Mesa Office of Economic Shifts from BIG DEALS to Fostering Small Business

Months ago your MesaZona blogger broke a 10-year record  for NO PUBLIC COMMENTS when yours truly spoke up at one of the poorly-attended and little-noticed early morning Tuesday monthly meetings of the City of Mesa's Economic Development Advisory Board, to make an observation that the major focus for economic development strategies was making 'big deals' for big companies that ignored or overlooked the more sizeable financial impact that thousands of small businesses produce in the local economic picture.
Individual and family entrepreneurs - owners and operators of 'small business' enterprises here - start-up doing business.
In a release three days ago of the quarterly Economic Reporter for Jan-March 2017, Mesa OED Director Bill Jabjiniak heaps praise on what resources and programs city government to claim some of the credit for the expansion of small businesses whether it's justified or not while some small businesses frequently chose to go-it-alone to succeed.

New Image: Bill Jabjiniak

SECOND QUARTER 2017

The Quick Jab

by Bill Jabjiniak

City of Mesa fosters small businesses' large impact on the economy

Small businesses are vital to Mesa’s economy. According to analysis of data derived from Maricopa Association of Governments and ESRI Community Analyst, of the City’s more than 14,500 businesses, 90 percent employ less than 20 people. That constitutes more than 13,000 micro and very small businesses throughout Mesa.[i] 

[i]The numbers listed in this article are approximations using the best available data from ESRI Community Analyst (ESRI) and Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG). ESRI data provided the total number of Mesa companies. MAG data provided employee counts for Mesa companies with five or more employees and less than 20.

Readers of this post can note the following programs and resources mentioned:

• LAUNCHPOINT, Mesa Technology Accelerator, currently has 12 members
• Maricopa Small Business Development Center (SBDC), coming soon in summer 2017, will begin holding office hours at LAUNCHPOINT two days per week
• Mesa THINKspot is a collaborative workspace and makerspace created by the City within the Red Mountain Branch of the Mesa Public Library
• City of Mesa Business Export Assistance Program (BEAP) is a financial assistance program that helps small to medium-sized Mesa businesses gain important information, training, marketing, and sales support to begin or increase exports to international markets.
• The Downtown Sprinkler Cost Assistance Program, which is designed to promote the greater utilization of vacant or underutilized space in Downtown Mesa

The City also provides strategic web-based tools to help Mesa businesses.

On the City of Mesa’s economic development website, businesses will find the Startup and Expand web pages.

Mesa adds "facelift" to enhance Downtown
As the City of Mesa continues to focus on the revitalization of Downtown, the City has created the Downtown Mesa Façade Improvement Program which provides grant funding to help property and business owners revitalize their storefronts. 
The City secured grant funding dollars to design and construct approximately 8-15 facade facelifts between the fall of 2017 and the summer of 2018.
 The City opened the program for applications from property owners February 1, 2017 and received applications from 22 properties. Of these applicants, the City initially plans to fund 12 properties . . .
Other sections of the Q2 2017 newsletter include:

• HIGHER EDUCATION ROUNDUP
• NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

NEDCO launches business workshop series

The Neighborhood Economic Development Corporation (NEDCO) is launching the “Hack Your Business” Workshop Series. The free workshops cover subjects from business planning to branding and will be held in Downtown Mesa. The workshops are open to all business owners and entrepreneurs in Mesa. For more information and to register, please visit workshops.nedcoaz.org.

Stay connected with NEDCO on Facebook (www.facebook.com/nedcoaz) and by signing up for the newsletter at nedco-mesa.org.