Small Businesses Keep Communities Thriving

On May 19th NAI’s Northwest Collaborative will be hosting a citizenship workshop at Wright Community College. I have taken on the responsibility of contacting local businesses who might be interested in making in kind donations or giving monetary support to help provide food for the volunteers who will be dedicating 7 hours of their Saturday morning. In exchange for support, we are offering local businesses the opportunity to have a table or representative present at the event. We believe that businesses and nonprofits have a lot of valuable things that they can offer one another. Small businesses really are the backbones of our communities. By partnering with businesses, we are working to educate and bring people together to strengthen the communities we live in. 

Recently I attended the Portage Park Chamber of Commerce membership meeting to inform some of the local businesses of the upcoming workshop at Wright next month. Many people were very interested in potentially having their business and services featured at an event where so many people from the community would be present. I had the opportunity to talk to a few small business owners who had recently started their own businesses and were looking for new ways to connect with their neighbors and the larger community. It was a great experience getting to know a few of the faces behind some of the businesses in the area and hearing their stories. Everyone I talked to took such great pride in telling me about their businesses. They all are very invested in the communities where they live and work and a lot of what I heard was that it makes sense for them to be present at an event like this. When I think about the different ways that we can work together to bring people together, the possibilities are endless.