Last week, 33 small businesses on Chicago’s South and West sides were chosen to receive shares in $5 million worth of grant money from the city’s Neighborhood Opportunity Fund.
The grant money will go toward the development or rehabilitation of real estate and projects for small businesses in disinvested neighborhoods.
Lourdes Duarte of WGN-TV talks to two of the awardees about what they plan to do with the grant money. She also checks in with Lyneir Richardson, executive director of The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development at Rutgers University. Richardson is an expert on investing in low-income, urban environments and will break down some of the challenges organizations like those face when trying to set up shop.
GUESTS: Jaime di Paolo, executive director of the Little Village Chamber of Commerce
Sarah Ward, executive director of SkyArt
Lyneir Richardson, CEO of Chicago TREND and executive director of the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development at Rutgers University
LEARN MORE: City of Chicago Neighborhood Opportunity Fund