Local leader strengthens Fillmore businesses, spreads entrepreneurial spirit

By Danielle J. Brown

Five years ago, when Helen Branham moved in to her office on Eddy and Fillmore Street, she parked her car in an expansive vacant lot that was surrounded by struggling storefronts and major construction.

It was 2005, and the prevalence of uprooted local businesses and empty lots left the community shrouded in uncertainty about what the future held for this iconic and once bustling segment of the Fillmore district.

“When I first got here, there were regular drive-by’s, right here on Fillmore and Eddy,” Branham said. “It wasn’t so happy [in the Fillmore] because everybody was trying to decide what it was going to be when it grew up.”

Despite the challenges that the Fillmore district was faced with at that time, Branham envisioned a brighter future – one that included a network of local businesses that would not only thrive, but also could empower and uplift the community as a whole. Her development of the Fillmore branch of Urban Solutions, an economic development nonprofit organization that is credited with assisting more than 100 budding and established entrepreneurs in the Western Addition, has been instrumental to the revitalization of small businesses in the neighborhood. It also has helped inspire community members to capitalize on their entrepreneurial dreams.

“Urban Solutions is a real support system and they try to give you a hand up,” said Gloria Burrell, a life-long Western Addition resident and owner of Park Side Postal.

Similar to the other 100-plus clients that Branham has assisted in realizing their entrepreneurial dreams, Burrell was unfamiliar with the steps she needed to take in order to secure business ownership. “I saw something I wanted to do, but knew nothing about how to get started, and Helen was always available as a resource to me whenever I had a question.”

The results of Urban Solution’s distribution of economic development services in the Western Addition – free business consulting, loan packaging and financial literacy and entrepreneurship workshops – and Branham’s outreach as director of Small Business Services cannot be overlooked. The changes are visible to anyone that passes through this booming segment of Fillmore Street.

“I’ve seen tremendous change in the neighborhood, and some major businesses – 1300 on Fillmore, Gussies Chicken and Waffles, Sheba Lounge and Brooklyn Circus – weren’t here when we moved in,” Branham said. “We have worked with all of them to get going.”

Branham recently talked with Western Edition writer Danielle Brown about the impact Urban Solution has had on the vitality of local businesses in the Fillmore/Western Addition neighborhoods and how she envisions business as a tool for bridging and building an economically sound community.

Question: As Director of Small Business Services, you helped develop the Fillmore branch of Urban Solutions at a critical moment, when economic development was needed among local small businesses. Looking back at the transformations that have occurred, can you name any ‘wow’ moments?

Answer: Certainly. Urban Solution’s recognition by the National Academy in 2009 was a big ‘wow’ moment for me. Here we are in San Francisco, in the Western Addition, a low to moderate-income neighborhood, and we were able to help create this innovative business design. We submitted the business design for recognition to the National Development Council, which is the oldest community economic development program in the country. They had their National Academy in May 2009 and out of 200 submissions, our program was selected as one of 37 programs out of the country. So, just being selected, that was a wow moment. Then to take it a step further, in California, there were only three programs selected, and we were the only program to be selected in our category in the state. That was a real wow moment for me.

On a day-to-day basis, the moments of wow for me are just like they are for the clients. My greatest reward has been in seeing someone realize his or her dream. So, when I work with someone who comes in and they are not sure what the next step should be, and I can provide them some insight and the results are concrete and tangible, that’s a wow moment for me. I’ve had a lot of those, and mostly they’re not about me, but the clients and what they are able to accomplish. Just seeing them accomplish their dreams and pay their bills by their own sweat and tears, that is a wow moment for me … just being on the outside looking in.

Q: What role do small businesses play in strengthening a community?

A: Business is an asset and wealth building strategy that low and moderate-income communities cannot afford to not have available. It is a major player in terms of how a community relates to itself and the outside world. Small business is an important and substantial contribution to community economic development. Jobs are created and it becomes a means of support for families. The true benefits that small businesses make to the community and the people who live in the community are priceless.

Businesses in the community represent more than just another business. They are gathering places, where people share stories with each other and get the latest news of the day. It allows the youth to receive mentoring from the adults because they see positive role models and they are able to emulate them. The presence of small businesses helps residents to become better educated at the same time, regarding their personal and financial situation.

This is why it is so important that opportunities to become business owners are available so that everyone who wants to can become self sufficient by starting or growing a business.

Q: In speaking about how business ‘is a major player in terms of how a community relates to itself and the outside world,’ in what ways has fostering community entrepreneurship modified the Western Addition, and how residents interact with one another?

A: One of the things that I think really changed how this community relates to each other was the Community Benefit Fund, which was a business development and grant program offered by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency in 2008, whereby small business grants were provided to residents in the Western Addition to create and expand their businesses. This program brought the community together in a different way, and community members were introduced to one another and participated in the community in a way that they had never participated before. Above and beyond what the grants were able to do, I think the community really benefited in its own way, and it became a lot more unified.

Also worth mentioning is that Urban Solutions serves the Western Addition community as a whole, however, our statistics show that about 70 percent of the clients we serve are African American. That’s a large number, especially in a community where African Americans make up 33 percent of the total population. Many African Americans in the Western Addition are long-time residents who have strong family roots. They were born and raised here and are now raising their own families here. As a result, they are aligned with this community and are committed to making it a better place to live.

So, in spite of the difficulties that are present in their everyday lives, in terms of lack of jobs, a dwindling middle class or a perceived lack of other kinds of business opportunities, they are determined to make it work … not just for themselves, but for the generations to come. There is a sense of community that is evidenced on the people’s faces as they patronize the businesses and other establishments in the neighborhood.

They see the businesses in this community as gathering places where they can share stories with each other at the bookstore down the street, the beauty salon in the neighborhood or the ice cream shop where they can bring their kids.

To learn more about Urban Solutions, visit www.urbansolutionssf.org.