ConnCORP allocates resources to small business owners

Staff Reporter

Kuan-Yu Hall, Contributing Photographer

More than 150 business owners gathered at the Connecticut Community Stimulation Program Center on Thursday to celebrate a $1 million donation from the KeyBank Foundation to the program. The grant is used to shape the local economy by supporting small and medium-sized businesses.

The Lab at ConnCORP, an outgrowth of the Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology, is an incubator that hopes to revitalize the Newhallville neighborhood and New Haven by improving access to knowledge and expertise for local small businesses. Rather than injecting foreign capital in an attempt to avoid the Mafia, he hopes to uplift those within the community.

Analysha Michanczyk, KeyBank’s regional corporate responsibility officer, said the KeyBank Foundation’s focus is on boosting business and creating opportunities for low- and moderate-income residents of Newholville. Aya Swanson, executive director of Concorp, said the grant will help keep the incubator going for the next few years.

“Whatever we do, it’s about making the businesses here better and improving the community around it,” Swanson said. “Newhallville is underserved and underdeveloped, and one of the most poverty-stricken areas in Connecticut. Through entrepreneurship, our goal is to alleviate that poverty. And I think it works and the reason we get the money directly to people is because a, they trust us and b, we’re not trying to put a barrier between them and the money.

The incubator is currently home to 11 businesses, 9 of which are black-owned. In partnership with Quinnipiac University, the program helps entrepreneurs navigate the paperwork and process of turning their ideas into businesses, such as developing a business plan.

Although ConnCORP’s primary goal is to support entrepreneurs, Swanson said her priority is making sure the Newhallville community feels welcome in the space and benefits from the success of ConnCORP and local businesses. According to Swanson, local communities can often feel excluded from business development because businesses often lack relationships with the people around them that allow them to give back. Rather than bringing in outside businesses, ConnCORP worked to strengthen businesses within the community.

In addition, considering how business can benefit New Haven, Swanson said, Concorp has been careful not to attract investment that would drive local residents out of New Haven.

“We felt very strongly about not coming into the community and pleasing him,” Swanson said. “In addition to this program, we will make sure that we have affordable housing. We are buying damaged houses in this neighborhood and fixing them up and offering them to people at affordable prices. By doing this work, we are not forcing people to leave the neighborhood where they grew up, and we are actually improving their lives.”

Evelyn Massey, owner of Noir Vintage & Co. and one of the entrepreneurs in the lab, provided critical support for her business. She added that aspects of business incorporation and management would not otherwise be accessible. The lab gave Mace a social space full of other entrepreneurs, which inspired her to make her work a reality.

Massey said that while some of the programs have helped boost New Haven’s business environment, gentrification in New Haven has created barriers to business that benefit the city.

“Some parts of New Haven are segregated,” Massey said. “We need affordable housing for people who can’t afford the high rents … and a lot of people can’t afford it, and not for the people who live here. I think this is unfair.

Shenira Billups, owner of Brain Development and Inner Healing, another member of the Lab’s original team, said she would “go blind” without ConnCORP’s help. Like Massey, she says ConnCORP provided reassurance and support that helped boost her confidence in herself and her business.

Billups said what makes Concorp unique in New Haven’s economic ecosystem is its focus on community and local business growth together.

“There’s nothing wrong with big business, but you just have to manage these things,” Billup said. “The little people lose. And then you have the same people coming in and it doesn’t really do anything to build community.”

Eric Clemens, CEO of Concorp, said that in addition to Concorp Labs, Concorp will help revitalize the community at their Dixwell development, which will include 184 units of housing, a supermarket, restaurants, retail spaces, a 300-seat performing arts center, a 60,000 square foot office tower, townhouses, greenhouses and a community plaza.

According to Clemmons, ConnCAT did an economic analysis that showed the property would bring $1 billion to New Haven, $100 million to the Dixwell neighborhood, 600 jobs and 700 construction jobs. For Clemons, both ConnCAT and ConnCORP are designed to provide wealth generation opportunities to historically disadvantaged communities.

“The way I see success in this is the number of people who are indigenous to this community whose lives have changed socially and economically,” Clemens said.

The laboratory at ConnCORP is located at 496 Newhall St.