WWW.SHAKER.LIFE | FALL 2020 57
VAD Teams with City
to Assist Early-Stage
and Underrepresented
Entrepreneurs
Opening a business isn’t easy, especially in
an upscale shopping area like the Van Aken
District. For early-stage and underrepresented
entrepreneurs it’s especially challenging.
“Access to capital has always been a barrier
to opening a new business, and that’s particularly
true for this group of entrepreneurs,” says
Laura Englehart, the City’s Director of Economic
Development. “These entrepreneurs also often
don’t have access to the technical expertise that
helps you to grow a business successfully.”
That’s where the new Van Aken District
Entrepreneurial Initiative comes in. The program,
which was launched last summer, offers earlystage
entrepreneurs – especially people of color,
women, and all underrepresented entrepreneurs –
the opportunity to showcase their ideas, products,
and services within the Van Aken District.
“In addition to existing outdoor pop-up
opportunities, we constructed two new stalls in
the Market Hall for shorter term rental opportunities
– one for retail and one for food preparation,”
says Jason Russell, general manager for the
Van Aken District.
Both stalls offer entrepreneurs the opportunity
to test their business ideas with visitors to the
District. The food stall will showcase a single
vendor at a time; the retail stall will be a curated
collection of vendors.
RMS, which owns and operates the District,
also has partnered with the City and the Small
Business Development Center at the Urban League
of Greater Cleveland to provide wrap-around
support for these entrepreneurs.
“This will include business plan development,
marketing support, as well as budgeting support
as these entrepreneurs use these short-term
leasing opportunities to refine and improve their
business models,” explains Englehart. “It’s an
excellent opportunity to have a customer-facing
opportunity that would not have otherwise been
available to them.”
Looking Ahead
Not surprisingly, the past six
months have been especially busy
ones for the Economic Development
Department.
“We’ve been focused on
helping our locally owned
businesses survive,” says Englehart.
“We’re working to make sure they
have what they need to access
emergency resources.”
This has included everything from
virtual events to weekly newsletters
informing businesses about the
many state and federal grant
programs available to help during
the pandemic, while also helping
businesses pivot as much as possible
to operate in the new reality – for
example, working with the Van Aken
District to expand the Market Hall’s
patio onto Tuttle Road.
But the City is also keeping
its eye on the ball in terms of the
ongoing work of making Shaker a
great place to do business. “The
emphasis is on attracting and
supporting businesses in all of
our commercial districts,” stresses
Englehart. “We encourage the
community to continue to shop
local and support our small
business community.” SL
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