ED Now

IEDC board member and former restaurant owner SeonAh Kendall has worked in public service for more than 10 years, and is currently senior economic manager for the City of Fort Collins, Colorado. Kendall recently talked to ED Now about building transformational relationships, addressing language and cultural barriers, finding your voice, asking for help, focusing on communities, fostering a sense of belonging, and resetting our goals.

Natalia Rodriguez-Hilt, MPA, EDP, is part of the first cohort of certified Entrepreneurship Development Professionals. IEDC’s EDP credential is designed to build capacity for those supporting entrepreneurship in their communities, and demonstrates the skills and expertise to lead communities through entrepreneurship-led economic development (ELED). Why did you decide to pursue the EDP credential? I’m a lifelong learner and always looking for ways to grow. At the beginning of 2020, my role at LISC shifted to focus on pandemic relief for small businesses and entrepreneurs. This opened other opportunities to engage, strengthen, and develop the Indianapolis small business ecosystem. As my work deepened in this space, I learned ...

A new McKinsey report highlights the racial disparities that affect Black workers and business owners. Wage and professional achievement gaps Forty-three percent of Black workers earn less than $30,000 per year when the median wage for U.S. workers is $42,000 per year. Closing the wage gap could bring 2 million Black Americans into the middle class for the first time and 1 million more Black workers into employment. Eighty-five percent of the wage gap can be found within five sectors: professional services, manufacturing, construction, trade/transportation/utilities, and financial services. More than half of Black workers are employed in healthcare, retail, accomodation, and food services. The report discusses the many barriers to ...

Entrepreneurship-led economic development will be one of the key growth opportunities coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and doing this work in a way that increases the success of Black and other minority business owners is a top priority. These entrepreneurs have different experiences and very different challenges, and economic developers often struggle to understand what these crucial businesses need. This interview with a Black entrepreneur and community leader gives insight into the unique experiences of this sector to help economic developers ask the right questions and demonstrate empathy in their communities.

Entrepreneurship-led economic development will be one of the key growth opportunities coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and doing this work in a way that increases the success of Black and other minority business owners is a top priority. These entrepreneurs have different experiences and very different challenges, and economic developers often struggle to understand what these crucial businesses need. This interview with a Black entrepreneur and community leader gives insight into the unique experiences of this sector to help economic developers ask the right questions and demonstrate empathy in their communities.

Historic racial discrimination and the resulting segregation have robbed businesses in black-majority neighborhoods of profits and their residents of the benefits that flow from increased economic activity, according to a new report from Brookings’ Metropolitan Policy Program and Gallup. The report found that businesses in black-majority neighborhoods suffer a shortfall of $1.3 billion in unrealized revenue each year, as highly rated businesses in black-majority neighborhoods experience a gap in revenue growth of 0.2 percentage points when compared with highly rated businesses in other neighborhoods. The estimate of unrealized revenue could reach $3.9 billion annually, and possibly higher if more data were available. The study ...