Outcomes for FY2023 Budget: Economic Development

July 5, 2022

Home News and Updates Outcomes for FY2023 Budget: Economic Development

The District’s final FY 2023 budget makes catalytic investments to support small businesses and workforce development in rebuilding the District’s economy after the pandemic. CNHED supports the new initiatives launched by the District. We hope that essential programs and services such as the Small Business Technical Assistance (SBTA), Main Streets, and Clean Teams are sufficiently funded in FY 2023. It is also crucial that the District invest in strengthening our workforce development system by not neglecting the needs of community-based organizations providing training and services to low-income residents.

COVID19 has brought the lack of digital literacy, devices, and broadband for low-income residents to the forefront. With the federal funding being made available to state and local governments, this is an opportune time for the Mayor and the District to prioritize closing the digital divide. Unfortunately, scant investment of the District’s local dollars has been allocated to expand and enhance existing programs and efforts in the FYI 2023 budget. CNHED will continue to platform the challenges caused by the digital divide and how it is a barrier to economic mobility for low-income residents in the District and ensure that federal funding address these inequities.

  • Small Business Support Technical Assistance
    Mayor’s Proposed FY23: $4.12M
    Council FY23: $4.12M

    Council commits $4.12M in the FY 2023 budget to support the Small Business Technical Assistance (SBTA) program, managed by the Department of Housing and Community Development. The SBTA program provides technical assistance, training, and advisory services to small businesses in the District. This program ensures small businesses have access to guidance, resources, and information to plan, start, and grow their business successfully. SBTA grantees also offer small business owners a broad range of support, including planning, micro-loan packaging, entrepreneurial assistance, and legal assistance. This program primarily targets underserved neighborhoods in low- and moderate-income areas. Neighborhoods benefitting from this investment include but are not limited to Anacostia, Columbia Heights, Congress Heights, Brightwood Park, Mount Pleasant, Petworth, and Bladensburg.

    Sustaining this longstanding program will enable SBTA grantees to continue being a lifeline for local micro-and small businesses, especially Black and Brown businesses. We cannot overemphasize the far-reaching impact and pivotal role that the funded 13 nonprofit organizations played in helping small businesses recover throughout the pandemic. For the past 24-months, these organizations demonstrated what it means to pivot in a time of crisis by helping small businesses apply for the District’s Bridge Fund, Food Access Fund, Great Streets Retail Small Business Grants, and the DC Small Business Recovery Microgrants. The value-add of the SBTA program in aiding Black and Brown businesses and micro-and small businesses is immeasurable, and it fills a critical need within the District’s small business ecosystem.

  • Minority Supplier Assistance
    Mayor’s Proposed FY23: $1.1M ($600K recurring; $500K one-time)
    Council FY23: $1.1M ($600K recurring; $500K one-time)

    The Mayor proposed and Council committed $500,000 in one-time funding and $600,000 recurring funding in the FY23 budget for minority supplier efforts with large institutional employers. This investment in minority supplier assistance will help to sustain the ongoing efforts of engaging anchor institutions and utility companies to advance inclusive contracting and procurement with minority-owned business enterprises (MBE) in the District. Managed by CNHED, the DC Community Anchor Partnership (DCAP) is program addresses the challenges faced by local small businesses by leveraging some of the District’s greatest assets: the educational and hospital anchor institutions. The DCAP has helped the initial four participating institutions increase their minority business procurement from $5M to almost $50M over the last two years. The anchor members currently involved in DCAP – Georgetown University, University of the District of Columbia, Children’s National Health System, Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic, Sibley Memorial Hospital (Johns Hopkins Medicine), and BridgePoint Healthcare, with more institutions to join in the future. We recognize that shifting just 5% of anchor institution spending to local firms will lead to $100 million in new revenue for local businesses – with the anticipated effect of job creation, higher incomes, reduced poverty, and higher tax revenues. We are pleased that the Mayor has included this program in her proposed budget to assist these efforts.

  • Mentor Protégé Program
    Mayor’s Proposed FY23: $0
    Council FY23: $0

    The Mentor Protégé Program is unfunded in the FY23 budget; CNHED requested $150K to support the relaunch of the District’s Mentor Protégé program administered by the Department of Small Local Business Development.  This program provides technical and management assistance (i.e., contracts, grants, loans, and loan guarantees) to help eligible Small Business Enterprises (SBE) and Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE) compete for larger-scale contracting projects. The Mentor Protégé program will help establish links between growing SBEs and DBEs with well-established larger successful prime contractors. The Mentor Protégé Program is essential and foundational to expanding the pool of SBE and DBEs competing for larger-scale contracting opportunities. We’re asking the District to demonstrate its commitment to inclusive economic growth by developing and increasing the pool of small businesses competing for larger-scale contracting opportunities.

  • Great Streets Initiative & Dream Grants
    Mayor’s Proposed FY23: $7.12M for Great Streets and $500K Dream Grants
    Council FY23: $7.12M for Great Streets and $500K for Dream Grants

    Council supported the Mayor’s proposed FY 2023 budget of $9 million for Great Streets. The Great Streets Initiative catalyzes small business growth and improves the District’s neighborhood commercial corridors. As the District rebounds from the pandemic, there is an increased need for these grants. In addition, robust neighborhood business districts spur economic opportunities for small businesses, entry-level jobs, and convenient access to goods and services for neighborhood residents. All of these benefits help improve the quality of life for residents. In the form of reimbursable grants, the capital improvement dollars of up to $50,000 allow small businesses in designated neighborhoods to invest in build-outs and renovations, equipment upgrades, and façade improvements. Great Streets also addresses the unique challenges of small businesses in their ability to make capital improvements that will sustain and grow their business. FY 2023 budget of $500K committed to support the District’s Dream Grants, a micro-loan program, for businesses in Ward 7 and Ward 8.

  • Main Streets & Commercial Clean Teams
    Mayor’s Proposed FY23: $4.8M for Main Streets; $6.461M for Clean Teams
    Council FY23: $4.862M for Main Street; $6.461M for Clean Teams

    Main Streets program is a comprehensive program that promotes the revitalization and sustainability of neighborhood business districts.  Council to committed $4.862M for the Main Streets program and $6.461M for the Commercial Clean Team program. The District’s Main Streets program supports the operation and programming of 28 corridor organizations. These front-line organizations are vital to small businesses and serve as a liaison to the District, and each corridor manages its unique challenges.

    As a complement to the Main Streets program, the Commercial Clean Teams program employs residents. It provides service delivery to enhance the clean-up along and around the District’s designated corridors. The Commercial Clean Teams program received a slight decrease in the FY2023 budget, which ignores the need to keep pace with the cost of living and the ever-increasing cost of insurance incurred by the Clean Team grantees. This program is invaluable and greatly needed in building and sustaining the neighborhood commercial corridors. In addition, during the COVID-19 recovery and rebuilding, the Clean Teams will help generate positive economic activity by creating new jobs and businesses and improving the community’s overall perception.

  • CDFI/MDI Fund
    Mayor’s Proposed FY23: $0
    Council FY23: $0

    CNHED requested Council to commit $6M in the CDFI and MDI Fund to secure grant funding for community development financial institutions (CDFI) and minority deposit institutions (MDI) that provide critical access to capital to local small businesses, especially entrepreneurs of color. The Fund supports the institutions’ loan capital, equity, loan loss pool, and guarantee pool. CNHED has advocated for the District to create a well-resourced and flexible fund to ensure we’re meeting the needs of all of the District’s small businesses. This Fund is a vital source of capital for our homegrown community lenders and minority deposit institutions that serve small businesses with limited access to traditional vehicles to finance their business.

  • Commercial Property Acquisition Fund
    Mayor’s Proposed FY23: $4M
    Council FY23: $4M

    In the FY2023 budget, Council commits $4M to support the District’s Commercial Property Acquisition Fund.  Addressing longstanding access to capital challenges for socially disadvantaged small businesses, this fund provides down payment assistance to purchase commercial property in the District to help combat commercial displacement impacting small businesses Districtwide.

  • Inclusive Innovation Equity Impact Fund
    Mayor’s Proposed FY23: $2M
    Council FY23: $2M

    Council supports the Mayor’s FY2023 budget of $2M for the Inclusive Equity Impact Fund Grant.  This Fund provides training and investment or equity-based financing to District-based equity impact enterprises and annual revenues less than $2M. This initiative benefits firms at least 51% owned by an individual or a majority number of economically disadvantaged individuals or subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias. Moreover, the Fund is prioritizing enterprises that have been unable to secure traditional financing.

Workforce Development – Adult Education & Digital Inclusion

  • Career Pathway Innovation Fund
    Mayor’s Proposed FY23: $1.65M
    Council FY23: $1.65M

    Council funds the Career Pathways Innovation Fund (CPIF) $1.65M to support the capacity building of local adult charter schools and other qualified high school credentialing programs for adults. The District’s continued investment in the Career Pathways Innovation Fund supports the implementation of approaches and best practices that demonstrate positive results in adult education and family literacy.

    CNHED recommended that Council create a similar fund for community-based workforce development training organizations. A concerted effort is needed to improve, scale up, and expand nonprofit community-based workforce training organizations. The District needs to be aggressive in its efforts to shift to a system-wide adoption of Integrated Education and Training. Capacity-building grants for community-based workforce development training organizations will help to facilitate this change.

  • Healthcare Workforce Partnership
    Mayor’s Proposed FY23: $250K
    Council FY23: $250K

    Council made a reoccurring allocation of $250K to continue the support of this timely and innovative initiative. Council budget ensures that the District’s FY 2023 workforce development budget reflects the needs of thousands of low-income, unemployed and unskilled residents. The path forward to eradicating the persistently high unemployment rate and poverty associated with low-wage jobs is to train and upskill Black and Brown residents in the District’s high-demand sectors such as healthcare.

  • Adult Services (Digital Literacy)
    Mayor’s Proposed FY23: $727K
    Council FY23: 727K

    Nearly 90% of libraries offer digital literacy training.  Funding for digital literacy training for the District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL) will help meet the overwhelming need to close the District’s digital divide.  Council only committed $727K in the FY2023 budget towards digital training under Adult Services for the DCPL. CNHED’s broader campaign: Digital Equity Now, launched in collaboration with a cross-section of stakeholders. There has never been a more pressing time to address the digital divide. We have the opportunity to build a better, more connected District.

  • Digital Inclusion Initiative
    Mayor’s Proposed FY23: $0
    Council FY23: $0

    The Digital Inclusion Initiative (DII) is unfunded in FY 23 budget. $4.5 million for Digital Inclusion Initiative through the Chief Technology Officer’s Office (OCTO) was removed from the program. The District opted not to use the local funding program to close the digital divide, the plan is to access the federal bipartisan funding for broadband access and digital equity.

Become a member of CNHED today

and join the fight for a District where all residents can live in thriving communities that are racially, economically and socially just!

Become a Member

Stay in touch with CNHED news & events by subscribing to our free e-newsletter.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.