In the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, New Orleans was the third most COVID-19 exposed metro area in the country, outside of Las Vegas and Orlando, due to its reliance on hospitality/leisure spending. Within New Orleans, key communities that were once thriving or emerging entrepreneurial hubs, after years of disinvestment and natural disasters, now struggle to regain footing as we enter the post-pandemic world. To address the record economic fallout while supporting the entrepreneurial community, the City of New Orleans and the New Orleans Business Alliance (NOLABA) launched a $250,000 pilot program to harvest businesses and commercial corridors within the following seven neighborhoods identified as part of the NOLABA Strategic Neighborhood Development (SND) Strategy: New Orleans East, Lower 9, Hollygrove, Gert Town, Gentilly, Treme, and Algiers.

The program provided small seed funding and technical assistance to help implement strategies to sustain their presence through this period of economic downturn. During the pilot, NOLABA selected 40 small businesses located in our impact neighborhoods. Pilot program participants received a $5000 mini-grant to support immediate/emergency business operations, customized professional technical services from a cadre of diverse experts, and practitioners in business planning, mentorship, and access to capital as well as attended quarterly capacity-building webinars on Technology, Finance, Workforce, and Accounting.

NOLABA and partners are working to implement Phase Two of Resilient Corridor Initiative:

RCI Phase II program is designed to help small businesses in seven data based selected impact neighborhoods expand their business knowledge, develop growth/pivot strategies and provide technical assistance in multiple areas such as finance, marketing and more. Over the next 12-18 months, we will work with the selected small businesses in the following industries: Food Production/Manufacturing, Technology, and Allied Health/Biosciences to collaborate with a team of industry experts, mentors, investors, and peers who will help accelerate growth, increase sustainability, and build the tools and connections needed to implement growth strategies. Participants will have exclusive access to data tools, technology to support pivoting business models; outline cross-sector business collaboration to be able to enter new markets, real estate considerations/strategies to expand and scale businesses as well as participate in quarterly capacity-building webinars and networking events.

Phase II will only provide customized direct professional services to the selected small businesses and leverage our partnership to provide selected businesses opportunities for access to capital to include grant support, investment, and loan opportunities.