By Ruth Rohlich
City of Madison

The Madison Public Market’s MarketReady Program is a small business development program connected with the soon-to-be-built Madison Public Market (MPM). The goal of MarketReady is to prepare early-stage businesses from communities that face historical barriers to business ownership, including low-income populations, people of color, immigrants, women, displaced workers, veterans and those who identify as LGBTQ. MarketReady supports 30 entrepreneurs with business training, technical assistance, business coaching, facilitated peer-to-peer support and micro-grants.

The program came into existence when the city conducted a Racial Equity and Social Justice Analysis as part of the MPM planning process. One goal was to ensure that economic opportunities flowing from the MPM would raise the quality of life, increase wealth and jobs and empower Madison’s diverse communities.

The Northside Planning Council, in partnership with Dane County Extension and Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation, is administering the program with oversight from the City of Madison Office of Business Resources. Our community partners include Centro Hispano, Urban League of Greater Madison, Madison Black Chamber of Commerce, Latino Chamber of Commerce and the Hmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce. The participant demographics consist of 63 percent women, 33 percent Black, 33 percent Latinx, 27 percent Asian and 33 percent first generation immigrants.

MarketReady launched in October 2017 and participants have attended 723 hours of educational workshops, 233 hours of direct business consultation, 18 peer-to-peer support meetings and have visited three public markets in the Twin Cities area. The 30 participants will continue to perfect their business models over the next year for the opportunity to be one of five businesses selected to receive up to $19,000 in grant money to retrofit and stock their space in the Madison Public Market.

For more information visit marketreadymadison.org.