Small Business Resilience Plan
Business Support Ecosystem Strategies for Small Business Retention and Vitality in the Inner Core North Subregion of Metro Boston.
How can the business support ecosystem enable long-term stability of small businesses?
Funded by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission Community Mitigation Fund and conducted by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), this project uncovers strategies to facilitate long-term small business sustainability and resilience to economic shocks.
Small businesses across the project’s target geography – the Inner Core North subregion of Metro Boston – are facing rising costs and displacement, and this project helps business support ecosystem actors identify preventative measures to collectively support small business stability in the target sectors. Business support actors include municipal departments in the 10-city & town region, business technical assistance providers, capital providers, business associations, chambers of commerce, and business advocacy organizations. The target sectors are storefront-type businesses including restaurant/food service, retail, hospitality, entertainment, and recreation.
Questions?
Contact Camille Jonlin, Senior Economic Development Planner: [email protected]
Plan process
MAPC engaged an Advisory Committee of business technical assistance providers and municipal staff throughout 2025 to guide the process and core questions. The project team conducted background business strategy research, then surveyed business support ecosystem stakeholders with the overarching question of, “How can the business support ecosystem enable long-term stability of small businesses?” Following the survey, six focus group sessions filled in qualitative data, resulting in eight primary strategy recommendations across four categories that the business support ecosystem can enact to help small businesses remain in place and avoid displacement, with nine additional strategies that require further research or additional time to design and/or implement.
Implementation pilot project
Plan Implementation: in Spring 2026, MAPC partnered with local community-based organizations to implement one Plan recommendation, as chosen by the Advisory Committee: Lease Negotiation Education.
MAPC partnered with Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) to facilitate three commercial lease negotiation educational sessions and provide resources for small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs. MAPC and LCR collaborated with the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce and La Colaborativa who conducted outreach to entrepreneurs in and around the City of Chelsea, targeted toward:
- businesses currently lacking a storefront who want to move into a storefront, including home-based and mobile vendors
- businesses who anticipate moving storefronts due to cost increases or development in the area
- businesses not satisfied with their current lease or space
- any other small business community members who want to learn about commercial lease negotiation.
In total, three lease negotiation workshops were held in 2026 in both English and Spanish, and one addition virtual workshop was held as a “Train the Trainer" for small business support ecosystem actors who may be in a position to help a business owner in immediate need of commercial lease negotiation support.
Advisory Committee Members
- Alberto Calvo, Hispanic American Institute
- Sergio Espinoza, Manka Food Services Consulting
- Betty Francisco, Boston Impact Initiative
- Lauren Grymek, City of Melrose
- Jennifer Hassell, Chelsea Chamber of Commerce
- Matt Lattanzi, City of Everett
- Michelle Miller, Center for Women and Enterprise
- Kelly O’Laughlin, City of Somerville
- Tom Skwierawski, City of Revere