November 9, 2022
11 AM
Welcome & Keynote Address by Loretta Lees
Welcome and opening remarks: SBAN Director Willow Lung-Amam, Ph.D., and Cate Costa, Vice President, Global Small Business Philanthropy, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Keynote speaker: Loretta Lees, Ph.D, is an internationally known gentrification expert, author, activist and Director of the Initiative on Cities at Boston University, where she is also a professor in the sociology department. Drawing on examples from the U.K., the U.S., and globally, Lees will kick off the conference with an address on gentrification and displacement, the impact on small businesses, and the place of small businesses in anti-gentrification activism.
12 PM
Break
12:15 PM
Panel 1: Pay Me In Equity: Gaining Access to Commercial Capital
Panelists will discuss approaches that increase equitable access to public and private capital for BIPOC and immigrant small business owners, including affordable loans products, credit repair, private equity capital, and government loan and grant programs.
Sponsored by Initiative for a Competitive Inner City.
1:15 PM
Anti-Displacement Case Study Spotlights #1
SBAN case study grant awardees will present engaging stories about neighborhoods throughout the U.S. and abroad where small businesses are threatened by displacement. Presenters will outline the gentrification challenges BIPOC- and immigrant-owned businesses are facing as well as the promising anti-displacement efforts planned or underway. This is the first of two case study spotlight sessions.
Presenters:
- Institut de Recherche et d’Informations Socioéconomiques, Montreal, Canada
- Purple Line Corridor Coalition, Washington, DC Metro (Maryland)
- San Francisco Heritage & University of Oregon Historic Preservation Program
- Puerto Rican Cultural Center, Chicago
1:45 PM
Break
2 PM
Lunch with Keynote by Grace Young
Grace Young is an award-winning cookbook author, culinary historian, and Chinatown advocate. In 2022, she received the James Beard Foundation’s Humanitarian of the Year Award. Her video series Coronavirus: Chinatown Stories documents the toll of the pandemic on New York City’s Chinese community.
She will speak about gentrification in Chinatowns across the U.S., the effects of the pandemic, and her efforts to preserve AAPI small businesses and Chinese culinary traditions. Young will be interviewed by Tommy Wong, owner of Civic Design Studio, which works on community impact initiatives across Oakland, and co-founder of Good Good Eatz, a project during the pandemic to support ethnic food districts and underrepresented businesses.
Sponsored by UberEats.
3 PM
Break
3:15 PM
Panel 2: Open For Business: Helping Small Businesses Adjust to Neighborhood Change
Hear from nationally-recognized experts and learn about strategies and tools for supporting BIPOC- and immigrant-owned businesses. These include a data and mapping tool to measure and predict where neighborhood change will happen, a diagnosis tool for neighborhood commercial districts to define needs and prioritize investments, and neighborhood-based interventions that help keep long-time businesses in place.
Sponsored by Ochoa Urban Collaborative.
4:15 PM
Break
4:30 PM
Panel 2: Building Our Own: Collective Ownership, Cooperative Real Estate Investment, and Community Wealth Building
Panelists will discuss strategies that create and grow opportunities for commercial property ownership, including cooperative ownership, real estate investment trusts, and commercial development property and loan funds. They will address strategies to leverage these tools towards the goal of building wealth for BIPOC and immigrant entrepreneurs and communities.
5:30 PM
Break
5:45 PM
Speed Networking
Meet your fellow attendees, including leaders from across the country and abroad who are working to keep small businesses in place! Our speed networking event will include breakout sessions based on your location or interests.
Sponsored by the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education, University of Maryland.
November 10, 2022
11 AM
Opening Poetry Performance by Tatiana Figueroa Ramirez
11:15 AM
Keynote Discussion on Racial Equity with Marla Bilonick, Seema Agnani, and Sky Waters
This keynote discussion focuses on racial equity in small business anti-displacement work. Speakers will discuss their work with different BIPOC and immigrant communities and the opportunities they see to advance racial equity and build cross-racial solidarities through anti-displacement policy and advocacy.
Moderator: Dionne Baux, SBAN Advisory Board Member and Vice President of Urban Development at National Main Street Center
Panelists:
- Marla Bilonick, President & CEO of the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders and Chair of the Department of Treasury’s CDFI Fund Community Development Advisory Board
- Seema Agnani, Executive Director, National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development
- Sky Waters, Community Development Manager, Native American Youth and Family Center
Sponsored by National Main Street Center.
12 PM
Break
12:15 PM
Panel 4: Strategize to Win: Technical Assistance Strategies for Small Businesses
Panelists will discuss strategies to help new BIPOC- and immigrant-owned small businesses get started and how to expand technical assistance to established businesses. Topics will include business coaching, training, planning, marketing, professional development, and expanding local hiring and contract opportunities.
Sponsored by the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders.
1:15 PM
Break
1:30 PM
Lunch & Keynote Discussion with Andre Perry
Andre M. Perry, Ph.D., a Senior Fellow at Brookings Metro, scholar-in-residence at American University, and author of the book Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities, will discuss the state of Black-owned small businesses post-pandemic and the systemic policy failures that prevent Black wealth-building with SBAN Advisory Board Member Lyneir Richardson, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice at Rutgers Business School and CEO of Chicago TREND Corporation. They will also discuss their joint work to pilot community-led investment approaches in Black-majority commercial corridors and foster Black ownership of commercial property to deliver moral and market returns.
Sponsored by UberEats.
2:30 PM
Break
2:45 PM
Anti-Displacement Case Study Spotlights #2
SBAN case study grant awardees will present engaging stories about neighborhoods throughout the U.S. and abroad where small businesses are threatened by displacement. Presenters will outline the gentrification challenges BIPOC- and immigrant-owned businesses are facing as well as the promising anti-displacement efforts planned or underway. This is the second of two case study spotlight sessions.
Presenters:
- Binita Mahato, Auburn University (Kolkata, India)
- Chinatown Community Development Center, San Francisco
- Latin Elephant, London Metro (Borough of Southwark)
- Inclusive Action for the City, Los Angeles
3:15 PM
Break
3:30 PM
Panel 5: Know Your Rights: Expanding Commercial Tenant Protections and Ensuring Commercial Affordability
Panelists will discuss strategies for ensuring that small business tenants know their rights, expanding commercial tenant protections, and maintaining and expanding long-term affordable commercial space through municipal policy, zoning, and other land use strategies.
Sponsored by &Access.
4:30 PM
Break
4:45 PM
Panel 6: Organize and Multiply: Organizing Businesses and Advocating Policy Change
Panelists will discuss approaches to organizing small business owners to advocate for new anti-displacement policies and systemic change. They will share experiences with effective policy advocacy at the local, state, and federal levels.
Sponsored by The National Coalition for Asian American Community Development.
5:45 PM
Closing Remarks & Virtual Happy Hour
Closing remarks from SBAN Director Willow Lung-Amam and a virtual happy hour celebration with DJ Commish. Another opportunity for networking and new partnerships!
Sponsored by University of Maryland School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation programs: Urban Studies & Planning Program, Architecture Program, Real Estate Development Program, Environmental Finance Center, and Ph.D. in Urban & Regional Planning & Design Program.