The Allapattah Collaborative Community Development Corporation

Twenty-twenty-two was a year of growth. Our staff and programs doubled as a response to The needs of our Community. We launched "tu voz cuenta''/ "your voice matters", a 4-week advocacy training program for small businesses in our commercial corridor. Participants were trained in civics and attended The city of miami and miami dade county commission public comment, and traveled to Florida's state capitol to fully engage in our american democracy. We also launched our signature "Allapattah first'' quarterly events bringing together our local non-profits and governmental liaisons to provide information and listen to The needs of our Community. We solidified relationships to collaborate on anti displacement measures with local and national partners such as greater miami housing alliance, The university of Maryland's small business anti displacement network, The center for Community investment's connecting capital & Community, and fulcrum fellowship. We were delighted to provide Community tours to foster deeper partnerships with hispanics in philanthropy, rockefeller foundation, jpmorgan chase, miami foundation, wells fargo, truist bank, and bank of america, among others. Establish platform to implement equitable Development action plan prevent displacement of existing small businesses in 2022, we got closer to reaching our goal of Community ownership. We received our first seed capital of 500,000 from The miami foundation's open for business initiative. Allapattah Collaborative cdc ended The year in The midst of a collaboration with nalcab, which is funding a feasibility study to acquire our first site and an investment model to root our small business in place. Preventing The displacement of our small business starts with their resilience and access to resources. Since our inception in 2019, we have brought approximately 3.9 million in loans and grants directly to The businesses on The little santo domingo commercial corridor. The small business resilience cohort program continues to provide hands-on training to new and existing microbusinesses. Negocios activos, a forum where business owners can learn, voice and address their needs, continues to host workshops on a variety of business related topics, such as profit first and The power of capital. Allapattah cdc partnered with The city of miami, living cities, and main street america to identify barriers to business growth and to continue to expand access to capital in our bipoc communities. We ended 2022 responding to The emergency of The tropicana flea market fire by personally connecting to each business owner to help them restart their venture. We are very proud to work shoulder to shoulder with miami dade county's office of The mayor and many collaborators to support our micro business Community as we see them flourish. We started The year with a guiding visit from The national main street center, Florida main street, and The Florida department of historical resources. This visit helped us chart The pathway for The cultural preservation of little santo domingo and kicked off our Allapattah main street master plan. The faculty from Florida international university school of architecture and The university of miami school of architecture urban design studios created beautiful renditions of what Allapattah's commercial corridor can look like. Our brand was highlighted nationally by our participation in events, including aspen's latino & society summit, main street national conference, national trust for historic preservation pastforward conference, hispanics in philanthropy conference, and wnet's rebuilding american cities convening. We elevated The stories of our Community members through Allapattah stories: en nuestras palabras, in partnership with oolite arts and Community justice project, resulting in The documentary "apart < a part" that showcased The human story behind commercial Community displacement. Last but not least, we developed a strong partnership with miami dade public library archives as we collaborated on a storytelling toolkit and activities to promote Allapattah's history. We launched our small business resilience cohort programs cohorts 3 & 4, providing small business owners with one-on-one support in all aspects of operating a business. The program covers internal controls, business coaching, retirement guidance, financial reviews, marketing, social media management, and business tools required to optimize small companies. Thanks to this technical assistance, all cohort participants were able to apply for capital resources, including sba disaster loan, targeted advance, supplemental advance, rise miami, and soar, among other grants and business programs, at no cost to them. On july 7th, The tropicana flea market, located at 2951 nw 36th street, suffered a devastating fire destroying 47 tents and leaving 35 business owners on The street. Representatives from The miami-dade county office of The mayor and our team came together to provide relief in The following ways: provided one-on-one assistance to complete aid forms and connect victims to mental health and food distribution thru The agape network and bridge to hope, respectively. Fundraised 119,596 through gofundme to provide capital for merchandise replacement. Secured 36,000 in emergency rental assistance program (erap) funds. Program (erap) funds. Requested The small business administration emergency declaration 17571 and The opening of a temporary sba's business recovery center in our Community, allowing fire victims to apply for low-interest economic injury disaster loans until may 15th, 2023. In 2022, we had two new cohorts that graduated 11 fellows. The stipend 12- week program serves 17 to 25-year-old Allapattah residents and dives into The neighborhoods diverse history, teaches The multi-cultural cohorts how to advocate for their Community. Their Community activation projects were neighborhood clean up (fabuloso Allapattah) and support for families dealing with alcoholism (a space between us), respectively. We are launching a pilot version of The fellows program with The overtown children & youth coalition in 2023. In addition, 2022 also saw The establishment of The Allapattah Community fellows alumni board to provide alumni The opportunity to continue their Community activation projects and expand their neighborhood engagement. The city of miami's gsa lot is an 18.75-acre property in The heart of Allapattah planned for redevelopment. Throughout 2022, plpg and The Allapattah Collaborative team advocated for The inclusion of affordable housing and Community amenities in The gsa lot project. When The city announced it would release a request for proposal for The property's redevelopment, we hosted two town hall meetings on The issue, as well as a press conference attended by residents, business owners, and faith leaders urging The city to focus on The affordable housing needs of Allapattah residents. Our work was featured in south Florida business journal, pbs, miami today, and wlrn. In 2022, we launched The tu voz cuenta program to educate small business owners in Allapattah on how to advocate for their Community at The local and state level. The program included a visit from Florida state senator jason pizzo and Florida state representative ashley gantt.