The South East Chicago Commission (SECC) awarded eight Shirley Newsome Beautification Grants last week to neighborhood improvement projects around Hyde Park, Kenwood, Woodlawn, Washington Park and Oakland.
The Southeast Chicago Commission's event for entrepreneurs in Hyde Park, Washington Park and other nearby areas takes place Saturday. Deputy Mayor Kenya Merritt is set to attend.
At a free small business symposium this Saturday, the South East Chicago Commission (SECC) will share growth tips and tricks with hundreds of local business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs.
A full list of participating businesses is available at www.secc-chicago.org/projects-archive/small-business-shop-local-2020.
SECC Executive Director Diane Burnham said in an interview that the economic development nonprofit wanted to build on last year s success and test a campaign model to boost consumer foot traffic and online shopping at local businesses.
She said the SECC will have a report to share with partners about consumer habits at the end of the year, specifically about where people shop, how much they spent and in which neighborhoods they spent the most. We took the onus off of the business. All they have to do is provide the materials, Burnham said. This will help us gauge for next year how to do this campaign again, and we ll have how to refine it.