Legacy Business Programs

Step 1. Purpose and Objectives

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The best place to start is to define why you are doing the project and for whom. Create a purpose or mission statement that succinctly defines why the project is important to the community—whether it is economic, revitalization, preservation, anti-displacement, etc. 

 

Set some initial objectives for the project. Remember that these can change and grow with the project. Realistically, how many businesses will become part of the program in the first year? How many hours will you dedicate? What area will you initially focus on? What amount of funding will you need or use? How will you share the outcomes and with whom?

 

Both activities should include community input and feedback through workshops or other channels.

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Step 2. Eligibility & Benefits

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Set the parameters that define a legacy business in your program. How many years of business are required? Are there parameters for community contribution? Do they need to be locally owned? See the Examples of Current Legacy Business Programs section for other examples. 

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Additionally, what are the initial benefits of your program? If you are starting small, it may be recognition and promotion of the business. If you have additional resources, such as business operations support or marketing, it may be beneficial to utilize them. Many legacy business programs started as recognition programs because financial support, rent control, and policy change are complex issues that could take time to address, so be realistic about the initial benefits your program will offer.

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Step 3. Stakeholders

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Internally, identify the staff and management personnel assigned to the project. Are there others, like directors, executives, or boards, that need to approve or review the project? Externally, you may have already established connections with the other organizations that will be part of the legacy business program; however, it is now time to identify the actual parties involved. Who are the decision makers, and who are the workers or partners? Who are the community partners and key business owners? Be sure and share your stakeholder list with the other organizations to get their input.

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This is also a great time to conduct community engagement. The entire community you serve is a stakeholder, so be sure to gather their input and review as much as possible.

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Step 4. Resources

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Create a budget that covers your initial project objectives. Outline what the costs are in that budget. It may be a valuable exercise to create projections for the ongoing costs of the project, allowing you to begin identifying alternative funding sources. Additionally, outline your current finding sources and spend some time identifying new resources, such as grants or donations.

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Part of determining the budget involves staffing. You will need to decide what capacity your current staff has to complete the project or identify additional staff who need to be brought on. If you are an all-volunteer organization, you will still need to go through the exercise to determine who will run and work on the program. As part of your stakeholder work, you should also identify any external or municipal staff who will be contributing to the project and in what way.

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Step 5. Process

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To create a successful legacy business program, you will need a well-defined and straightforward process. Upfront, this could include a method for contributing or recommending legacy businesses to the program or a way for businesses to apply to the program. You will need to establish a transparent review and approval process, considering whether this is done internally or through a review board. In what way are city officials involved in the process? What are the components of recognizing or helping legacy businesses once they have become part of the program?

 

When creating a process, be sure to consider the community's needs through outreach, interviews, or workshops. What is the tech adoption in the community—should your process be online or paper-based, or both? Do accessibility and language need to be accounted for? What is the most effective way for the community to be involved and informed about the process? Finally, the process should not be set in stone, so determine an internal change management process along with a method for the community to take part in the change.

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Step 6. Test & Evaluation

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Before finalizing your legacy business program, run a small pilot of the program process with one or two businesses. Once that is done, determine what the ideal outcome would or should be. Conduct a “lessons learned” session with the business, your team, and the community. How could the process be improved? What is missing? Once you have that input, reevaluate and update your process accordingly. When you have completed the process, it is also a good time to track the success or impact on the business. What did they want to get out of it, and was it realized? Finally, review the time and effort of the program team. Did it match the initial resource scoping, or does that need to be reevaluated?

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Step 7. Metrics & Evolution

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Once you have run your initial pilot, you should have a good idea from your test business for how they measure success. Maybe it’s increased awareness, more customers, or increased sales. Your team and partners may have additional metrics to measure success for the project, such as outreach numbers, community satisfaction, or economic stabilization. From these, be sure to create and share a list of metrics you will use to determine project success. 

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Additionally, you should integrate methods for evolving or scaling the program over time. Create feedback loops for the businesses, community, and stakeholders to contribute input on the program’s progress. Use the input from the metrics and feedback to update and evolve the program over time, making the reasons for change transparent throughout.

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