October 4, 2000
Page CU
- N¿itiöHili Minority Business Week-
(Ctye sportiani» ©beeruer
All Sides Gain When Minority Entrepreneurs
Open Inner-City Franchises
(ANS) - While businesses
tend to avoid low-income ur
ban neighborhoods in favor of
more affluent m arkets, the
densely populated inner city is
actually a profitable place to
set up shop.
This is the case being made
by a Chicago initiative that sees
such underserved neighbor
hoods as an untapped market,
and aims to revitalize urban
com m unities by linking up
franchisers with minority entre
preneurs in low-income and
working-class neighborhoods.
So far, Connections for Com
m unity O w nership, a jo in t
project of the Center for Neigh
borhood Technology, Chicago
United and the Hispanic Hous
ing Development Corp., has
signed up six franchise compa
nies and 12 entrepreneur candi
dates.
“We are trying to address
the idea of neighborhood mar
ketplaces so people don’t have
to travel out o f the city to
shop,” said Marshia Jackson,
real estate development officer
for Connections for Community
Ownership.
The project has a number of
goals, said Jackson. First is to
offer new entrepreneurs help
with investing their start-up
businesses through a $2 mil
lion subordinated loan fund, and
to increase minority business
ownership and retail services
in underserved neighborhoods.
Another goal is to locate
these businesses in clusters
near public transportation to
improve accessibility and re
duce a reliance on cars. “The
goals are environm ental as
well,” Jackson said.
According to Jackson, it’s a
myth that the best place to loj
cate a business is in wealthy
suburban shopping malls. “That
looks like the place to be, su-
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DELIVERING OPPORTUNITY TO MINORITIES
THROUGHOUT PORTLAND—
AND ACCROSS THE GLOBE.
p e rfic ia lly ,” she
said. But a closer
look reveals that
consumer spending
in poorer neighbor
hoods is higher
price per acre than
upper-middle-class
neighborhoods be
cause of the higher
density of popula
tion.
One study found
spending power per
acre in one upper-
m iddle-class C hi
cago neighborhood
was $193,000, com
pared with an inner-
city neighborhood
at $518,000 per acre,
Jackson said.
The organization
has signed up six
franchise com pa
nies so far: Kid to
Kid, a quality con
signment shop with
children’s clothes
and gear; Fantastic
Sam’s, a beauty sa
lon; Gold C oast
Dog, a gourmet hot
d o g /h a m b u rg e r
fast-food re s ta u
rant; PostNet Inter
national, a mailing,
copying and small-
business services;
PartyLand, a party
supply store, and
Cottman Transmission, an auto
repair shop. “These are fran
chises that have typically worked
in suburban markets,” Jackson
said. “They have not been tried
in urban markets. These compa
nies have stepped outside the
box a little bit.”
Twelve people have qualified
for the chance of getting a loan
said, adding that she hopes to
have one of the candidates with
a loan in hand by the end of the
year.
By next year, Jackson hopes to
have a pool of 20 to 25 franchise
companies that candidates can
choose from “And we would like
to be opening two businesses a
month,” she said.
for a franchise, so far. There have
not been more candidates be
cause of the up-front cash re
quired to qualify for the loan. To
qualify, franchise candidates
must put up 10 percent of their
own money - as high as $ 10,000
to $30,000 in cash.
“That has limited our pool of
possible entrepreneurs," Jackson
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