Business owners band together to create sustainable safety and cleanliness programs for all neighbors in San Francisco’s Mid-Market community.
As 22% of the nation’s businesses permanently shut down operations in the wake of the 2020 pandemic year, business owners in San Francisco’s Mid-Market area are no strangers to the struggle of losing customers.
Far before the pandemic, businesses like neighborhood bar, Mr. Smith’s, were forced shut by the ever-growing drug and illegal goods trade happening in front of establishment doors. Owner Max Young documents the mounting struggle of being a small Mid-Market business owner:
“I came down the corner of 7th and Stevenson about twenty years ago; and around 2015, things started changing a little bit...and then we started seeing a decline. Using and dealing began to increase. A lot more car break-ins. Thefts increased.”
— Max Young, Owner, Mr. Smith’s
Max reached out to whoever he could think of in a bid for support. “Pictures, e-mails, constant—to every mayor, supervisor, city agency we could get a hold of. Unfortunately, none of it really worked, and in 2019, we had to shut [Mr. Smith’s] down.”
Kelly Salance, Senior Manager of Social Impact at Zendesk, identified this same need arising in the community, and encouraged a coming-together of neighborhood business representatives.
This was inspired by her intimate understanding that, collectively, they had “the opportunity to come together to make change in our neighborhood.”
Kelly helped co-found the Mid-Market Business Association, alongside representatives of other bigger businesses like Silicon Valley Bank; as well as independent small business owners, like Max of Mr. Smith’s.
Zendesk is a founding member of MMBA
The common denominator between them?
Acknowledgement that the accountability for neighborhood vitality was as much theirs as anyone else's.
The MMBA was formed, and members embarked on a journey to figure out how to make the Mid-Market neighborhood safe—not just for some, but for everyone.
MMBA started by establishing their values; a shared belief that—
the health of our businesses and our community are inseparable
the value of creative solutions arrived at through community collaboration and connection
the long term, best interest of our community will be the basis for everything that we do
in doing things with a commitment to excellence and attention to detail, even if it means doing fewer things
Interim Executive Director of the MMBA, Steve Gibson, sums up MMBA’s mission for us:
“MMBA’s mission, in simple language, is to help businesses on Mid-Market, but help more than just the storefront businesses, but all of the stakeholders that make up the neighborhood.”
An assessment of the failures of programs past, paves the way for collaboration on another approach. An initial program with local non-profit,
Urban Alchemy, shows hopeful results.
“Our 6th and Market Pilot Project—prior to our work there—there was illegal goods; a stolen goods market on the corner, there was drug dealing, and there was a lot of open drug use,” says Steve.
”In the first month of deploying Urban Alchemy, and their whole, unique and incredible approach; it’s no longer that way. Now, everybody can use that area.”
Encouraged by the potential of this approach, a Joint Operations Taskforce is formed. MMBA is joined by the Mid-Market, Tenderloin, and Civic Center Community Benefit Districts, to organize and widen the footprint of their pilot program.
This taskforce creates the Community Based Safety Program, which in May of 2021, receives $8.8M in funding from the City of San Francisco. Funds are expected to fuel the program over the course of the next two years.
Existing and future Mid-Market businesses of all sizes are encouraged to join the MMBA as these plans are rolled out. Because his involvement with the MMBA keeps him apprised of program plans and potential, Max Young is hopeful about reopening Mr. Smith’s.
“As our plan expands, and the neighborhood expands, that’ll happen on my corner too. I’m really looking forward, and I see it already coming,” the small business owner shares. “Things will continue to get better.”