Thursday, February 10, 2-3:15pm, this on-line event requires advance registration

Please join ILSR [Institute for Local Self-Reliance] and Main Street America for a webinar about how communities can use federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to support small business growth and development.

The American Rescue Plan Act offers communities a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fundamentally refocus their economic development strategies. One of the smartest things that cities and towns can do with this unprecedented cash infusion is to make small business the center of their economic development policies and programs.

This conversation is based on a forthcoming report by ILSR, “Small Business’s Big Moment,” outlining a dozen ideas for using American Rescue Plan Act money to cultivate and support small businesses, including:

• Buying commercial property and transferring ownership to a community land trust to provide affordable space for small businesses

• Improving small business procurement policies and practices

• Cultivating small-scale manufacturing and filling gaps in local and regional supply chains

• Closing the racial entrepreneurship gap

• Creating a local restaurant delivery service

• Investing in infrastructure improvements that help small businesses operate more effectively

Speakers:

• Dionne Baux, Vice President of Urban Development, Main Street America

• Timothy Bishop, Economic Development Director, City of La Grande, Oregon

• Maggie Elliott, Executive Director, Believe in Bristol

• Mathew Hill, Executive Director, Brunswick Downtown Development Authority

• Stacy Mitchell, Co-Director, Institute for Local Self-Reliance

• Paola Santana, CEO, GLASS

The conversation will be moderated by Kelly Humrichouser, Director of Government Relations for Main Street America, and Kennedy Smith, Senior Researcher for the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and former director of the National Main Street Center.

We hope that you will join us!

RSVP for this event by using this link.

From informing policymakers to shaping media coverage, ILSR’s research is

making an impact. Please help us work to create an economy that’s more

competitive, equitable, and prosperous by making a donation today.

Hosted by ILSR [Institute for Local Self-Reliance] and Main Street America.