A COUNTY-BACKED microenterprise pilot program that is helping Marin’s immigrant small business entrepreneurs may be getting a boost, even as federal policies limit access to small-business resources for immigrant owners.
The program includes business education, training, and one-on-one advising, bringing services directly into underserved communities like the Canal neighborhood of San Rafael and West Marin.
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors heard a presentation about the Marin County Microenterprise Support Program, or MSP. The pilot program was originally conceived as an economic opportunity component of a broader county Race Equity Action Plan. Due to the success of the MSP, the board will be considering an expanded program this summer, including possible startup grants.
Microenterprises are defined by the state as businesses operated by fewer than five people that generate less than $2.5 million in annual receipts over three years.
County Equity Director Jamillah Jordan told the board that the MSP program has been a success.
“I want to reiterate that this was a $250,000 investment from the Race Equity Action Plan that has now seen a ripple effect take place across the county,” she said. “We have seen a number of businesses move into business licensing.”
According to a progress report presented to the board, 248 people have engaged in the program’s services, and 75 of the participants have transitioned to working with advisors.
“The secret sauce is funneling these individuals into the one-on-one business advisory available through the Marin Small Business Development Center,” said Gary Besser during the presentation, who is with the equity division of the county executive’s office. “The model is that they engage with local, successful, proven entrepreneurs who have made a successful business.”
Sixty percent of those who completed the program in the Canal district of San Rafael are women, as well as 72% of those in the West Marin cohort. The MSP worked with the community with the help of nonprofits like Canal Alliance, the West Marin Fund, and West Marin Community Services.
According to Besser, in many cases, entire families attended the training together to start or grow a family-operated business.
“The workshop focuses on applicable instruction in common topics that any of us would think of if we were looking to start a business,” said Besser.
The course includes creating a business plan, knowing how to talk to banks or other financers, navigating licensing and permitting, social media marketing, finding technology solutions and upscaling and expanding the business.
Future plans include working with the Marin Community Foundation, the Marin City Community Services District and the Marin County Free Library to explore curriculum that will be viable and relevant to entrepreneurs in Marin City and Novato.
“Marin is a visitor economy, and we’re seeing businesses that are ready to capitalize on that,” said Besser, adding that the participant’s businesses range from food entrepreneurs to landscaping, translation services and childcare.
Federal crackdown complicates county efforts
Amid the success of the county program, the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants remains a major obstacle, he said.
“Federal immigration policies are severely limiting so many entrepreneurs from being able to fully and openly participate in the local economy through getting tax IDs and business licenses,” said Besser.
In a March 9 announcement, the U.S. Small Business Administration made any small business owned wholly or in part by a foreign national ineligible for the agency’s flagship loan programs. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or U.S. nationals with their principal residence in the United States. The agency also announced efforts to relocate SBA field offices out of sanctuary cities that do not comply with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The announcement said it wanted to move the offices from sanctuary cities to keep from “jeopardizing both the safety of SBA employees and small business owners.”
Besser said the federal limits also place downward pressure on local and regional sales taxes through the multiplier effect, where a small change in one economic factor can impact other aspects of the economy.
In addition to expanding the program to Marin City and Novato, Jordan said the next steps include increasing the educational offering, working on the digital literacy barriers and converting the remaining $267,000 from the original program into a microbusiness grant program. She said immigrant entrepreneurs may have the dream but not the capital to make it happen.
“There is a gap between this willingness, this readiness, and having the money or the access to capital to then actually create that business,” Jordon said.
Besser said the supervisors will likely decide on the grant program sometime in June, and grants could range from $1,000 to $10,000.
