LITTLE VILLAGE — About three dozen members of the Little Village business community gathered at Los Comales Restaurant last week for a workshop on helping small businesses thrive.
Roxanne Nava, the city's Chief Small Business Officer, discussed challenges faced by immigrant-owned businesses. She said immigrants, particularly in Latino communities, can be fairly credit-averse, which often means missing out on financial opportunities.
Nava presented information on several free workshops, fellowships and training sessions that could help small-business owners create long-term growth plans.
"The competition is always willing to take over," Nava told the group of business owners and non-profit administrators gathered inside Los Comales, 3131 W. 26th St. early Thursday.
During the 90-minute presentation, Nava shared select data from an ongoing City of Chicago study on Little Village and Pilsen. She said 72 percent of small businesses in the two neighborhoods exist along three corridors and their connecting side streets: Cermak, 18th Street and 26th Street. As such, Nava said, it's important to combat vacancies on the streets and push back against landlords who aren't working to lease retail space.
Nava declined to share additional information from the survey, since it hasn't been released publicly.
The workshop was hosted by the Little Village Chamber of Commerce.
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