How Asheville showed its support of local businesses in 2019

Posted on by Xpress Contributor
GO INDIE: “We wanted the money to stay local, and this was a grassroots way to do it,” says Franzi Charen of the Asheville Grown Alliance and its Go Local program.
Photo by Carrie Eidson Photo by Carrie Eidson

Franzi Charen, founder of Asheville Grown Business Alliance, reflects on the ways Asheville showed its support of local businesses in 2019.

  1. This year the organization I run, the Asheville Grown Business Alliance, increased our membership by 20%, cresting well over 500 businesses strong. Our Go Local Campaign sold 3,600 Go Local Cards, a record number, indicating a tremendous amount of community support for local businesses and raising over $30,000 for our public schools.
  2. The city of Asheville’s Office of Equity and Inclusion launched the Mountain Community Capital Fund, a new loan guarantee fund for small businesses and local entrepreneurs, with Self-Help Credit Union, Buncombe County and others. This fund is an amazing tool that can open the door to lending, especially for traditionally disadvantaged communities.
  3. Go Local members, Mountain BizWorks and Breedlove and Co. piloted Mountain Raise, shepherding entrepreneurship graduates through a direct public offering process that allows our community to invest in shares of local companies.
  4. CoThinkk graduated 15 African American and Latinx leaders from its Blueprint Leadership series and increased resource grants to seed new initiatives by 50%.
  5. Other events, including the Outdoor Economy Conference, Craft Your Commerce and the upcoming AgriBusiness Summit, leave me excited to see what 2020 has in store for our locals and our locally owned business community.

 

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

2 thoughts on “How Asheville showed its support of local businesses in 2019”

  1. Lulz

    Many of this disadvantaged community are publicly funded. Isn’t that an advantage that others don’t have? How is one who doesn’t get such assistance at an advantage? Seems backwards to me.

  2. rmulcahy@ashevillenc.gov

    Item#2 is wrong. The City of Asheville Community and Economic Development Department conducted the work to bring this fund to the community. The Business Inclusion Office is the liaison for the committee.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.