$220,000 City Grant Funds Digital Marketing Training for US Small Business Owners

By Kekeletso Nkele, small.news Assistant

(small.news) — Small business owners operating along Freedom Drive and Wilkinson Boulevard in West Charlotte are receiving free digital marketing training as part of a city-funded initiative designed to strengthen enterprises in communities that have historically had limited access to business development resources, reports WFAE.

The Digital Marketing 101 workshop, hosted by nonprofit QC Family Tree on Monday, focused on strategies for attracting and retaining customers through email marketing and social media. The session forms part of the “Here for Good Business Cooperative” initiative, supported by a $220,000 city grant to assist businesses and residents along the Freedom Drive and Wilkinson Boulevard corridors.

Branding and Marketing Identified as Key Gaps for Small Business Owners

Helms Jarrell of QC Family Tree said branding and marketing are critical functions that often fall outside a small business owner’s core area of expertise, describing them as the abstract work required to attract customers — separate from the actual delivery of products or services.

Jarrell said the initiative is also designed to address a structural challenge that many small business owners face: the isolation of running a business without a peer network. The cooperative model is intended to foster ongoing relationships between participants so that small business owners can support one another beyond individual workshop sessions.

Attendees Cite Time Savings and Practical Direction

Kenya Templeton, 53, a local singer who attended the session, said the workshop delivered practical guidance that would otherwise require significant independent research, adding that having access to professional instruction in a two-hour session saves small business owners considerable time.

Nicholas Jordan, a content creator focused on Black culture, said the workshop gave him a clearer strategic framework for producing content and putting it into practice.

Initiative Has Run Twelve Workshops Since Launch

Since launching last year, the Here for Good Business Cooperative has hosted a dozen workshops designed to support small business growth and sustainability in the west Charlotte area.

The Freedom Drive and Wilkinson Boulevard corridors are designated Corridors of Opportunity under Charlotte’s broader municipal development framework, which identifies areas where targeted investment is intended to support economic inclusion as the city continues to grow rapidly.