So, what is the Southwest Business Association?

The Southwest Business Association (SWBA) has a long history of serving our small business community and the community at large. We started with two neighborhoods in 2006 and now represent all nine neighborhoods from 36th St to Hwy 62 and France Ave S to 35W. As we’ve grown, our most seasoned members and volunteers have watched the Southwest Minneapolis landscape change and worked hard to help shape it into a vibrant and welcoming environment that affords both established businesses and incoming entrepreneurs the best opportunity to flourish.
So, what is the SWBA? The simple answer is we’re a non-profit working to support small businesses and advocate for their needs. We cover operating costs through member dues and we’re governed by a volunteer Board of Directors, who are also members. Our work is carried out by a part-time consultant as well as volunteers from our board and committees.
But the real answer is in the details. We build relationships with city officials, neighborhood associations, local publications, and other partners with an interest or influence in decision-making for our small businesses. Through these relationships, we assist individual members with resolving all kinds of issues, which saves them time and effort that can be channeled back into their business. In addition, we provide a collective voice in response to proposed regulatory or policy changes, whether it’s for businesses grouped together on an avenue or shopping node, or by industry.
As advocates for our members, we take an active role in proposing changes to regulations that are outdated or pose unnecessarily high fees for conducting business. A great example is the work we’ve done affecting the permitting of signage. We’ve helped rid the requirement to secure a permit for painted signs, increased the minimum size limit for the need for a permit by almost 3-fold, and expanded the definition of murals.
We’ve also helped simplify the licensing rules and lowered the annual licensing fees (reduced by a factor of 5) for antique dealers and second-hand stores. Southwest Minneapolis has traditionally been home to a number of these businesses, particularly at the thriving intersection of Xerxes and 50th in Fulton, and with sustainability becoming more important to shoppers we’re seeing this industry grow. This month alone, two new vintage stores opened their doors on Lyndale Ave in East Harriet.
SWBA succeeded in affecting these pro-business updates by working closely with city staff and garnering Council Member sponsorship. We’ve also cultivated more than a decade’s worth of experience facilitating access to City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County funding opportunities such as business assistance, area marketing and façade grants, low-interest loans, and no-cost business-centric education opportunities. To date, we’ve secured more than $920k in small business assistance grants. And $650k of this total is from the city’s Façade Improvement Program, which we’ve awarded to individual businesses and commercial building owners across Southwest Minneapolis to help fund improvements to their storefronts.
These improvements have ranged from replacing faded or torn awnings to hiring local artists to paint bright, colorful murals. Others have had a clear environmental impact, such as installing energy-efficient windows, or have contributed to the restoration of historically important buildings by repairing crumbling brick or mortar. Altogether, this matching grant assistance has contributed to a more beautiful and cared-for community. And since this grant program functions as a matching system (funding 1/3 of project costs), it’s resulted in over $2M in investments in our neighborhood commercial areas.
There is so much more we’re working on to support our small business community and membership matters. If you own a small business in Southwest Minneapolis and are interested in joining the SWBA or you have a vested interest in supporting our community and would like to become an association sponsor, reach out to Karen Binkowski at info@experiencesouthwest.com.

Karen Binkowski is the Southwest Business Association (SWBA) Manager of Business Development & Marketing. The non-profit supports small businesses. Learn more at swba.wildapricot.org or email info@experiencesouthwest.com.