By the Bootstraps

• Humboldt Park, No Se Vende (Humboldt Park Is Not For Sale): Gentrification and race issues
• Pilsen Alliance: Gentrification and race issues
• Central Street, Evanston: This shopping area in Evanston, IL has a Facebook and Twitter page.
• Chicagoland Chamber of  Commerce
• Chicago Stimulus: This Twitter account keeps track of how stimulus money is being spent in Chicago.
• Sweet Boutique: This is the Twitter account of an independent business in Chicago, an online clothing store. It also has multiple other social media pages.
• Chicago Public Radio: I think the type of things I’ll be discussing on this blog would be of interest to WBEZ listeners, whether they’re on Twitter or checking out their blog.
• My Facebook or Twitter friends: I would post links to my blog posts on my Facebook and Twitter accounts, urging friends to read, comment on and share if they enjoy.

We all know that big businesses are seeing a slump in sales during the recession, but what about local businesses our economy also relies on? How are they weathering the financial storm? This blog highlights the issues and the people behind the counter of independent businesses around the Chicago area.

• Crain’s Chicago Business: The online arm of Chicago’s “pre-eminent regional business newspaper,” Crain’s will be a great tool for finding articles affecting the business world at large and seeing if there are any applications to the smaller, independent businesses I’ll be covering. They also have a really cool PDF on small businesses in Chicago I plan to use as background for future posts.
• National Federation of Independent Businesses: A nonprofit association that represents the “consensus views” of small businesses in America. It also provides research on the state of small businesses across the country and resources for business owners.
• U.S. Small Business Administration: The Illinois section of the government agency will have resources and news devoted specifically to the stimulus package and how businesses in Illinois can benefit.
• Google Alerts – Independent Businesses Chicago Recession: I set up a Google Alert for my Google Reader that will pull in articles that contain the keywords “independent businesses Chicago recession” in them. While some articles may be outside of Chicago, I can always take the piece of it that has wider application and talk to business owners about that aspect.
• Chambers of Commerce: Many neighborhoods in Chicago have chambers of commerce, some of which work hard to ensure businesses stay in the neighborhood. Officials would make a good resource for questions regarding gentrification and how the recession has affected businesses in the area that business owners themselves may not be able to answer. The websites also have directories of businesses I could explore and see.
• New York Time’s Small Business section
• Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune‘s Business sections: So far both of these seem to be outside my blog’s interests, but maybe an article will pop up in the future that will apply to the subject matter.

The current economic recession and how independent businesses are affected is the beat this blog will cover over the next 10 weeks. Three subjects I hope to follow during that time:

1. The Stimulus Package and Small Business Loans: According to a CNNMoney.com article, the number of small business loans being offered in today’s economic climate has dropped sharply. This has left owners with few options for starting or expanding their businesses. The Obama administration’s stimulus package includes funds that help small business cover their expenses and reinvigorate the bank’s interest in giving small business loans. The hope is that once the money is distributed, small businesses will have a part in reinvigorating the American economy. But how will it affect business owners’ communities in Chicago if they do or don’t receive the funds?
2. Gentrification: A common complaint I’ve heard in the gentrification debate is that new businesses moving in either push out old businesses or bring in a new group of people who once avoided the neighborhood (i.e. art galleries in the predominantly-Hispanic neighborhood Pilsen bringing in white people who decide they want to live in the neighborhood). I would be interested in covering how new independent store owners work with or stand apart from the neighborhoods they are in. Could independent businesses be seen as just one of the steps to gentrification before a Starbucks moves in? Can current business owners afford to pay the rent if their neighborhood is being gentrified?
3. Race and Ethnicity: Going hand-in-hand with gentrification is race. In ethnically diverse yet segregated neighborhoods like Albany Park, could non-minority independent businesses change the community for the better or for the worse? Is one neighborhood in Chicago seeing more success in their independent business population versus another?
4. The recession: With high unemployment and potential customers presumedly being more cautious of their spending habits, how are independent businesses managing to stay afloat? What marketing strategies (i.e. reduced prices, coupons) are being used to keep old customers and draw in new ones?
5. Wealth of Chicago’s neighborhoods/Support Local Businesses: One of the things I love most about Chicago is that every neighborhood has a totally different feel and culture all its own. The blog – besides tackling some big issues like those listed above – will show there is more to the city than the North Side or downtown. There are stores all over the city that you may never have heard about if you hadn’t checked out this blog.