Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center

The Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center in the Bay Area, San Mateo, means business and no small business will be left behind. It means we help them fight to be a thriving local small business. We realize we cannot save them all, but we must try. For more than 35 years, we've used the power of entrepreneurship to help people facing systemic barriers to economic mobility achieve financial independence. Locally focused, community-driven, and highly personalized, Renaissance provides business development and growth pathways for small businesses through training, one-on-one consulting, access to capital, and support networks.

We have a new initiative, an organizational quest to save our community's Mom-and-Pop small businesses. The American Dream is in trouble for these businesses facing crisis and the threat of closing their doors. "According to recent survey data of small business owners, 91% of Mom-and-Pop shop owners are encountering significant and negative impacts from price inflation, supply chain issues, and workforce challenges (Fredrikson, 2022). The closure of Mom-and-Pop shops can significantly impact a community economically. Job loss, a decline in economic activity in the community, and loss of neighborhood character: Mom-and-pop businesses contribute to a community's unique character, fostering a sense of identity and community pride. The social impact of Mom-and-Pop often serves as a gathering place promoting social connections and a sense of community cohesion. Their closure can lead to a decline in community social interaction. Consider the restaurants you enjoy, street vendors, the spots to gather, coffee shops, salons, community events, local historical galleries representing the community, or the little stop-and-go shops that inspire community and social interaction. The loss of Mom-and-Pop businesses impacts the whole community and can transform a once-thriving community into a ghost town.

Mom & Pop Community Businesses & Events

The Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center in San Mateo County, California, is responding to this crisis to save our community's mom-and-pop small businesses. We cannot do it alone. We are calling on you, the community, to help us ignite the mom-and-pop community grant program. We hope it will become an adoptable program throughout California and a template for organizations supporting small businesses nationwide that want to do the same in their communities. We are calling the program The Renaissance Mom-and-Pop Community Grant Program. Renaissance means revival, rebirth, or renewal. These businesses are slowly dying, and many are elderly, faithful, and proud business owners who may not share that they need help. As a community, we can band together and support them out of their crisis. It is a way of giving back to the character of the community.

These are the business owners who watched your children grow up, and they have become like family in the neighborhoods. These business owners are your favorite community restaurants, food trucks, street vendors, small retail shops, and home businesses. When you walk in the door, they not only say, "Welcome In," they greet you affectionately by name. It sounds like community love. These are the community pillars that have worked hard in our communities for 15, 20, 30 or more years. The ones that bring economic vibrance because they wanted to give back to the community and keep resources circulating in the community. We cannot disappoint them; they are digging their heels in and fighting to stay afloat.

The faces of this campaign are examples of the faces of our communities throughout the country. We need a program that bypasses traditional lending. Small business surveys indicate that mom-and-pop businesses experience significant adverse impacts during crises, including financial strain. Accessing traditional loans for mom-and-pop businesses in crises can be daunting, requiring tailored support and alternative funding avenues. Many of their challenges include credit score disparity on average; mom-and-pop shops tend to have a lower credit score than other businesses, which impacts their eligibility for loans from traditional lenders. Mom-and-pop businesses often lack strong-financial backing or extensive credit history and face higher rejection rates from conventional lenders. Minority-owned mom-and-pop businesses, mainly Black and Hispanic-owned, encounter more significant difficulties during crises due to systemic inequalities.

Their stories are real. Their anxiety and fear from the crisis strains are real. Their emotional pain, which often causes physical pain, is very much real. We want to help serve these businesses with an alternative financial response that is designed to remove the stress, anxieties, fears, and pain points to lead these businesses out of the fire, reviving and renewing them to keep their business thriving in the community for many more years passing their businesses along to their children or other community members that would seek to be their successor.

Here is how the program will work:

1. Mom-and-pop businesses in crisis apply for grant support.

2. Proof of crisis with backup documentation and verification

3. Grant amount request and detailed use of funds

4. The funds do not go directly to the business owner. Renaissance will ensure the funds are applied to the applicable crisis to derail the threat to the mom-and-pop. Confirming and verifying funds derails the crisis and installs the business securely operating within the community.

5. Types of need include (but are not limited to)

a. Equipment failure needs fixing.

b. Bad debt (financial classes will be required for the grantee to attend)

c. Rent relief.

d. New equipment purchase(s)

6. Grantees will be required to go through applicable webinars or in-person training to take steps to mitigate future crises. Although we recognize some crises are out of control, crisis training can help owners respond responsibly to the first signs of crisis and intervene by garnering technical assistance support.

7. Agree to be posted as a success story to see your donations at work in the community.

Our open campaign is your opportunity to create change and to be an answer. We humbly request your donation of $25.00; if you cannot give $25.00, any amount will be warmly accepted and granted to a mom-and-pop local community business. We hope to develop this program that inspires a beacon of hope to nationwide communities and organizations that will set up a similar program for their local mom-and-pop businesses.

We are asking you to help if you are a,

Mom and Pop Grant Campaign Donor Notifications

• We sincerely appreciate your support for our GoFundMe campaign, which is dedicated to making a significant and lasting impact on the small businesses of San Mateo County.

• Eligibility for this initiative requires being a registered small business with the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center and completing a minimum of 15 hours of technical assistance consultation with one of our qualified advisors and small business training classes.

• Please be informed that 20% of the proceeds will be allocated to cover indirect costs, which are essential to ensuring our mission's long-term success and sustainability."