Overview
City Name: Durango, Colorado
Population: 19,071
Partner: La Plata Food Equity Coalition
Problem: Due to the gap in services for rural and Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs, the City of Durango wanted to expand their bilingual food business navigation to support more businesses and industries.
Solution: Over the course of six months, with the support of NLC’s Advancing Economic Mobility Rapid Grant program, the City of Durango and the La Plata Food Equity Coalition launched a two-pronged strategy to both expand their bilingual food business navigation services to explore new industry categories and provide new businesses with start-up capital and mentorship.
Outcome: Through their engagement with NLC, the Bilingual Business Navigator provided hundreds of hours of customized support for 28 entrepreneurs and funded three businesses to support their growth.
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Background
Through engagement with NLC’s City for Inclusive Entrepreneurship (CIE) program in 2022, the City of Durango developed an entrepreneurship ecosystem hub to support the needs of food businesses. Using a systemic approach, the ecosystem convened a group of 23 Entrepreneurship Support Organizations (ESOs) to address the needs of food business owners from creation to long-term growth. Continuing their work in the ecosystem hub-and-spoke system outlined during their CIE engagement, the City of Durango identified bilingual language support for Spanish-speaking business owners as another key pillar in small business growth. To that end, the City of Durango and the La Plata Food Equity Coalition hired a Bilingual Food Business Navigator, a seasoned entrepreneur herself, as a way to meet the unique needs of Hispanic/Latino entrepreneurs in a one-on-one coaching environment.
Problem
After starting the Bilingual Food Business Navigator program, it became apparent that the needs and capacity of the program would have to be expanded to meet community needs. For example, through research conducted by the Cuidado Infantil (Childcare) work group within the La Plata Food Equity Coalition, childcare was identified as a serious need within more than half of the households in the City of Durango. Additionally, the popularity and efficacy of the Bilingual Food Business Navigator spread throughout the community, resulting in interest from a diverse range of entrepreneurs from the cleaning services and construction to childcare industry. Finally, many of the entrepreneurs served in the navigation program noted initial business costs such as licensing, permits, and equipment as a significant barrier to their success.
Solution
As a part of the NLC’s 2024 Advancing Economic Mobility Rapid Grant cohort, the City of Durango and the La Plata Food Equity Coalition launched a two-part initiative. The first strategy focused on expanding the bilingual business navigator program and its personalized service to more entrepreneurs. The expansion of this work allowed the navigation program to expand to other industries beyond food businesses. An additional benefit to the navigation program is the continued engagement and expansion of the Entrepreneurship Support Organization (ESO) network, which included the local health department, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), and licensing and permitting agencies.
The second strategy engaged small businesses by providing mentorship and seed funding to support their startup costs and long-term growth. Each mentor would provide specific coaching and guidance to support the entrepreneur in their business journey. Through this engagement with a select group of entrepreneurs, the City of Durango and the La Plata Food Equity Coalition team could dive deeper into their needs, challenges, and solutions.
Outcome
After the six-month Advancing Economic Mobility Rapid Grant program period, the Bilingual Business Navigator provided nearly 400 hours of one-on-one support to 28 entrepreneurs across multiple industries such as haircare to manufacturing. According to data provided by City of Durango, each of the businesses that participated in the navigation service noted an improvement in their business knowledge as well as their connections and visibility within the community through their connections with the ESOs.
The City of Durango and the La Plata Food Equity Coalition identified a set of three businesses to receive mentorship and $3,000 in seed funding. Based on data provided by the City of Durango, each of the businesses, a pupuseria, a granola company, and a childcare center, saw an increase in profitability and long-term business viability. According to testimonials provided by the City of Durango and the La Plata Food Equity Coalition, the childcare business owner, previously on the verge of closing the business, used the seed funding to support their business operations such as marketing and insurance. Additionally, the childcare center expanded their capacity on childcare slots enough to hire new staff. The other mentorship businesses each saw similar expansions with the pupuseria opening a brick-and-mortar location and the granola company adding wholesale accounts across the region.
Building off the successes after the Rapid Grant program period, the La Plata Food Equity Coalition presented their work at the national Hispanics in Philanthropy Conference for other foundations and philanthropists to replicate in their communities. Additionally, the La Plata Food Equity Coalition presented their findings on the food entrepreneurship podcast called Meaningful Marketplace. The La Plata Food Equity Coalition, in close partnership with the City of Durango, was also recently awarded a two-year grant from the Colorado Health Foundation to continue their support bilingual business navigation and mentorship. Finally, inspired by fellow Rapid Grant cohort members from the City of El Paso and their partnership network, a new food business incubator will be coming to Durango in 2027.
This recognition, on the local and national level, underlines the importance of entrepreneurship and creating an ecosystem-based approach for local small business owners. Through these programs and their continued growth, the City of Durango remains well-positioned to create multi-year support for the economic mobility of their entrepreneurs.
Supporting Materials
- Food Business Equity | La Plata Food Equity Coalition
- La Plata Food Equity Coalition Business + City of Durango Advancing Economic Mobility Rapid Grant Report (PDF)
- Support network bolsters entrepreneurs’ confidence, breaks barriers to food business – The Durango Herald
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