WHEDco Revitalizes Bronx's Southern Boulevard Commercial Corridor

(Bronx, NY) – As small businesses continue to recover from the impacts of the pandemic, the Bronx nonprofit Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco) has used funding from a NYC Department of Small Business Services’ (SBS) Neighborhood 360° grant to revitalize streets and small businesses along the Southern Boulevard commercial corridor, in the Crotona Park East section of the South Bronx. The corridor—which includes shopping strips along Southern Boulevard, Boston Road, E. 174th Street, and Louis Niñé Boulevard—is home to 168 small businesses.

With the three-year grant, awarded in July 2022, WHEDco has provided supplemental sanitation services and beautification services; marketing, legal, and technical assistance to local business owners; events to connect merchants and community members; organizational support for the Southern Boulevard Merchant Association; and more. As a result, small business owners say their streets are cleaner, foot traffic has increased, and their businesses are doing better than they were one year ago.

"The area is much cleaner, and this is great for business,” said Tania Pico, owner of Tania’s Beauty Place, a salon at 1357 Southern Boulevard. “The one-on-one assistance that I have received to learn how to promote and grow my business on social media has been so helpful."

“Foot traffic for the past year has increased,” said Eddie Perez, owner of Ink Junky Studio, a tattoo and piercing shop at 1661 Boston Rd. “We welcome all the local promotions WHEDco has provided us for the neighborhood businesses. The support we are receiving is needed.”

"WHEDco is always ready, willing, and able to support our business with all its business needs--this provides my business a relief,” said Mario Junco, owner of Junco's Barbershop at 1327 Southern Boulevard.

"SBS is proud to support WHEDco and the critical work it does in the Bronx," said SBS Commissioner Kevin D. Kim. "This new Neighborhood 360° grant will boost the important work of attracting more visitors to Crotona Park East and equip small businesses with new tools to grow and thrive. I'm excited to see what Kerry, the team at WHEDco, and the members of the Southern Boulevard Merchant Association do to strengthen their neighborhood."

“Small businesses are the lifeblood of communities like Crotona Park East, providing goods, services, jobs, and livelihoods,” said Kerry A. McLean, Vice President of Community Development at WHEDco. “Responding to the needs of our community, we’ve been able to create a cleaner, more welcoming neighborhood for merchants to run their businesses and people to work, gather, and shop. We’re grateful for the Department of Small Business Services’ support of our work.”

Neighborhood 360° grants fund nonprofit organizations’ staffing, planning, and implementation of customized programs that revitalize the streets and small businesses anchoring New York City neighborhoods. The grant was awarded to WHEDco to address issues identified in the nonprofit’s 2018 Commercial District Needs Assessment and Community Needs of the Southern Boulevard commercial corridor, including a desire for improved safety, sanitation, beautification, merchant collaboration, and community events.

With the grant funding, WHEDco has:

• Hired JAG Maintenance & Cleaning to provide supplemental sanitation and graffiti removal services for the first time on the Southern Boulevard commercial corridor—including adding mulch to nearly 70 tree pits along the corridor, putting up 140 “curb your dog” signs, and removing graffiti from 11 gates.
• Bolstered branding and marketing for the Southern Boulevard Merchant Association, including revamping its website (southernboulevard.org) to equip local merchants with a vital online presence to reach community members around their offerings and events;
• Provided merchants with assistance and skill-building around branding, marketing, and videography and graphic design services, and coordinated district-wide “shop local” sales and other marketing events to engage potential shoppers;
• Responded to more than 80 technical assistance inquiries by providing one-on-one assistance to business owners with grant and loan applications, MWBE/MBE certifications, legal assistance, training, help responding to fines, and more.
• Helped 15 business owners launch social media accounts and provided content-creation training;
• Assisted seven business owners in creating uniforms for their employees;
• Hosted five events connecting community members and business owners;
• And coordinated merchant meetings and identified and trained leadership of the Southern Boulevard Merchant Association.

In the remaining two years that WHEDco will receive the grant funding, the organization aims to:

• Update district branding to include Boston Rd. and other corridors more explicitly in the district’s name or logo image, in partnership with local graphic designers and merchants;
• Expand hands-on technology training and assistance to help merchants get online, promote their businesses, and reach more customers through social media;
• Continue updating the district website at southernblvd.org with more photo and video content from area businesses, to attract more shoppers;
• Administer WHEDco’s business assessment tool to local businesses, to inform the creation of individualized business support plans.
• Launch series of workshops in areas identified through the business assessment tool’s findings, including marketing, financial management, credit repair, and business planning.
• Convene a working group of local businesses and institutions to promote and increase local procurement and local purchasing to Bronx businesses, and women- and BIPOC-owned businesses in the district.
  
• And mobilize community residents, area institutions, and merchants to advocate for a cleaner, better lit, and safer neighborhood, including through community clean-up events and advocacy with NYC Departments of Sanitation, Transportation, and Police – for improved quality of life even after the Neighborhood 360° grant funding ends.

WHEDco is a community development organization founded on the radically simple idea that all people deserve to live in healthy, vibrant communities. Working in the South Bronx, WHEDco builds award-winning, sustainable, affordable homes that serve as anchors for strong communities of which residents can be proud. WHEDco’s mission is to create and bridge access in the Bronx to resources that create thriving neighborhoods—from high-quality early education and after-school programs to healthy food, cultural programming, and economic opportunity.