My placement is with the Vernor and Springwells Business Improvement District which is housed and administered by the Southwest Detroit Business Association. A “business improvement district/zone” is a special district that collects additional property taxes from owners of commercial properties within a specific location to fund additional services for the community. The Vernor and Springwells Business Improvement District focuses on cleanliness and safety. To that end, they hire painters and powerwashers to remove graffiti, people to sweep the streets and off-duty police officers to patrol the streets. The district has to be renewed every seven years per Michigan Law and 2017 is the year for that special election. All affected property owners are the ones who must vote yes or no in a special community election.
My personal project is data analysis and outreach. For data analysis I have been manually entering all the information of targeted cleanliness and safety areas into spreadsheets to later look for ways to make a quantitative argument for the BID’s renewal. With outreach, I personally visit business owners in the area and present myself and the BID’s mission. I then ask for any complaints and suggestions to improve on the plan for the next implementation of the BID, if it comes to pass. So far it has been really interesting to learn about the different needs of the many diverse businesses in southwest Detroit.
My experience back in Detroit in this capacity has caused me to view my community differently. These businesses that have been a constant in my life, I am finding out, are holding on by a thread in their competition with online businesses and big box stores. The work of nonprofit organizations and foundations that aid small businesses has been what has kept many of these stores open. Now, more than ever, am I gaining a new appreciation for small business resource centers like business associations and non-profit business consulting agencies.
