Identity Design Action: East New York
Enhancing Small Business Resiliency for Local Economic Development in Brooklyn, NY
The Local Development Corporation of East New York and SBS sought to promote small business preparedness in the face of rezoning measures in East New York, Brooklyn. Our team developed participatory design methods and engagement strategies to capture local business owners needs. We designed a suite of tools that made information and services more accessible, developed a campaign that showcased the small business community, and activated neighborhoods spaces.
Context
How can design engage different communities and foster new forms of collaboration for sustained business growth? East New York is facing development pressures and possible small business displacement due to city rezonings and new investments. The region is home to a diversity of small business owners that promote clusters of economic outputs, and foster neighborhood and civic pride. Yet multiple factors affect small businesses’ opportunities that need to be understood to reduce future hardships.
Snapshot of active small business community in region of East New York.
Approach
Our approach was to use design research methods following three steps: collect information about the business owner experience, generate new insights, and scope out high impact interventions to support small business resilience. To gather necessary information we used behavioral mapping, touchtone tours, interviews, and directed storytelling to capture information from a cross section of business owners. After synthesizing our new information, we pinpointed four user personas and distilled five crucial types of support services for marketing, workforce development and recruitment, property leasing and tenant rights, and business growth. Our insights enabled us to scope out tools to increase awareness of upcoming re-zoning, improve access to existing services and programs, and support business owner’s voices to unite and advocate for mutual needs surrounding individual and neighborhood economic development.
Synthesized research findings and uncovered patterns across different business groups, pinpointing barriers to services and access to local business support.
Outcome
We designed fifteen tools and engagement events that enabled local development corporations to get vital information into the hands of small business owners. This information sharing encouraged different advocacy groups to collaborate on mutual goals for small business owners’ needs. Our “We Mean Business” Campaign included new branding that showcased business owner’s stories, and workshops to connect business owners with legal and marketing experts. We developed a SMS platform for business owners to receive updates from local organizations about services, and implemented placemaking efforts that transformed several blocks near Atlantic Avenue, BK into a call to action for small business owners to unite and organize. Through these capacity building efforts an ambassadorship was formed, and has become the basis of a new business association for East New York.
‘We Mean Business Campaign’ highlighted community leaders in the small business community and created a call to action to use city and neighborhood services.
