Strengthening Immigrant and Historically Disadvantaged Small Business Ownership and Generational Wealth-Building

The City of Philadelphia, PA is developing a comprehensive business succession and commercial real estate acquisition program to support immigrant-owned small businesses and address racial wealth disparities. The FUSE Executive Fellow will create strategic tools and partnerships to help immigrant business owners build generational wealth and transition to commercial property ownership. Ultimately, this will empower small business owners, preserve cultural and economic assets, and equitably sustain the vibrancy of Philadelphia's diverse commercial corridors for future generations.

Fellowship Dates: April 28, 2025 - April 24, 2026

Salary: Executive Fellows are FUSE employees and receive an annual base salary of $80,000. Fellows can also access various health, dental, and vision insurance benefits. Compensation for this year of public service is not intended to represent market-rate compensation for the experienced professionals in our program.

ABOUT THE FUSE EXECUTIVE FELLOWSHIP

FUSE is a national nonprofit working to expand social and economic opportunities, particularly for communities that have been limited by a history of systemic and institutionalized racism. FUSE partners with local governments and communities to more effectively address pressing challenges by placing experienced professionals within city and county agencies. These FUSE Executive Fellows lead strategic projects designed to advance racial equity and accelerate systems change. Since 2012, FUSE has led over 250 projects in 40 governments across 20 states, impacting the lives of 25 million people.

When designing each fellowship project, FUSE works closely with government partners and local stakeholders to define a scope of work that will achieve substantive progress toward regional priorities. FUSE then conducts an individualized search for each project to ensure that the selected candidate has at least 15 years of professional experience, the required competencies for the role, and deep connections to the communities being served. They are data-driven and results-oriented and able to effectively manage complex projects by developing actionable roadmaps and monitoring progress to completion.

Executive Fellows are hired as FUSE employees and embedded in government agencies for at least one year of full-time work. Throughout their fellowships, they receive training, coaching, and professional support from FUSE to help achieve their project goals. FUSE Executive Fellows bring diverse perspectives and new approaches to their projects. They build strong relationships with diverse arrays of stakeholders, foster alignment within.

PROJECT CONTEXT

Immigrant-owned small businesses are critical for promoting economic equity and strengthening neighborhood vitality across America's cities by driving job creation, cultural preservation, and community investment. In Philadelphia, PA, these businesses play an outsized role in the city's economy, accounting for 36% of the 41,000 small businesses in commercial corridors. However, many immigrant small business owners face significant barriers to building long-term wealth and sustaining their businesses. They often lack access to business succession planning resources and face challenges in acquiring the commercial properties where they operate. Without these supports, immigrant business owners are at risk of displacement, leading to business closures, empty storefronts, and the furthering of racial wealth disparities. These issues disproportionately impact historically marginalized communities, particularly Black, Latino, and Asian populations, widening the equity gap and disrupting the economic stability of immigrant communities.

The City of Philadelphia has made strides to support immigrant entrepreneurs to address these challenges by increasing access to capital and technical assistance through various business support programs, grants, and partnerships with community organizations. The Department of Commerce provides targeted technical assistance and training to help small businesses navigate regulatory requirements, access funding, and plan for growth. Additionally, the city is developing a Digital Business Resource Hub to centralize business assistance and streamline access to resources online. Despite these efforts, there remains a critical gap in programming that specifically addresses business succession planning and commercial real estate ownership for immigrant and historically disadvantaged entrepreneurs. These are essential components of building generational wealth and preserving neighborhood stability; planning a succession strategy now positions business owners to buy their building in the future, generating income for retirement, or to sell the business and property together for a substantial lump sum-both of which support generational wealth-building.

PROJECT SUMMARY

Beginning in April 2025, the FUSE Executive Fellow will conduct a comprehensive landscape analysis to understand the current state of support for immigrant-owned small businesses in Philadelphia. This will include a listening tour to gather insights from key stakeholders, including immigrant business owners, community leaders, business associations, commercial corridor managers, financial institutions, and relevant city agencies such as the Department of Commerce. The Fellow will also research best practices in business succession planning and commercial real estate acquisition from other cities and communities to identify models that can be adapted to Philadelphia's unique needs. Based on these findings, the Fellow will work closely with the Department of Commerce to develop specific project goals and deliverables for the Fellowship that align with the city's broader strategy to support immigrant and historically disadvantaged business ownership and generational wealth-building.

The Fellow will also use the collected information to create a scope of work for training and technical assistance for small business owners that the Department of Commerce can contract to a business support community-based organization to provide external support to immigrant-owned small businesses on an ongoing basis. The Fellow will also work to develop a comprehensive business succession and real estate acquisition "toolkit" tailored to the needs of Philadelphia's immigrant entrepreneurs that residents can access directly by themselves via the City's new Digital Business Resource Hub (currently in development). This toolkit will include step-by-step guidance on succession planning, business valuation, and legal considerations, along with possible strategies for securing financing and transitioning to property ownership.

As time allows, the Fellow will work to implement a pilot project to deploy and test the toolkit with immigrant small business owners in the community and integrate feedback into the toolkit to improve it before publishing it online. The Fellow will also collaborate with local community-based organizations, culturally competent financial institutions, and city partners to build a supportive ecosystem around this project, ensuring that it is accessible and relevant to diverse immigrant and historically disadvantaged communities.

By the end of the fellowship, the Fellow will deliver to the Department of Commerce a finalized business succession and commercial real estate acquisition strategic plan for immigrant small business owners as well as a business owner "toolkit" that can be integrated into the city's Digital Business Resource Hub, making it available to a broader audience of immigrant business owners. The Fellow will also develop a long-term implementation plan to ensure that the program is sustained beyond the fellowship period. This will include creating a partnership framework with local organizations and lenders to support ongoing technical assistance, as well as establishing metrics for monitoring and evaluating the program's impact on immigrant business ownership and generational wealth-building. Ultimately, this project will create a sustainable model that empowers immigrant entrepreneurs, reduces the racial wealth gap, and preserves the economic and cultural vibrancy of Philadelphia's commercial corridors.

PROJECT DELIVERABLES

By April 2026, the Executive Fellow will have produced the following:

• Business Succession Planning and Real Estate Acquisition Toolkit: Developed a comprehensive, step-by-step toolkit to guide immigrant small business owners through succession planning, business valuation, and transitioning to property ownership, which will be integrated into the City's Digital Business Resource Hub. (approx 75%)
• Pilot Program Design: Designed a program framework to test the toolkit with a cohort of immigrant-owned and historically disadvantaged businesses in high-priority commercial corridors, including strategies for outreach, implementation, and assessment.
• Sustainability and Partnership Strategy: Established a long-term partnership strategy with community-based organizations and financial institutions to sustain ongoing engagement and support for immigrant and historically owned business owners beyond the fellowship period.
• Monitoring and Evaluation Framework: Developed a set of impact metrics and evaluation tools to measure the effectiveness of the program and guide future adjustments, ensuring continued success and alignment with the city's goals for generational wealth-building.
• Co-design a mortgage pre-approval program, as part of the Commerce Department Catalyst Fund that would provide guaranteed down-payment assistance grants for eligible small businesses, creating new pathways for business owners to secure commercial property, which will be in tandem with the Toolkit creation's access to finance resources. Fellow will work with the Commerce lead on the Catalyst Fund. (approx 25%)

KEY STAKEHOLDERS

• Executive Sponsor - Karen Fegely, Deputy Commerce Director, Policy & Strategic Initiatives
• Project Supervisor - Liam Kelly Fleming, Senior Director, Small Business Resources

QUALIFICATIONS

• Synthesizes complex information into clear and concise recommendations and action-oriented implementation plans.
• Develops and effectively implements both strategic and operational project management plans.
• Generates innovative, data-driven, and result-oriented solutions to complex challenges.
• Respond quickly to changing ideas, responsibilities, expectations, trends, strategies, and other processes.
• Communicates effectively verbally and in writing and excels in active listening and conversing.
• Fosters collaboration across multiple constituencies to support more effective decision-making.
• Establishes and maintains strong relationships with diverse stakeholders, both inside and outside of government, particularly community-based relationships.
• Embraces differing viewpoints and implements strategies to find common ground.
• Demonstrates confidence and professional diplomacy while effectively interacting with individuals at all levels of various organizations.

FUSE is an equal-opportunity employer with core values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply for this position.