New study will examine racial disparities impacting businesses

Black businesses’ needs will be the focus of a research project described to members of the Minority, Women, Disadvantaged and Evanston Business Enterprises Committee (M/W/D/EBE) Wednesday at the Morton Civic Center.

The study was approved in April by the city’s Reparations Committee. It is intended to identify obstacles facing Black-owned businesses, said Twyla Blackmond Larnell, president of Transformative Research Solutions, which will conduct the research. It will investigate disparities in access to financial and business information, increased operating or startup costs, networking, consumer bias and more. 

“This group is arranged to figure out what the needs of our constituents are,” said Fifth Ward Council Member Bobby Burns, an M/W/D/EBE Committee member. “That’s exactly what this study is going to help us determine.”

Larnell’s company, Transformative Research Solutions, will receive $22,000 to conduct the study. Another $3,000 will be used to conduct online surveys and compensate survey participants. The focus will be on ethical and socially conscious methods supported by community lived experience. 

The new study will expand on similar efforts the city took to understand racial business disparities in 1996. This initial research focused mostly on procurement of services by the city, and the current project will cover a wider scope of businesses. 

The new research will provide evidence-based policy recommendations that are up to federal legal standards.

“Legal precedent states that all cases in which the government distributes benefits according to race must be reviewed with ‘strict scrutiny,’” Larnell said.

“We can think about policies that are specifically focused to Black entrepreneurs and business owners. But at the same time, we can also think more broadly about those Evanston business owners that are having the most obstacles, and trying to figure out how to support them.”

The research will pull information from existing government data, new analyses and direct community involvement.

“A lot of this data is going to be demographic data, data that comes from government financial and expenditure records, also business licensing, etc.,” she said. 

Direct survey of businesses planned

New research will focus on combining available data to create a more accurate picture of Evanston businesses, which Larnell’s team will also interview and survey directly.

“It is critical that the solutions intended to help Black business owners genuinely resonate with their lived experiences,” the research plan states.

The data collection, organization and analysis will take six months, followed by a month of drafting and a potential final month of revisions. 

Committee member Michael McLean voiced interest in the study specifically looking at the impact of Evanston’s zoning code, which the city is working to rewrite this year.

“Zoning is critically important to understanding these issues,” he said. “During segregation, we had thriving Black communities with all these things because of exclusive zoning. With the elimination of that zoning, a lot of that was undermined.” 

Burns said the committee is willing to ask for access to any other information Larnell needs to conduct her research and provide recommendations.

“We’re trying to create a more inclusive community where we’re not just relying on Black consumers to support Black businesses, but the broader Evanston community,” Larnell said.