Bernie is everywhere right now with his maker mittens. From the Cell Block Tango dance line in the musical Chicago, to his seat at the Last Supper, Bernie and his mittens are showing us all the places we could go.
Michelle (who looked like the superhero she is) and our new Madam Vice President Harris remind us that our small-scale manufacturers (including their amazing designers for Jan 20th) mean that our producers can both inspire us to be more AND remind us to be proud of all of who we are as a nation.
If only we could go visit all these people and places!
So in the spirit of #Berniesmittens and #Michellethesuperhero, and wishing for the day when we can freely travel again to our local main streets and distant favorite downtowns, here are my top 5 hopes for every community to make great places that our mittens (and all kinds of small-scale manufacturing!) will call home.
1. Invest in places to gather
Someday we will be free to gather again. And people will be hungry for it. I know I will be. We will want to celebrate our community, bring people together, and showcase all that is unique about who we are. That means thinking about who owns main street, how we can build up more local ownership, and rehabbing our older buildings to create affordable space for our local businesses. Now is the time to work on all these pieces!
2. Create storefronts that represent our entire community
Storefronts in many communities are emptying out as the pandemic drains our small businesses of their last resources. Many communities that never had much retail on main street are struggling even more with vacancies.
As we find new ways to support small businesses and the spaces they need to thrive, we need to think purposefully about who gets the storefronts and work with property and local business owners to make sure that we bring together the demographic diversity of our community in our downtown or on main street - so that everyone benefits from the resurgence. This also means making space for small-scale manufacturing on main street to create more ways to fill those spaces.
3. Spend local
This goes for our local governments, our major anchor institutions, and all of us as local consumers. We’ve shown our love to small businesses by buying local as much as we can over the pandemic. Let’s do it even more once the pandemic is over. Let’s also change government spending to invest in our local businesses. Let’s commit specific buy-local percentages as part of our economic recovery.
4. Launch scale up business development programs
We know that local businesses are essential ingredients to make a great place that people love and stand out. It shows the personality of our community and it brings people together. But most of these business owners are struggling out there on their own.
We need to launch business development programming to help existing small businesses get more resilient and grow. Not unicorn growth, but growth from one to five employees or five to twenty employees. People who have roots in the community and will stay to be a part of it. Let’s help them do more for our community.
5. Be welcoming and inclusive
My favorite thing about visiting clients or traveling to any nearby main street on a weekend is meeting all the different people and business owners who make that place special. I think it is part of how I was raised – everyone gets the same respect and honor, no matter what job they hold, where they come from, how they identify, or the color of their skin.
The love of our community – and of all the people in it – is a way for us to come together and welcome each other. Finding ways to have events, programming, and marketing that purposefully brings different parts of your community into downtown or onto main street is one way to make sure that each community feels like this space is for them.
Sending you all these wishes to make great places with our superhero small business owners.