The City of Fort Worth is celebrating a strong start to its Small Business Development Program, which was established last summer.
The city recapped the results of a recent staff update to City Council in a Wednesday blog post. According to the post, the Economic Development Department’s Small Business Division immediately started working with other city departments and external partners to develop a framework for the program.
The program is focused on addressing the unique challenges faced by small businesses in the city and providing resources to support their long-term success.
Also in the months since the program was approved, the city established a new webpage and will be promoting upcoming classes and initiatives through its social media channels, including the Devoyd Jennings Business Assistance Center Facebook and LinkedIn pages, as well as through the monthly Small Business e-newsletter.
“We’ve kind of themed these first few months as capacity-building and foundational elements for the SBDP, putting a lot of things in place to bring awareness to the program and get businesses prepared for entering into city contracts,” said Jessica Rogers, city economic development director.
Additionally, the city partnered with the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce, the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce to collectively work on developing small business programs to support the effort.
The city also saw success with its six-month pilot program through the North Central Texas Regional Certification Agency to support the accelerated review of Small Business Enterprise certification applications. The agency reports that 85 expedited certifications have been approved so far.
Michelle Green-Ford, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce, said, “I’m happy to say that the last six months have been incredible. Lot of learning curve, but the pieces are in place for us to be extremely successful.”