BERWYN DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
2020 QUARTERLY REPORT 3RD QUARTER
3322 S Oak Park Ave, 2nd Fl | Berwyn, IL 60402 (708) 788-8100 | info@berwyn.net | Berwyn.net f @BerwynDevelopmentCorporation i @Berwyn Development Corporation
2020 TIMELINE
JULY-SEPTEMBER
JUL
• Illinois Department of Transportation webinar on Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program Funding • BDC's Nonprofit Roundtable Monthly Meeting • BDC Team Diversity and Inclusion Workshop • Creation of a Map of Minority-Owned Berwyn Businesses • Paycheck Protection Program Award Recipients Announced, 471 Berwyn Businesses Received Relief Grants • BDC Seminar | Beyond the Corporate Statement: Real-Life Allyship • BDC Women in Business Monthly Meeting • Your BDC Membership + Marketing Opportunities! Monthly Meeting
AUG
• BDC's Nonprofit Roundtable Monthly Meeting • Digital Chat with the Executive Director – Depot District • Release of the Diversity and Inclusion Survey to the Community • Illinois DCEO Black Business Month Event • Marketing & Special Events Commission Meeting • BDC Women in Business Monthly Meeting • Your BDC Membership + Marketing Opportunities! Monthly Meeting • Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for Dental Town
SEPT
• BDC's Nonprofit Roundtable Monthly Meeting • Completion and Relaunch of the Berwyn Banner Program for 101 New Banners • Digital Chat with the Executive Director – Roosevelt Road • BPAI/Youth Crossroads, Inc. Social Justice Mural Ribbon Cutting and Dedication Ceremony • Grand Opening & Ribbon Cutting of Starbucks at Harlem & Ogden Ave • Launch of the Cook County COVID-19 Community Recovery Initiative: The BDC Recognized as a Partner Organization • Marketing & Special Events Commission Meeting • BDC Women in Business Monthly Meeting • BDC After Hours Wine Pairing at Paisans Pizzeria & Bar • Your BDC Membership + Marketing Opportunities! Monthly Meeting
BDC PROJECTS
CITY OF BERWYN PROJECTS
The Berwyn Beat Newsletter E-Blast
• Created of City of Berwyn event header templates
Launch date: September 3, 2020 Recipients: 3,631
The Berwyn Beat is a weekly newsletter targeting residents and visitors of the Berwyn Area. Each week highlights a different topic that encourages local spending. It gives us another opportunity to engage and support members as we share their seasonal offerings and services. The newsletter also includes a "coupon" section that allows us to share their deals/specials. Week 1: Leisure & Entertainment Week 2: Food & Drink Week 3: Meet Your Neighbor Week 4: Family & Community Fun
• Developed content for the 2020 Census including 5 Digital Ads (English & Spanish), and 1 Facebook/ Instagram Story • Halloween + COVID-19 - Designed Facebook event header, Trick-or-Treating Guidance flyers, including translation to Spanish • Census Pizza Pop-up Event on September23
PAGE 2
Letter from David Hulseberg | Contract
LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Welcome
DAVID HULSEBERG
to the Berwyn Development Corporation’s 2020 3rd Quarter Report. As the Executive Director, I’m excited to share the progress we have made over the last several months. Within this report you will find valuable information on how the BDC has contributed to economic development in the City of Berwyn. Q3 was dynamic for our community as we took the first steps toward a partial reopening. We focused on keeping residents safe, while getting Berwyn going again. We know that conditions will continue to change, but at the BDC we stand ready to respond and assist our business community through the end of 2020 and beyond.
The BDC continues to attract new businesses to the community, and we saw a slight uptick in activity. In Q3, we responded to 29 requests for information from new businesses outside of the community. While attracting new businesses continues to be important, Q3 2020 continued the focus on our existing business champions. In Q3, we provided information more than 1302 times to our existing business. This is more information and touches that the BDC normally completes in a year and tracks consistent with our activity from Q2. More than 90% of all our business retention conversations were related to the COVID-19 pandemic. While these touches are easy to track through our phone calls and emails, we also know that our reach was broader: in Q3 we sent out 38 e-blasts to our broad business community and specific business clusters. All of these efforts were intended to inform the community about new national, state, and local initiatives to assist during these trying times. All of our efforts were conducted in conjunction with the City of Berwyn’s COVID Pandemic Response Team. These efforts paid off directly. Berwyn businesses accessed federal government programs, with 471 receiving relief under the Paycheck Protection Program. While exact award amounts were not shared, we know that 40 of those awards were in excess of $150,000. Berwyn also saw 23 businesses awarded grants under the Illinois Business Interruption Grant (BIG) program. These awards alone supported our businesses with $390,000. Our business attraction and retention efforts are reinforced through the continued implementation of the Finish Line Grant and Pay As You Go Programs in our TIF districts. The BDC worked diligently to push grant dollars out into the community. In Q3, the BDC committed more than $40,000 to 14 projects. This TIF funding directly leveraged more than $80,000 in private commercial investment. While impressive, we still have $460,000 in the Finish Line Grant budget. We will focus our efforts in Q4 towards connecting business in the TIFs with these funds. In Q3, we sought new sources of funding to expand and improve our services to the Berwyn community. We were awarded $50,000 as part of the 2020 Capacity Building Grant through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, which will allow us to improve our loan software and better market our programs. The BDC was also awarded $140,000 to help administer a portion of the Cook County COVID-19 Community Recovery Initiative. BDC staff will assist in reviewing applications and scoring businesses for a round of grant funding based on lottery. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic halted our ability to host large scale in-person events. However, this did not stop our efforts – we simply shifted to an online platform. In Q3, we hosted Digital Chats with the Executive Director, informational webinars, a socially distant car parade, and an in-person networking for 24 participants – held in a room large enough to host 200. We look forward to continuing this format to build upon the strength and resiliency of our tight-knit Berwyn business community.
The BDC continued our work towards a more inclusive and diverse community through several new initiatives. Prompted by BDC staff and resident feedback, we revisited our mission statement and began a series of sensitivity trainings for staff and the Board of Directors. We also issued a diversity and inclusion survey, the results of which we will be sharing with City Council in Q4. We are proud of these steps but know that we have a long way to go when it comes to supporting our minority-owned businesses. We are happy with all the successes of Q3 2020 and look forward to exciting opportunities for the rest of the year. Sincerely, David Hulseberg
Berwyn Development Corporation Contract with the City of Berwyn A. Business Attraction (New Business Prospects): a. The BDC provided information to 29 new business prospects on land, buildings, demographics, labor force, housing, education, and other relevant information. c. The BDC agreed to perform the following business attraction services to aid prospective businesses and developers: i. BDC staff reviewed existing incentive programs to make recommendations and provide feedback from the development community. The BDC continued tracking feedback by way of commercial transfer stamps, business licenses, and building permit touches. This information is provided to the City of Berwyn by way of the Vacant Properties Report and Building Permit Report on a quarterly basis. 1. The BDC also continued to market the Finish Line Grant and Pay As You Go TIF Programs. BDC staff began marketing these programs to businesses in the newly extended Harlem TIF. In Q2, the BDC expanded the Finish Line Grant to cover eligible business marketing expenses in our TIF Districts. Through Q3, we have committed more than $40,000 to 14 projects. B. Business Retention and Expansion (Existing Business Prospects) b. The BDC retention program identified the needs of existing businesses in the following ways: i. The BDC provided information 1302 times to existing businesses on economic, demographic, or commercial real estate. Some businesses were contacted with multiple touches, hence the large number of retention information shared. The primary focus in Q2 was COVID-19 pandemic related resources. ii. The BDC updated information on Berwyn’s economic profile, including the available properties map, vacancy information to aldermen, and sales tax data in our annual and quarterly reports. The BDC website was also updated to reflect change in resources and policies from national, state, and local guidance. iv. The BDC continued to maintain a database of all Berwyn businesses and work with the Permit Administrator to revamp the City business license process. 1. In Q3, the BDC received information for commercial permits awarded by the City of Berwyn. Each permit contact received between 1 and 4 “touches,” or communication attempts. Contract continued on next page
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Contract Continued | Social Media/Marketing Results
C. Miscellaneous a. The BDC operates the Commercial Loan and Microloan pools to assist community businesses with financing options. b. The BDC submitted applications to the US Economic Development Administration for $4 million to create a targeted revolving loan pool. Grant recipients will be announced in Q4 of 2020. c. The BDC was awarded $50,000 as part of the 2020 Capacity Building Grant through the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. These funds will be used to upgrade the BDC’s loan servicing software, purchase of new equipment, and marketing of the BDC’s loan programs. d. The BDC was awarded $140,000 to help administer and score applications for the Cook County COVID-19 Business Recover fund. The BDC will continue supporting this initiative through the end of 2020.
SOCIAL MEDIA RESULTS
55K 50K 45K 40K 35K 30K
29,983
28,576
22,775
10K 5K 0
1,491
JUL
32,810
15K
24,907
20K
40,496
25K
6,010
AUG
SEPT AVERAGE INSTAGRAM POST ORGANIC REACH
AVERAGE FACEBOOK POST ORGANIC REACH
70
1,686 2020 FOLLOWERS
14,187 2019 FOLLOWERS
6,534
2020 FOLLOWERS
↑1.4%
3,704 2019 FOLLOWERS
↑28%
2,808
13,990 FACEBOOK PAID REACH: JUL
REACH: ADS RUN: TOTAL SPENT:
AUG
SEPT
21,788 106,369 57,571 2 3 5 $103 $211 $401
E-BLAST MARKETING RESULTS
JUL
REACH: ADS RUN: TOTAL SPENT:
N/A N/A 483,000 N/A N/A 2 N/A N/A $522
CONSTANT CONTACT E-BLAST SUBSCRIBERS
7,921
AUG SEPT
AVERAGE OPEN RATE:
28%