How local government can help more small businesses succeed: A fireside chat between St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and Salah Goss of Mastercard
This conversation took place at the Mastercard Strive USA Summit in St. Louis, Missouri, between Tishaura O. Jones, mayor of St. Louis, and Salah Goss, senior vice president for social impact at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. The language has been edited for length and clarity.
Salah Goss: So let me start with having you paint a picture of the small-business ecosystem in St. Louis. There were some hard times and setbacks with COVID. I want to hear directly from you, what’s the state of play?
Mayor Jones: When we took office in 2021, I felt like there weren’t a lot of options for small businesses, not only to establish themselves, but also to grow. And so through a partnership with the St. Louis Development Corporation (SLDC), we established the Northside Economic Empowerment Center, through which we wanted to partner with our private sector partners, like Mastercard and other banks and credit unions, to establish a real ecosystem for small businesses. We wanted to take these small businesses to the level where they could apply for all the grants and federal funds that are coming our way. So we were really intentional about establishing programs that had low barriers to entry, but also providing people with the technical assistance they needed to get to that next level.
Salah Goss: If we stay on small business, what are some of the things you think we need to continue to or start to pay attention to when we think about small-business support?
Mayor Jones: I think larger companies really need to make a concerted effort on supplier diversity. So, take a look at all of the companies that you do business with, all the bills that you pay every month, and try to figure out if there’s a small business that could fit that niche — because small businesses run our economy. Try to find somebody local to do it, and I bet they’ll be much more appreciative and probably give you better service.
Salah Goss: One of the things I think we all admire about your administration is your ability to foster different types of partnerships across the ecosystem, and really knit it all together. Sometimes it’s not a matter of creating something new, but it’s a coordination and curation of access. Tell us what kind of roadmap you followed for successful partnerships in your administration.
It’s important to recognize shared goals and pair programs and partners that amplify reach and effectiveness towards those specific goals. For example, on 314 Day, we announced two new programs: MobilizeSTL, in partnership with the SLDC, and ScaleUpSTL, in partnership with Rise CDFI, to help small businesses that don’t have access to the capital that usually comes through banks and credit unions. So a lower barrier to entry and lower interest rates. But also we know there are often delays in payment with existing contracts of 30, 60, to 90 days, and sometimes small businesses aren’t able to float those funds. So, through these partnerships they’re able to get a loan while they’re waiting for a payment from a government or a contractor. So they can meet those operational expenses, and not max out their personal credit cards in order to meet payroll.
Salah Goss: When you think about small businesses and what they need, it’s not just capital or know-how, it’s a myriad of things. Mastercard is in the private sector, but we work with different partners and we work with the City of St. Louis. How do public-private partnerships help?
Mayor Jones: They help with the technical expertise to really take our small businesses to the next level. So, to prepare them to grow from a one- or two-person shop up to 100 or 200 people. They provide the tools necessary through local agencies and organizations on the ground, like the Northside Economic Empowerment Center, or the Justine PETERSEN Housing and Reinvestment Corporation, or the Heartland St. Louis Black Chamber of Commerce who are already in contact with small businesses and know what they need. So they’ve helped us marry those three things to grow out of that incubator space.
Salah Goss: One of the things we’re excited about in small-business growth is this federal funding we keep talking about: State Small Business Credit Initiative and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. It’s really once-in-a-generation amounts of money that are available now for small businesses. Can you talk to us about what you’re doing to help pull down those federal funds and what that means for St. Louis?
Mayor Jones: Well, for us, we started with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding, and we were able to invest that in the Northside Economic Empowerment Center, and also invest in new programs that help small businesses grow like ScaleUpSTL and MobilizeSTL, and then we took it a step further and are also doing HomeSTL to actually try to convince people to build homes in the City of St. Louis by offering up to $50,000 in homebuyer assistance. But we also needed to put all of those programs in one place so people can get to them and understand them. And then we needed to provide the technical assistance necessary to guide them through the process. Because a lot of times the federal government will announce new programs and nobody knows about it, and the money just sits around and nobody accesses it. It’s local governments’ responsibility to connect people to federal resources, so we don’t leave a dime on the table.
Salah Goss: It’s a historical amount of money. But historically, a lot of the communities that we serve and the small businesses that we want to see grow are left out. So what advice would you give to help unstick capital in places where it hasn’t seen the light of day.
Mayor Jones: Streamline access to resources and information. In St. Louis we developed two websites: there’s Develop STL that outlines all of our programs, and also Stronger STL that shows all of our ARPA-funded projects and programs that still have money. So we ask that you take a look there, see what you qualify for, and let us know.
Salah Goss: What is your call to action? If we remember one thing from today, or if we get up and do one thing having sat here today, what would that be?
Mayor Jones: ARPA money is going to run out, so we’re still going to need partnerships. We’re still going to need that investment. In St. Louis we’re using our money as a downpayment to right historical wrongs and invest in neighborhoods that haven’t been invested in for decades. So we established the Economic Justice Accelerator at the St. Louis Community Foundation to leverage the investment that we’re making so we can hopefully raise a billion dollars to go into marginalized communities. So look up the Economic Justice Accelerator at the St. Louis Community Foundation and consider helping us with that mission.
Salah Goss: Why is this a good time to start or grow a small business in St. Louis?
When our small businesses succeed, our neighborhoods succeed. And we show up to support our small businesses. This isn’t just talk. In April last year, the City of St. Louis and SLDC launched the STL Small Business Grant Fund to assist small businesses that have been adversely impacted by the pandemic. To date, that program has distributed over 900 grants at $5,000 each.
As we continue to implement our Economic Justice Action Plan, we know that equitable development is necessary to reverse decades of population decline and make St. Louis a place where families want to live and grow. Turning back decades of disinvestment will require deeper partnerships with financial institutions, non-profit anchors, corporations, foundations, and other organizations to leverage and multiply the investment of public dollars. It will take all of us — together — to right this ship.
