News

The Small Business Anti-Displacement Network (SBAN) has received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to expand its anti-displacement research, create a mentorship program, convene a small business data task force, host a 2025 conference, and participate in an RWJF-led community of practice with other national organizations doing anti-displacement work.

“Support from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is key to SBAN’s continued growth,” says SBAN director Willow Lung-Amam. “It allows us to delve deeper into causes of commercial gentrification, provide more resources to advocates who are working to keep neighborhood small businesses in place, and learn from other organizations across the country working on similar concerns.”

The grant will enable SBAN to conduct research in two critical areas: commercial tenant protections and climate gentrification. SBAN will research how residential anti-displacement tools such as rent stabilization, eviction protections, right-of-first-refusal laws, and standardized lease terms can be adapted to protect commercial tenants. Findings and on-the-ground examples will be featured in a commercial tenant rights strategy guide and incorporated into the third edition of the Small Business Anti-Displacement Toolkit.

SBAN will launch new research into climate-related gentrification and its impact on BIPOC- and immigrant-owned small businesses. With RWJF’s support, SBAN will produce a strategy guide that outlines on how climate disasters and investments in climate-related infrastructure can kickstart or compound gentrification and what strategies are effective for preserving small businesses in affected neighborhoods. A new section in the SBAN toolkit will offer climate-related anti-displacement tools, such as insurance assistance programs and community climate action plans.

SBAN will also address the need for more and better accessible data on BIPOC-owned small businesses. SBAN members and other community-based organizations need data to help them tell more compelling stories and create policy change. RWJF’s support will enable SBAN to convene a task force of data experts, build out existing data resources such as the SBAN Data Portal, and produce a guide on how to collect and use small business data.

The new SBAN Mentorship Program will give members an opportunity to advise and learn from each other. SBAN is the only national network devoted to small business anti-displacement, and members consistently rate peer learning as a key value of the network. The mentorship program will pair experts in economic and community development, including small business assistance, with emerging professionals who seek guidance on their small business advocacy and anti-displacement work. Mentors will help mentees develop tailored, actionable strategies and build their skillset.

As part of RWJF’s Healthy Communities Anti-Displacement Initiative, SBAN will join a community of practice with national organizations that are addressing the multiple drivers of residential, commercial, and cultural displacement. The group will build a collective anti-displacement agenda, share solutions across sectors, and develop storytelling about where and why displacement happens, who it affects, and how it impacts health equity and racial equity. The community of practice includes several other SBAN member organizations, including the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders and the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development.

Finally, following SBAN’s highly successful first conference in 2023 the network will convene again in person to share knowledge and strategize. The 2025 conference, to be held in the Washington, D.C., area, will feature panel discussions on SBAN’s RWJF-funded research, presentations by small business advocates from cities across the country, and mobile workshops at local BIPOC- and immigrant-owned small businesses in gentrifying neighborhoods.

The Small Business Anti-Displacement Network is a network of more than 160 organizations across the United States and internationally that work to prevent displacement of BIPOC- and immigrant-owned small businesses in gentrifying neighborhoods. Housed at the University of Maryland’s National Center for Smart Growth, SBAN includes policymakers, nonprofit advocates, technical assistance providers, real estate developers, financial institutions, scholars, and small business owners, who share knowledge and collaborate to advance innovative policies and practices that keep small businesses in place.