of the enterprise.
- Incubation (8 months-4 years): Those who succeed during pre-incubation are invited to set up shop in the commercial kitchen, where they continue to receive technical assistance, opportunities to access capital and resources to grow their business, and market access support.
- Graduation (ongoing): After meeting certain incubation benchmarks, participants graduate from the program and most move their business out of the commercial kitchen, though as alumni they can continue to rent space and access technical assistance and support.
During COVID-19, SPICE Kitchen has shifted entirely to digital training, building in remote digital skills training via phone first to ensure access to their training platform. The primary focus has been on guiding entrepreneurs through the types of relief support available, eligibility for different forms of relief, and one-on-one help completing the application process.
Since its founding, SPICE Kitchen has served over 130 low- to moderate-income participants, helped launch eight food trucks and three brick-and-mortar restaurants, and helped entrepreneurs collectively earn over $3,230,000.
Adapt this Approach:
- Partner with an organization that works to empower immigrants and refugees economically, such as through refugee resettlement.
- Fund the effort through a combination of public and private investment, tapping into resources from community foundations, private corporations, and Community Reinvestment Act funds that already prioritize low- and moderate-income residents.
- Position the project as a unique regional asset and identifiable brand, allowing program graduates to benefit from their association with the incubator.
Learn more about the Tactical Guide
COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery
Support Mainstreet/Downtown Businesses by Increasing Local Tourism
Problem:
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered tourism and travel across the world. Because of these new circumstances, cities can now capture some of that spend locally.
Action:
Cities/ tourism bureaus should launch a PR and targeted advertising campaign to encourage patronage of local businesses. Disinvested neighborhoods and hard-hit industries should be prioritized.
Case Study
New York, NY: NYC & Company Local Tourism Campaign
After the 2008 financial crisis, New York City’s hospitality industry was facing a crisis. Tourism had declined to record low levels and models accurately predicted that business travel and international visitors would be slow to return. This presented a unique challenge for a city that serves as an international tourist and business hub.
To address this, NYC & Company – the City’s destination marketing organization (DMO) – launched a campaign to encourage local tourism. One element was a media campaign to encourage local tourism. The DMO targeted people living in the five boroughs and surrounding neighborhoods to encourage them to visit local attractions and do “staycations” in local hotels. Their communications team also launched promotions of local restaurants and attractions, and showcased examples of New Yorkers enjoying their staycations. Because of a limited budget, the team focused on earned media. It developed contacts at local TV stations and established recurring Friday programming highlighting new places to explore. The marketing team also enlisted prominent residents to promote local establishments and developed content that it could provide to media organizations and through social media channels. The program was successful; there was an increase in room demand and occupancy rate in spring 2009, which was driven by local residents. The business travel market stayed depressed for at least 12-16 months and it took even longer for international travel to return.
Hotel stays were just one element of the organization’s strategy. It also encouraged residents to try local neighborhood restaurants and to explore the many attractions that NYC has to offer.
NYC & Company is currently applying its learnings from the 2008 crisis to develop a roadmap for reopening the city, called All In NYC. The initiative builds on the exploration and staycations promoted in 2008 and prioritizes “Hyperlocal Exploration”, including a Five-Borough Public Art Program. It is also creating “Welcome Back” content which shows how businesses are reopening safely, in an effort to restore consumer confidence.
How To Adapt this Approach:
- Identify local communities that have disposable income (e.g., suburbs, surrounding regions, and states)
- Try to bring on board a local digital marketing agency, which might be willing to work for free/at a discounted rate in exchange for local brand recognition
- Brainstorm marketing campaigns to encourage local “stay-cations” and short getaways. Focus on your audience’s needs and wants and structure the campaign around 5 questions: “what, who, why, where, and when”
- Develop a content plan, which will appeal to your target audience’s needs and wants
- Include a focus on less obvious attractions and neighborhoods. These can include walking tours of famous places (e.g., history, civil rights), visits to ethnic restaurants, and shops that offer local artisan goods
- Develop creative ways to tell local stories
- Launch the campaign with dedicated funding
- Focus all marketing spend on mobile, social media
- “Earn” (do not buy) time on regional publications and media. Try to bring on board a local PR agency, or former journalist with experience pitching stories to the media (and not just writing press releases). Again, negotiate a discount in exchange for local brand recognition and/or access to local business development opportunities
- Attend virtual (or in-person) community gatherings to offer suggestions for safe ways to “explore your city”
- Include a “featured neighborhood” of the week/month, with suggested restaurants, attractions, etc.
- Create a list of top restaurants by cuisine for each neighborhood in the city
- Work with local business leaders to offer incentives to residents who live within a certain distance
- Track reach, engagement and influence, and revise tactics as necessary.
Benefits:
- Facilitates additional spending at local businesses during a time when people are not traveling as much
Risks:
- Spending will just be redistributed within the city, rather than be additional
- Many city-backed marketing campaigns are poorly targeted, executed or measured
Impact: Medium
Implementation time: Slow
Cost: Low. This primarily is leveraging existing media and advertising resources to promote local neighborhoods.
Learn more about the Tactical Guide
COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery
Reallocate municipal tax revenues to replace general fund cuts, such as tax increment financing, property tax, sales tax, and real estate transfer tax
A. Tax increment financing (TIF) revenues
Action:
Cities should review and develop plans to utilize TIF district revenues within their city. TIF revenues that have not yet been spent or accounted for should be used to augment, or even replace, general fund revenues for economic development programming.
Why:
Cities in every US state use TIF revenue. Cities allocate funds generated from TIF districts into specific budgets, which are not co-mingled with general fund revenue. This lack of co-mingling is usually a legislative requirement.
However, this should not stop cities from creatively analyzing the activities which are able to be funded under TIF to see if there are opportunities to substitute general fund programs with complimentary TIF-funded programming
Background:
TIF revenues are often used to finance infrastructure, as well as development/ redevelopment projects, that would not be feasible “but for” the TIF financing.
The program works as follows:
- The city borrows money through a bond issuance, or another debt instrument, to improve a distressed property.
- As the property improvements are completed and the property’s assessed value increases, incremental tax revenue is generated.
- The city repays the bonds from the incremental revenue.
TIF legislation is constantly changing and can sometimes be politically charged. Understanding your local rules and “philosophies” regarding TIF is a critically important first step
At the same time, cities should think about ways to broaden the use of TIF. For example:
- Marketing efforts, which are specific to a TIF district, can be leveraged to promote the wider community. At the very least, continued marketing efforts of TIF districts may provide some relief to general fund marketing allocations.
- Community improvement projects (CIPs) and district maintenance.
- Cities typically “charge” these expenditures to the general fund or other funding streams, but reallocating TIF revenues to these purposes may help offset other departmental expenditures. This, in turn, could free up general fund revenues for economic development programming.
- Paying for staff/personnel costs.
- Fund property acquisitions.
- Creating immediate economic development opportunities (such as ad hoc events).
- Enhancing security/district services.
The Council of Community Development Finance Authorities (CDFA) has produced a comprehensive Tax Increment Finance Center. For more information on the CDFA Tax Increment Finance Center, click here.
Case Study #1
Chicago, IL – The Hatchery
The city of Chicago built a 67,000 ft2 food and beverage business incubator in an economically depressed west side neighborhood with very high unemployment. The incubator includes 56 commercial-grade kitchens, co-working and shared space, meeting space, and a community center.
Neighborhood residents are offered priority access to all of the spaces, discounted and hourly rates (which do not require a lease agreement), and free classes for both job seekers and entrepreneurs.
The project cost $32.4m and the city contributed a 2.6 acre parcel of land (which it sold for $1) and $7m of TIF funds. It was a creative approach to allocating TIF funds and not the “typical” deal which focuses on “gap and but for” financing for a predominantly private project.
The facility is co-owned by two long-standing Chicago nonprofits – microlender Accion Chicago and business incubator Industrial Council of Northwest Chicago.
IFF, a CDFI, served as the lead developer and was charged with pulling together financing and land parcels.
The financing breakdown was as follows:
- Debt financing from Chicago Community Loan Fund, IFF, MB Financial, and PNC Bank;
- $10.25 million of NMTCs from PNC Bank, Community Reinvestment Fund, and the City of Chicago;
- Grants from Kellogg Co., ConAgra Foods, Walton Family Foundation, and others;
- $7 million in TIF from the city of Chicago; and
- The $1 sale of 12 vacant city-owned lots (which were combined with 9 other parcels of developer-owned land).
Impact:
The Hatchery is projected to create 900 jobs and $25 million in pre-tax wages in five years.
B. Real estate property taxes
Action:
Cities should explore allocating a specific percentage (or millage) of real estate property taxes for economic development programming. Any allocations should be targeted for specific, quantifiable, and impactful projects and programs.
Why:
Real estate property taxes are one of the most stable and significant sources of revenue for many cities, and so can support expanded economic development programming.
Background:
Many city and state governments are heavily reliant on property taxes. While many cities offer property tax abatements and rebates for specific projects, few allocate or reallocate a percentage of the tax revenue for economic development projects and operations.
Such allocations can be used to:
- Acquire property, including raw land and rights-of-way, for high-priority economic development projects. These could be industrial parks and mixed-use developments that will generate a return on investment.
- Fund commercial rehabilitation, expropriation of private property (eminent domain), redevelopment, or storefront improvement programs. Such investments, which physically improve underperforming real estate, will typically help seed additional capital investment.
- Fund local incentives, contributions to economic or workforce development partners, or outsourced programming.
Case Study #2
Gwinnett County, GA
In 2020, the Gwinnett County Board of County Commissioners led a campaign to increase property taxes by 30 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.
The new tax will “provide funds for financial assistance to the Development Authority of Gwinnett County for economic development purposes.”
It is expected to generate $1m funding for additional programming, which will increase the economic development department’s budget from $5.2m to $6.2m.
Specifically, the revenue will fund the creation of the Gwinnett Entrepreneur Center which provides physical space, education, and networking connections for startups, the expansion of the Infinite Energy Center, and the development of the Water Tower @Gwinnett for water-related research and training.
C. Sales tax
Action:
Cities should consider whether to introduce a local sales tax or to allocate existing sales tax revenue for economic development. If sales tax is prohibited by state law, cities should identify like-minded communities to lobby for change
Why:
Although sales taxes may not be stable during challenging economic times, they can still relieve some of the pressure on the general fund to pay for economic development programming.
Moreover, many sales taxes are paid in part by people residing outside the city.
States such as Wyoming, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, and Missouri allow cities to levy local sales taxes for economic development purposes. Go here to learn more about Texas’ experience.
Background:
While it may be challenging to introduce a new tax at this time, many cities and states allocate a proportion of local sales tax revenue for community economic development efforts. The funds are used to fund:
- Specific economic development programs
- Local buy campaigns
- Incentives for reinvestment,
- Enhanced services and staffing,
- Capital investments Sales tax may also be rebated to support new or expanded entertainment, hospitality, recreation, retail, etc. offerings.
Case Study #3
MAPS – Oklahoma City
The residents of Oklahoma City approved a new, time-limited tax to fund capital investment programs, which were known as Metropolitan Area Programs (MAPS).
The first MAPs was an additional one-cent sales tax, which raised $350 million, and was used to revitalize downtown, improve Oklahoma City’s image, and create new and upgraded cultural, sports, recreation, entertainment, and convention facilities.
The city subsequently proposed a second MAPS program, MAPS for Kids, which was again funded by an additional penny of sales tax. The new tax raised $514m which was combined with a $180m Oklahoma City Public Schools’ bond issue to renovate 70 school buildings and fund classroom technology and transportation projects. 70% of the funds were disbursed to the Oklahoma City Public School District, and 30% to the surrounding suburban school districts.
In 2008, the city’s residents approved a third MAPS program to fund improvements in the downtown arena and build a practice facility for a new NBA franchise.
They approved another MAPS programs to fund a Better Streets, Safer City program, and, in December 2019, a new “MAPS4” program. Since its creation, MAPS have provided $1.81b of funding, and the current programs are expected to provide $978m between 2020 and 2028.
D. Real estate transfer taxes
Action:
Cities that levy real estate transfer taxes should consider allocating a portion to specific economic development programming.
Why:
While real estate transfer taxes can be somewhat volatile, they also offer a sustainable source of funding. They are also specific in nature, so the impact on the general public is limited. As such, they tend to be expended for very specific purposes for the communities which paid them. To reduce volatility, cities can transfer some of the revenue from these taxes to a revolving economic development fund which continues beyond a single fiscal year.
Background:
Real estate transfer taxes are imposed on the transfer of title of real property. In most cases, they are based on the value of the property transferred.
Legislation in 37 US states permits such taxes and cities often have the ability to levy the tax and use it for purposes, such as:
- Allocate money to an economic development incentive fund for targeted businesses and industries.
- Provide funding for neighborhood commercial enhancement programs which help stem blight, and leverage private sector investments through a match program, or tax credits.
- Fund travel, contracts for services, continuing education and training, trade show promotion and events, marketing, special events, and opportunistic one-time activities.
Learn more about the Toolkit
COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery
Provide Access to Funds and Resources for Tourism Businesses to Adapt
Action:
Provide access to finance and technical assistance to help small, tourism and hospitality businesses pivot, adapt, and capitalize on new demands and opportunities in a postpandemic world.
Why:
Keeping local, small businesses is critical for the recovery of your tourism economy. By helping them develop new online communications and sales channels, create new lines of business, or repurpose and adapt their space, you are helping to create longterm revenue solutions.
Background:
In 2020, U.S. travel spend declined by nearly $500 million and, while the industry improved between April and September, progress stalled in the final quarter of the year due to the continued absence of business travel and another surge in COVID-19 cases.
The travel economies of every city and state were affected. Seventy percent of U.S. metropolitan regions have at least 10% of their workforce in leisure and hospitality, and during 2020, cities in more than 18 states experienced 40+% downturn in travel spending. The impact was felt most by small businesses (with fewer than 500 employees), which make up 99.5% of the tourism sector and 60.6% of employment within the sector. Many of them face a time of extreme liquidity strain and most of them entered the pandemic with very limited cash flow.
Women and minorities have also been hard hit, with women- and minority-owned businesses comprising 63.5% of U.S. accommodation and food services businesses and 46.5% of arts and entertainment businesses.
Given that COVID-19 will probably be around for a long time, many tourism businesses will need to adapt and/or reinvent themselves for “the new normal.”
Case Study
Bellville Downtown District Marketplace
Belleville is a town located between Toronto and Ottawa in Canada. During Canada’s strict lockdown in 2020, the Downtown Belleville Improvement Area (a business improvement district) decided to embark on a project to create an online marketplace called the Downtown District Marketplace.
In just four weeks, the BID launched a website which allowed nearly two-dozen businesses to receive orders for curbside pickup. Today, the website hosts over a thousand products from local businesses, including restaurants, artisan markets, art associations, and galleries. It has attracted more than 50,000 visitors and over 1,000 orders. In fact, the marketplace has been such a success that the BID is no longer supporting it with grant funding.
The BID is currently developing the site to add shipping. Currently, customers can pick up curbside, or merchants manage deliveries themselves.
How the marketplace works
The BID created the marketplace on the Shopify platform. The platform charges the BID $299/month, plus $10/month for a multi vendor marketplace app, which means the BID does not become the merchant.
The BID was fortunate to have two young staff members with the technical skills needed to design a website. They created pages for each local business, which only they could access and edit.
Shopify collects the money from the sales, and the BID pays its merchants every 2 weeks. Each local business is responsible for paying credit card and transaction fees. The BID doesn’t take any commission. The local businesses greatest concern about the marketplace was payment terms. Early on in the project, the BID spent many hours sorting out payments to the local businesses, but it has since managed to automate this process.
Launching the marketplace
The BID launched the marketplace with a teaser campaign, which included VIP access to the first 250 people that signed up for its newsletter. In this way, it was able to gather feedback on issues that early users faced and make adjustments before opening to the general public.
Its subsequent marketing tactics have included social media (paid and organic), digital advertisements, local radio, and press releases sent to local and national media outlets. Local partners have also provided content and written features for the Marketplace.
The BID did not receive support from the city to launch the Marketplace. It did, however, receive funding from a regional marketing board to run a contest on the website — users who spent $50 could win Marketplace gift cards to use on their
next purchase.
How To Adopt This Approach:
The project’s success was based on strong relationships with local businesses
1. Assemble and train a group of 5–10 local business owners, who will become
your ambassadors to get other merchants on board
2. Regularly engage business owners and provide sufficient training about the sales platform, recognizing that different business owners have different levels of digital literacy. This will mean creating step-by-step guides, complete with screenshots on how to add products and make payments
3. Help merchants to become confident selling online. Just as a shop needs an attractive window display, a website needs beautiful photos. Merchants will also have to do their own marketing to drive traffic from their website to the Marketplace, for example, by posting and buying advertisements on social media.
Do:
- Do spend time building the trust and confidence of your member businesses.
- Do regularly engage with your business owners and provide support based on their differing levels of digital literacy.
- Do set aside considerable time at the beginning to sort out payments from Shopify to vendors.
Don’t:
- Don’t assume any knowledge. Create stepby- step guides, and share information on how businesses can take good photographs, buy ads, and market their businesses on social media.
Learn more about the Tactical Guide
COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery
Provide Technical Assistance to Small Businesses
Action:
Create strategies and partnerships that will make your destination more sustainable and inclusive. And tell that story to visitors
Why:
Since COVID-19, travelers, particularly younger travelers, have a heightened awareness of environmental sustainability and social and racial equity. As a result, they are more likely to look for evidence that destinations are taking steps to address these issues.
Background:
Numerous reports and studies have found that the pandemic has reinforced, even accelerated, people’s views on sustainability, with more consumers focused on helping to create a better, healthier world.
For example, 60% of travelers say that their future booking decisions would be influenced by sustainable initiatives at the property, even if it meant spending a modest premium.
Travelers’ behavior, loyalty, and values are also being redefined by the economic downturn, restrictions in day-to-day living caused by COVID-19, and flashpoint events highlighting systemic racism within our communities.
It is widely expected that the pandemic will accelerate the trend of travelers seeking “travel with a purpose,” with 67% of recently polled travelers saying they want their bookings to make a positive difference for communities affected by the pandemic.
Travelers are also now placing greater importance on pre-trip planning.
Destinations can respond to these trends by developing a shared understanding of what it means to be a sustainable destination.
For example, Sedona, AZ engaged the Global Sustainable Tourism Council to conduct a sustainability assessment of its tourism economy.
The goal was to enable the destination to design and target policies, programs, and campaigns which demonstrate sustainable destination management, maximize economic benefits to the host community, and minimize negative impacts on the environment.
Programs could include:
- Sector-wide sustainable guidelines.
- Technical assistance to small businesses to help them adopt more sustainable practices (e.g., relating to energy and water use, single use plastics and recycling, food procurement, laundry operations, and reporting).
- Destination management tools to “nudge” visitors around the city, to manage crowds, and/or to help tourists engage local communities.
- Investments in green infrastructure.
- Communicating the destination’s commitments to travelers.
Case Study
City of Boston
In 2020, the City of Boston drew down $2.5M of CARES Act Federal relief funding to launch a marketing campaign to market the city to Black and Brown residents and visitors.
The campaign’s goals were to “build Boston’s brand as a travel destination, increase awareness and active promotion, and drive visits to Boston from diverse local and regional visitors.“ It was part of the city’s strategy to build back a stronger and more equitable economy.
In particular, the campaign sought to “examine the ways in which Boston communicates about the offerings of the city, and highlight attractions and events that speak to the experiences of people of color.”
The Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau selected two award-winning agencies with deep roots in the city. One was Boston’s oldest, minorityowned and operated marketing communications agency. The other was a Boston-based, minority owned, award-winning creative branding, design,
and advertising agency.
They soon discovered that the city had allowed others to create a narrative of Boston as an all white, masculine, sports- and alcohol- dominated city. Visitors and some residents had low awareness of the city’s vibrant Black neighborhoods, and the contributions of Black and Brown residents to the city.
The campaign featured different Boston neighborhoods with neighborhood maps and guides and short-form videos, as well as social media influencers from some of the city’s oldest Black neighborhoods. It also celebrated Black and Brownowned businesses in local and national media, in order to drive local spend.
Like many campaigns during the pandemic, its primary audience was local residents. However, as travel becomes safer, the city plans to continue its efforts to encourage a wider audience to change their perceptions and, ultimately, actions.
Learn more about the Toolkit
Action:
Use land powers and incentives to support inclusive development projects, which convert abandoned or vacant buildings in disinvested neighborhoods. Promote the projects to philanthropic, corporate, or other government funders.
Why:
In this way, you will support local businesses and create short-term construction jobs as well as good, neighborhood jobs, and fill a long-time vacant building.
Case Study
7800 Susquehanna – Pittsburgh, PA
7800 Susquehanna is a 150,000 square foot hub for manufacturing, makers, small businesses, nonprofits, and job training in a historically Black neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
Bridgeway Capital, a local CDFI, purchased the former manufacturing facility to ensure that the building’s reactivation and future use would align with the community’s plans for economic revitalization benefiting local residents.
To purchase and renovate the property, Bridgeway has invested $13 million to date. It is financing the project through a mixture of philanthropic funding, government grants, and New Markets Tax Credits equity investments.
Bridgeway prioritizes maker/manufacturer and workforce development tenants, which create good-paying jobs and training benefits for the surrounding community. The building is fully leased to 22 tenants, who collectively employ 90 individuals. Also, the workforce development nonprofits annually graduate 75 individuals into living-wage jobs. Many of the building’s employees and workforce are residents from the immediate and surrounding communities.
Bridgeway also created ORIGINS, a business support program, which promotes Black makers and manufacturers. ORIGINS has a dedicated 750-square-foot space in the building for Black makers and manufacturers looking for their first business space.
How to Adapt This Approach:
- Identify former industrial buildings in disinvested neighborhoods, which are ripe for redevelopment
- Deploy public capital funds to support the acquisition and development of industrial properties
- Develop relationships with local or national CDFIs and other community development entities to advocate for redevelopment uses that retain the area’s manufacturing legacy and provide local jobs
- Ensure a diversity of spaces and rents in these districts by supporting mission-driven nonprofit ownership
- Identify and facilitate local, state, and federal sources of funding for the project including tax increment, New Markets Tax Credits, Opportunity Zones, and other federal sources
- Cities can support the project by facilitating land use changes to accommodate the project, investing in infrastructure, and providing grants for pre-development costs/environmental clearance
- Build local coalitions to advocate for philanthropic investments
- Connect small business support programs and workforce development services and provide tailored support to meet the local community’s needs
Learn more about the Tactical Guide
Action:
Work with local communities to develop marketing campaigns which will give residents and nearby travelers reasons to explore your destination’s “off the beaten track neighborhoods”.
Why:
Travelers’ inclinations and behaviors have been transformed because of the fear of getting infected, trapped, or quarantined. As a result, travelers are looking for opportunities to travel to destinations which are closer to home, familiar, predictable and low risk.
Background:
Travel restrictions to and from countries combined with insecurity regarding crowded airport terminals and flights mean that domestic tourism is likely to recover much more quickly, and local holiday options and weekend staycations are increasing in popularity.
Even before the pandemic, the U.S. domestic tourism market was worth nearly U.S.$ 1 trillion. Since 2020, many destinations have focused on growing domestic tourism, including programs to encourage residents to explore their own cities. These include initiatives focused on marketing and promotion, as well as financial incentives.
Examples:
- As part of its All In NYC campaign, New York City’s NYC&Co created weekend neighborhood guides, such as Exploring Black-Owned Harlem, and a Tour Your Own City program, to encourage residents to explore different parts of the city.
- London created “Because I’m a Londoner” citywide campaign to inspire a recovery in consumer spending by encouraging residents to responsibly rediscover the capital and support local businesses, organisations, areas and places. It also created the London Alliance, a community of 500+ businesses, which were provided with free assets to use as part of the campaign. The campaign increased consumer confidence by 5% and led to a 43% uplift in frequency of going out.
- Toronto, Canada created a program called Bag of Toronto, which encouraged residents to purchase goods from different city neighborhoods. Cleveland created a similar program, called Cleveland in a Box.
- Visit Houston marketed coupons and deals on its Houston Experience Marketplace to local residents. The marketplace is delivered in partnership with Bandwango’s technology platform, and generates income for the DMO.
- Geneva, Switzerland gave overnight visitors gift cards preloaded with 100CHF (~$110) which could be used at a range of hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars and on activities around the city.
- Explore France partnered with cities to create a campaign #CetÉtéJeVisiteLaFrance, to inspire its citizens to explore 21 city-regions across the country.
- Little Rock convention bureau partnered with the local historic association to create a series of audio guides for walking and driving tours. The tours have been enjoyed by students doing remote learning and will be marketed for visitors to come.
Guidance:
Bloomberg Associates has created a “how to” guide to create a neighborhood tourism campaign, which can be found at Appendix 2.
We have also created a “how to” guide to segment your target audience, which can also be found in the Appendix.
We are not, therefore, able to share a case study of emerging good practice by a DMO at this time.
Learn more about the Tactical Guide
Action:
Invest in and partner with local CDCs, technical assistance providers, district management associations, merchant associations, and other nonprofit partners, which support MWBEs and businesses in LMI communities. Examples include sponsoring fellows or secondees, building philanthropic support, and providing small grants for board development or succession planning.
Why:
In this way, you are extending their ability to do local outreach, leveraging additional funding sources, and building neighborhood capacity to deliver local programming.
Case Study
Neighborhood 360° – New York, NY
The New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) created the Neighborhood 360° program to support projects that revitalize commercial districts and build capacity amongst community-based organizations who provide assistance to neighborhood businesses.
The program is funded from City tax levy funding and provides multi-year grants, up to $500,000 annually, to local nonprofits to deliver projects based on needs identified in a Commercial District Needs Assessment (CDNA) report. The nonprofit is required to use part of the funding to hire a full-time program manager.
A CDNA report analyzes a commercial corridor’s storefront and retail mix, consumer profile, streetscape conditions that affect the shopping experience, and any unique characteristics. The analysis includes data obtained from door-to-door merchant surveys and consumer and shopper surveys. It is intended to be a roadmap for community-based partners to use to prioritize needs and interventions, as well as a tool to support fundraising efforts.
SBS also funds Neighborhood 360° Fellows for community-based organizations. These are paid SBS employees placed at community-based partners who work full time for 10 months to oversee commercial revitalization projects. Fellows also help the organizations expand their outreach to local businesses and to connect to City resources.
To date, the program has invested over $11 million in direct support to community-based organizations in 20 neighborhoods. Projects have included cleanliness and beautification, business support and retention (including free legal and accounting support), placemaking and district marketing, merchant organizing, and coordination of local program partners. Support has been provided to business improvement districts, merchant associations, local development corporations, and chambers of commerce.
How to Adapt This Approach:
- Identify possible municipal or Federal (e.g., CDBG dollars) funding to invest in a nonprofit capacity building program
- Develop goals and grant eligibility criteria
- Determine the staff resources and expertise required to administer the funding and provide technical assistance and program management support to the recipients
- Reach out to nonprofits with local trust and cultural competency, as well as organizational capacity, to support MWBEs
- Use a tool like TCC Group’s Core Capacity Assessment Tool to assess a nonprofit’s ability to achieve its mission
- Facilitate best practice sharing and group technical assistance among grantees
– Develop cohort learning opportunities including workshops, corridor tours, subject matter trainings, and convenings
– Create and moderate a platform for grantees to communicate and share successes outside of formal convenings (e.g., Google Group, Slack, Facebook group, etc.)
– Foster connections with other City agency resources; request staff from other departments (e.g., parks, sanitation, transportation, planning, etc.) to speak to community-based partners about their services - Design an outreach plan to market fellowship opportunities to residents in priority neighborhoods; post information on local neighborhood anchor websites and brick and mortar locations and with local universities’ alumni networks
- Establish a tracking system to collect data from partners to measure program impact
Learn more about the Tactical Guide