Through the Small Business Storefront Activation Program, the City has provided grant funding to seventeen local community development organizations and chambers of commerce to support small businesses by activating vacant storefronts across the city.
These organizations are working closely with small business owners, artists, and landlords to provide rapid relief to small businesses by designing and implementing vacant storefront activations on commercial corridors – all just in time for the holidays. There will be both interior activations (pop-up stores, neighborhood markets, free community programming) and window activations (artistic signage, light displays, etc.).
Participating locations of the Small Business Storefront Activation Program will be open by November 15th. Once available, a full listing of participating locations will be available for review by visiting Chicago.gov/BACPRecoveryPlan.
The Small Business Storefront Activation Program is part of the Chicago Recovery Plan, the City’s plan to amplify once-in-a-generation federal funding to create an equity-based investment strategy to catalyze a sustainable economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chicago Recovery Plan invests holistically in communities and industries hardest hit by the pandemic to support equitable economic recovery across the city.
To learn more about BACP’s Recovery Plan efforts, please visit Chicago.gov/BACPRecoveryPlan.