In an informal study, we found that over 50% of the businesses here on Central Avenue were immigrant-owned. This entrepreneurship spirit is evident in the Mission Adelante community as well. To support this spirit, for the past 18 months, Mission Adelante has partnered with Forward Cities and other local organizations to create a small business development center in our neighborhood.
That work has paid off as The Toolbox: Small Business Resource Center launched virtually and is opening it's doors here on Central Avenue at the end of April!
At the beginning of this process with the Forward Cities council, research was conducted in our neighborhood to determine the biggest hurdles for immigrants and minority entrepreneurs. Here were the top 4:
1. Lack of access to resources
There are simplyno active business-support organizationsin our community.
“The biggest surprise in both (the Hispanic and Black) communities, is that they have said that nobody had ever contacted me from any organization.” - Gabe Muñoz, Forward Cities
2. Lack of cultural competency
A lack of cultural competency by business-support organizations has fed a lack of trust by business owners.
"People in the Black community said that too often, people have talked about providing help — promises that went unfulfilled. In the Hispanic community, Muñoz said, there was more a mindset of, “I’m just putting my head down and ignoring. I’m just working." -Gabe Muñoz, KC Biz Journal
3. Lack of trust
Because of a lack of proximity and lack of cultural competency, there exists a lack of trust between minority entrepreneurs in our neighborhood and the support organizations in Kansas City.
Only 40% of respondents said they have trust in working with support organizations and 47% felt they would be taken advantage of by these organizations.
4. Language barrier
Since few organizations are willing to invest into interpreting/translation services or hire bilingual and culturally-competent staff, most resources are only available in English. The Kansas City Kansas Public School system reports that there are 63 different home languages spoken in our community, and so their is a critical need for support services to be available in more languages.
The Toolbox seeks to be a solution to those barriers. It will utilize existing Entrepreneurship Support Organizations in Kansas City to staff the space. Our community will be able to schedule appointments and receive free multilingual help with everything from applying for a loan to marketing their business on Google. All of the services will be open in the evenings and weekends to accommodate our hardworking neighbors.
This economic support aligns with Mission Adelante's core values of loving our neighbor, innovation, and partnerships. This initiative directly helps our community, our families, and our neighborhood flourish. Please join us in praying that God’s love will spread through this space, and stay tuned to our social media for updates!
