The Frankford CDC just can’t stand sitting still, so on Tuesday we held not one, but two, business spotlight events. We started our day at Frankford High School, where we teamed up with the Student Success Center to hold a round table discussion focused on owning your own food business. The panel consisted of three women entrepreneurs based here in Frankford, Lily Fischer of A Cupcake Wonderland, Tegan Hagy of Philly LoveBar, and Therice Denby of Denby’s Sweet Sensations (4428 Frankford Ave). All shared great insight in to the hard work involved in being a small business owner, their decision making processes, and where they see their businesses headed in the next few years. As always, the Frankford High School students were wonderful, and asked some great questions!

In the afternoon, we headed over to Aria’s Frankford Campus for our first Business Spotlight Day. As you may remember, Aria and the Frankford CDC are launching a new program whereby four Frankford businesses, four times a year, set up a table for an afternoon in Aria’s cafeteria and get to know Aria staff who might not ordinarily find themselves shopping on the Ave. We had a great time speaking with Aria’s dedicated staff, and think some great connections were forged!

Stay tuned for more information about coming events, and for details about how to get involved! And if you have an idea for a business support event, we’d love to hear from you! Just call our offices at 215-743-6580.

Back on May 6th we posted about the Frankford Civic meeting and the complaints about the 4700 block of Griscom.  It did not take long before things started happening by way of the Frankford CDC cleaning up and sealing 4728 Griscom Street.  It had been an ongoing concern to the CDC (which owns the building) but what made it more of a problem was that a squatter had taken possession of that building.  Squatters are difficult to deal with but the opportunity presented itself and possession of the building was secured.

The alley between 4728 and the building next door (4732-34 Griscom) which is owned by the city was also cleaned.  The pictures below show what was done.  Now the challenge will be to keep it that way. We’re hoping some concerned residents will come to the PSA1 meeting on Tuesday May 22nd to talk to the police about the problems they are having on the block.

Please join The Frankford CDC, Health Partners, and Aria Health on June 1st!

Good design is a crucial part of a successful business and a thriving business district. That is why we were thrilled to bring design and architecture expert Kathleen Lambert directly to our business corridor this past Tuesday. Ms. Lambert, who has over 20 years of experience in architecture and planning, spent an hour with each participating business, discussing everything from interior design guaranteed to bring more customers in to the shop to facade changes intended to create a safer, more welcoming main street.

Ms. Lambert’s visit is just another in our on-going series of business development events. Over the past year, the Frankford CDC has held individualized counseling sessions with SCORE, Third Federal Bank, and the Small Business Administration, and we have ever intention of continuing to bring the experts right here to our community. The CDC believes that facilitating these opportunities for our business owners, and bringing resources right here to Frankford, is a critical part of our job.

We hope that Ms. Lambert will join us again, though we realize that the CDC and our partners on the Avenue now have the hard job: following up on all of her excellent recommendations!

If you’re interested in making an appointment with Ms. Lambert, please contact the CDC at 215-743-6580.

This is the third segment of the interview we did back in November with Tracy O’Drain and Michelle Feldman of the Frankford CDC.  What does Michelle’s job encompass.