Join Our Focus Group!

Small Business Center (SBC) Focus Group

The City of Dallas’ Small Business Center works to be a champion for the growth of small businesses and nonprofits by offering technical assistance, loans, grants, and connecting Minority/Women-Owned Business Enterprises to capacity building opportunities.

We are reaching out to you to help us strengthen how we support businesses like yours, which play a role in our neighborhoods and our City’s economy.

We’ve asked researchers from HR&A Advisors, an independent consulting firm, to host a focus group and we invite you to share your honest opinions with them. No representatives from the City will be present during the focus group. Your identity will be protected; any ideas or feedback you share during the focus group will be reported back to the Small Business Center anonymously and used to strengthen how we serve small businesses in the future.

We want to know how you’re doing…

There will be two focus groups.

This focus group is specifically for small businesses that have been started in the past five years, have two or fewer employees, and operate within Dallas city limits. We want to learn about the progress you’ve made and the difficulties you’ve experienced as you grow your business in Dallas. And we want to learn about your vision, so we can help you see it to success.

1. This focus group is specifically for small businesses that have been operating for more than five years, have more than two employees, and operate within Dallas city limits. We want to learn about the progress you’ve made and the difficulties you’ve experienced as you grow your business in Dallas. And we want to learn about your vision, so we can help you see it to success.
2. The objective is to enhance the understanding of SBC staff regarding their client base. The focus groups will specifically explore the requirements of these businesses from the City of Dallas in order to bolster their contributions to the local economy, as perceived by them. All small business participants will be operating within the city limits of Dallas, with a focus on southern, South, and West Dallas. Similarly, all small developers involved will either have an ongoing or upcoming project in Dallas. These comprehensive discussions aim to uncover barriers that hinder prospective clients’ engagement with SBC, identify potential improvements for existing SBC programs, propose new products or services that SBC could incorporate in the future, and determine how other City departments can assist small businesses in their endeavors.

How to Sign-Up

Space is limited. To reserve your spot, please complete this RSVP form. We’ll share the location details when we confirm your reservation. If you have any questions, please contact our research partner from HR&A Advisors: Sarah Solon at [email protected].

City of Small Business Center Goals

• To obtain feedback from small businesses regarding existing services, and the services we should be providing to small businesses located in our city.
• To provide an opportunity to gain open and honest dialogue from the historically underserved small MBEs and WBEs.
• Seek better understanding of existing City processes and practices that are current barriers to the success of our small businesses.
• To establish and implement processes that will benefit the growth capacity of small businesses in Dallas with limited “risk’ to the City.
• To establish a baseline of services that can be presented to the City Management and Council.

Here are the details…

We are offered two options to join a focus group:

To reserve your spot, please complete this RSVP form by Monday July 19th.