Neighborhood Development Center’s

Use of Data to Meet Its Mission

Presented by

Isabel Chanslor

Chief Program Officer

MISSION

Empower low-income entrepreneurs and community partners to

transform their neighborhood economies from within.

NDC

Established in 1993

CDC, CDFI, SBA Lender, Community Advantage Lender

NDC WORKS IN AREAS OF

CONCENTRATED POVERTY

Detroit, 2013

Abandoned Sears Building, South Minneapolis, 2001

• Concentrated poverty has doubled in the United

States in the past decade.

• Half of low-income Americans live in such areas,

where economic opportunities are scarce.

• Despite obvious deficits, inner city neighborhoods

have many assets….including immigrants

who want to open a business!

Frank Dogbe, S.O.S. Building Services, Togo

• Immigrant and minority-owned businesses are an

untapped economic asset in all of our

neighborhoods.

• They possess unique market opportunities and

competitive advantages.

TAPPING HIDDEN POTENTIAL

• Developing these opportunities AND keeping these

businesses in inner city neighborhoods is NDC’s

strategy.

• Over 300 NDC-supported

entrepreneurs are open in formerly

vacant buildingsMubarek Lolo and Ramadan Adem, Awash Market,

Ethiopia

OPPORTUNITY TO BUILD FROM WITHIN

• Communities of color and immigrants start

businesses at a high rate.

• 18% of businesses in the US are owned by

immigrants.

Business statistics from 2012 SBO and Fiscal Policy Institute analysis of ACS 2013 5-year data

Demographics from Met Council per Decennial Census

• In 2012, Minnesota business owners of color:

• Employed over 58,000 workers

• Made over $7.8 billion in sales.

New American Academy

IMMIGRANTS BRING VIBRANCY TO MAIN STREETS

13% 16% 18%

28%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Share ofPopulation

Share of LabourForce

Share ofBusinessOwners

Share of MainStreet Business

Owners

28% of Main Street Business Owners in the US are Immigrants

Fiscal Policy Institute analysis of ACS 2013 5-year data

Sonora Grill, Lake Street, Minneapolis

2000% Populationpeople of color

% Non-minoritypopulation

2010 2040 (Projected)

TWIN CITIES METRO

• The Twin Cities Metro area is experiencing growth

of communities of color.

• 26% of businesses in St Paul and 21% in

Minneapolis are owned by people of color.

Keoni Nguyen, SugaRush Bakery, Cambodia

NDC’S TARGETED

COMMUNITIES

• NDC focuses on neighborhoods and

ethnic communities with high levels of

poverty and unemployment

• 80% of NDC’s resources focus on four

lowest income neighborhoods in TC:

62 – 80% persons of color

31 – 42% below poverty

12 – 24% unemployment

• Half of NDC trainees make less than 30%

of Area Median Income, and 81% are

under 50% of AMI.

Jawad Almaliki

Owner, Winnipeg Grocery

Phyllis Gilliam

Owner, Sunday’s Best

ENTREPRENEUR TRAINING IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD!

• 2 classes a year

• Taught in English, Spanish, Somali, Hmong, &

Oromo

• Fee based on a sliding scale from $100 to $650

based on income

• 12-week program, 1 night per week, 2 hrs per night

• Up to ten 1-on-1 hours with the class trainer

SMALL BUSINESS FINANCING

• Term Loans, Lines of Credit, Contract Financing, etc.

• Sharia-compliant financing

• Loans of up to $250,000 possible

SMALL BUSINESS LENDING

• 40-70 loans yearly to start-up businesses and

emerging entrepreneurs

• Average loan size is < $30,000

• Provided nearly $16 million in loans since

1993, and more than $2 million last year alone

• Loan capital obtained from multiple public and

philanthropic sources

Beko Tufa, Owner

Dilla Ethiopian Restaurant

Hmong

Elders

Center

BUSINESS LAB: BUSINESS ASSISTANCE• Services included:

• Record keeping

• Marketing & graphic design

• Energy audits

• Growth planning

• Restaurant & food consultation

• General management

Many services provided at no cost.

Services funded by multiple public &

philanthropic sources.

4000/5000 hours of one-on-one technical

assistance provided to 300 entrepreneurs a year

FILLING KEY VACANT BUILDINGS

• 60 percent of NDC assisted businesses

occupy a formerly vacant building.

• NDC has redeveloped 6 commercial

properties that now house more than 140+

small businesses.

Plaza Verde, MinneapolisMidtown Global Market, Minneapolis

NDC’S MODEL NATIONALLY

Lower Eastside

Southwest

1. Detroit: Implementing since 2012

2. Syracuse: Launching early 2016

3. Philadelphia: Launching early 2016

4. New Orleans: seeking funding to

launch early 2016

5. Albuquerque: studying NDC model for

possible adoption

Abandoned train station in Detroit, Michigan

POSITIVE COMMUNITY

OUTCOMES

• 76% of NDC assisted business

owners with employees hire

neighborhood residents

• 82% say they serve as role

models for youth and/or young

adults in their communities.

• 43% report they serve as

leaders in groups or

organizations in their

neighborhood or ethnic

community

• 46% say their businesses

serve as gathering places for

their communities

Fartun Warsame, Somalia

Manuel

Gonzalez,

Manny’s Tortas,

Mexico

NDC HISTORIC OUTCOMES

Entrepreneur Training

Over 4,880 aspiring entrepreneurs have received NDC’s 20-week training; 40% are African American

Lending

NDC has provided more than 630 loans, totaling $16 million; $5 million to African

American owners.

Technical Assistance More than 60,000 hours of free TA

Real Estate Incubators140+ businesses operate within 5 incubators;

90% are owned by people of color

NDC’S WILDER EVALUATION STUDY

During 2015, Wilder Research conducted its eighth evaluation of NDC and its

programs. This extensive study surveyed 191 current NDC-assisted

businesses with a lengthy, very detailed questionnaire in several languages. In

the past, the results of this biennial evaluation have allowed NDC to measure,

for example, the true cost of establishing a business or of creating a job. Here

are some highlights of that most recent report:

• Of those who reported an increase in their household income as a result of receiving NDC

services, the average increase was $1,247 monthly (or $14,964 annually)

• 60% of NDC-assisted businesses occupy a previously vacant building.

• The average number of employees per business is 5 (not counting the business owners).

• The average hourly wage paid to employees is $13.07.

• 76% of businesses employ neighborhood residents.

• 84% of employees are people of color (including new immigrants).

• For every dollar spent $26 dollars are returned to NDC neighborhoods.

NDC IMPACT

Annual Economic Impact*:

Existing NDC businesses

432

Number of jobs 2,434 Program cost for the development of each job $4,974 State sales taxes paid annually $6,332,351 Annual return to neighborhoods $34,922,821 Annual return to Twin Cities area $61,762,289

*Wilder Study, 2016

NDC DATA SOURCES

• MN Compass (best user experience/interface)

• National Equity Atlas via Policy Link and PERE

• US Census Data (poor user experience/interface)

• American Community Survey (ACS) – (difficult to get at county/city level data)

• Wilder Research (third party evaluation of NDC small businesses done every 2 yrs)

• Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed (SBO) US Census

• Fiscal Policy Institute analysis of ACS

• Metropolitan Council Data

• IBIS World

• Demographics Now (poor user experience/interface)

• Small Business Administration (regional data, need local data)

• ESRA Mapping Tool

• CURA

• ASPEN Institute and Policy Link

• Theory based or Argument based research papers (no centralized location)

HOW WE USE THE DATA

• To know neighborhood, city, regional and national:

– Poverty Levels

– Unemployment

– Ethnicities

– Percentage of People of Color

– Immigrant Population

– Income

– Small business information

• To evaluation our progress/outcomes

• To track changes in our targeted neighborhood overtime

• To make the case for our mission related work

• To make the case for our placed based work

DATA WISH LIST

• Easier to access information on targeted city/neighborhood level information

about small businesses

– How many, revenue, by industry, employees, wages, by commercial

corridor, etc….

• Small Business Benchmarks

– What does it really cost (on average) to start a business in St. Paul or

Minneapolis, or Brooklyn Park?

– What does it really cost (on average) to create a job?

– What are the trends on the city-wide, Mpls/St. Paul or 17 county-level?

NDC’s Questions on Evaluation

• Measuring neighborhood revitalization

– What is countable and what is not countable?

– Using data NDC can see the changes in:

• Poverty, income, employment/unemployment, etc.

• But, how can other changes be tracked and measured?

– Like residents feeling safer, changes in inequity

– How can the gaps in equity and progress on inequity be measured?