How BSRI partnered with The Miami Foundation to evaluate a multi-million-dollar initiative designed to build generational wealth among historically underinvested small business owners in Miami-Dade County.
Overview
Miami Open for Business was a community wealth-building initiative led by The Miami Foundation, made possible through a $20 million grant from Wells Fargo. Its mission was to help historically underserved and underinvested small businesses and nonprofits in Miami-Dade County own more of their assets—property, equipment, and technology—and to foster long-term economic resilience and generational wealth.
Launched in 2022, the program supported entrepreneurs through two primary pathways:
- Financial products—including microgrants, low-interest loans, and collective real estate financing, and
- Technical assistance, which provides hands-on guidance and business development support.
The Miami Foundation engaged BSRI as the lead evaluation partner to co-design an evaluation strategy that was equity-informed, collaborative, and aligned with funder and board goals. This work came at a pivotal moment, as small businesses continued to recover from the economic shocks of COVID-19 while facing persistent challenges related to access to capital and systemic barriers to wealth accumulation.
Our Approach
BSRI designed and implemented a mixed-methods, developmental evaluation rooted in public justice, mutual respect, and an ecological framework. Our evaluation unfolded across several key phases:
- Collaborative Evaluation Planning: BSRI facilitated design sessions with CDFI and technical assistance partners to co-create a shared theory of change, logic model, and evaluation questions grounded in the lived realities of program participants.
- Quantitative and Qualitative Data Collection: We captured impact through baseline surveys, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, site visits, and community event observations. We also implemented a digital participatory photo project and a multi-session Photovoice storytelling process with small business owners.
- Dashboard + Metrics Infrastructure: BSRI developed a metrics process map, data collection tools and subsequent systems across applicants and technical assistance provision in partnership with The Miami Foundation, helping ensure long-term usability and data quality.
- Rapid Learning Cycles: Evaluation findings were synthesized in biannual briefs and presentations to promote continuous improvement and shared accountability.
All evaluation activities were designed to center and uplift community voice, foster co-learning among partners, and inform long-term systems change.
Impact
The Miami Open for Business initiative distributed over $15.7 million among 476 small businesses and nonprofits, generating more than $23.6 million in new revenue and increasing net worth for nearly half of all surveyed grantees. Through the Collective Real Estate Ownership (CREO) Fund, the program catalyzed $17 million in community-owned commercial property, strengthening neighborhood stability and reducing displacement risk.
More than 1,300 businesses received technical assistance, with over 80% reporting improved skills in financial management, marketing, and accessing capital. Women led nearly two-thirds of funded businesses, and over half identified as Black or African American, reflecting intentional progress toward equity and inclusion.
The initiative also built a stronger small business ecosystem. By connecting entrepreneurs, technical assistance providers, and community partners, Miami Open for Business established lasting networks of collaboration—demonstrating how access to capital, capacity-building, and shared ownership can together drive generational wealth and community resilience.
What We Learned
- Asset Ownership Builds Long-Term Stability: CREO proved that collective real estate ownership can counter displacement and secure space for local entrepreneurs. The fund leveraged $6.3 million in forgivable loans into $17 million of community-owned property, preserving cultural and economic anchors in neighborhoods like Liberty City and Allapattah.
- Access to Capital Must Be Paired with Support: Entrepreneurs receiving both financing and technical assistance reported the greatest gains – higher business confidence, increased revenue, and more sustainable operations. Technical assistance was a bridge to financial literacy, building a community network, and long-term growth.
- Equity-Driven Design Reaches Those Most Excluded: The initiative intentionally prioritized communities historically left out of mainstream financing. Women led nearly two-thirds of funded businesses, and over half identified as Black or African American, demonstrating that an inclusive design can meaningfully shift who benefits from capital investments.
- Small Businesses Are Community Stewards: Awardees used their assets to strengthen local ecosystems – offering jobs, mentorship, and cultural spaces that foster belonging and neighborhood pride. Ownership became both an economic and social investment.
- Shared Ownership Requires Ongoing Ecosystem Support: Lessons from the CREO case study highlight that cooperative real estate models thrive when paired with strong pre-development funding, peer learning, and long-term technical assistance. Sustaining collective ownership will require continued investment in these support systems.
- Evaluation as a Catalyst for Systems Change: By embedding storytelling, participatory methods, and real-time feedback, the evaluation process itself helped The Miami Foundation and its partners adapt strategies and share learning nationally – showing how equitable evaluation can drive systems-level transformation.
Through this partnership, BSRI and The Miami Foundation demonstrated how evaluation can be a living practice of equity by pairing data with storytelling, creating infrastructure for shared ownership, and contributing to national learning on anti-displacement and community wealth-building.
To learn more, see BSRI and The Miami Foundation’s co-authored case study “Rooted in the 305: The Miami Open for Business Collective Real Estate Ownership Fund in Miami-Dade County,” a featured chapter (pp. 48–70) in the Small Business Anti-Displacement Network’s national publication Community Ownership Strategies for Keeping Small Businesses in Place (2025). This case study showcases Miami’s Collective Real Estate Ownership (CREO) Fund – a first-of-its-kind, fully forgivable loan program – and positioned Miami as a national model for shared-equity approaches to economic resilience.
Team Behind the Work
Partners
- The Miami Foundation
- Partner for Self Employment
- TA provider organizations
- Small business owners and nonprofit leaders across Miami-Dade
Funders
