COLUMBIA, S.C. — Racquel Thomas opened Venue 817 in late July. Before that, the property sat vacant for five years.
The event space sits like a blank canvas, ready to be turned into a variety of events like weddings, bridal showers, business conferences, and more. Born and raised in Columbia, Thomas picked the location near the intersection of St. Andrews Road and Broad River Road because of it's potential.
"There are a lot of great things happening in this Broad River Corridor and there’s a lot of people behind the scenes trying to turn this community into what it used to be," said Thomas.
One of those people is Javar Juarez, the founder and president of the non-profit Broad River Business Alliance (BRBA).
"We are really building our community to open up businesses and to create pipelines for young people to become entrepreneurs," said Juarez.
Juarez is continuing to rebuild the area's base of small business owners. He said for years, the area struggled due to crime and little investment in the community.
“We spent three years advocating and letting people know that we have an actual community," said Juarez. "We started with micro lending, incubation programs, programs that really work with young people to create new business and really support the community in that way.”
Businesses can apply to be a part of the alliance on the website. Membership fees are $299 a year, but is free for residents.
Since its creation three years ago, the alliance has grown from five businesses to fifteen. But the work is not over. Juarez explained the alliance will soon open a cooperative to help people with complex backgrounds start businesses.
"Showing them how to create capital through different crowd funding sources and our microlending programs to help hire other people that have similar type backgrounds," said Juarez.
Thomas said she is excited to create jobs and generational wealth in the community.
"The more businesses that come to this community, it simply means better schools, better highways, those tax dollars matter," said Thomas.
The BRBA also started the Mermaid fund to provide 100 low to moderate income households with clean water and a one-year supply of filters.