Although Cleveland has experienced population decline over the past several decades, the city is now a fast-growing metro area home to a robust small-business sector rooted in the area’s rich history of manufacturing, trade, and commerce. To examine the state of Cleveland’s small-business ecosystem, our research team conducted nearly four dozen interviews with leaders from local government, business support organizations (BSOs), philanthropic organizations, chambers of commerce, lenders, and small-business owners. To enrich this qualitative analysis, we also conducted a quantitative analysis of the presence of local small businesses and lending to these firms.

We find that:

• Technical assistance, philanthropic funding, and access to capital were key elements of the small-business ecosystem highlighted by interviewees. Procurement, economic development, and community revitalization were also important themes.
• Compared with other midsize cities, Cleveland has a rich and diverse set of BSOs, but the quality and coverage of these organizations in inconsistent.
• A lack of coordination, alignment, and distinction between BSOs creates duplication and makes services difficult to navigate.
• The high number of BSOs means that philanthropic and government dollars are splintered and therefore low relative to the overall need. Funding challenges within many BSOs perpetuate quality and coverage issues.
• There is a diverse array of lenders offering a wide range of small-business financing products, but lending levels in Cleveland are strikingly low, products are not all well-known, and there is potentially a mismatch between business needs and the products available.
• Stark inequities exist along racial and gender lines in several dimensions of the small-business ecosystem, notably business ownership and lending.
• Local government contributes to the small-business ecosystem but faces competing priorities and has relied heavily on the philanthropic community to fill gaps.

These findings lead us to recommend the following strategies to advance the small-business ecosystem in Cleveland.

• Increase the availability of equitable, additive, and expanded loan products for small businesses.
• Refine city and county procurement processes to better support small and minority-owned businesses.
• Strategically invest philanthropic dollars into capacity-building efforts for BSOs.
• Create a centralized source of information on services available throughout the ecosystem.
• Improve collaboration between technical assistance providers and lenders to provide support that is better aligned with businesses’ needs.