SAGE secures first federal grant in a decade as city funding ends

A local nonprofit focused on economic development and growth on the city’s near Eastside announced earlier this week that it has secured its first federal grant in a decade — just as its slated funding from the City of San Antonio has dried up.

On Wednesday, San Antonio for Growth on the Eastside (SAGE) shared that it has been named as the recipient of a $150,000 community economic development planning award. The grant will go toward establishing a public market complex at a yet undecided location on the East Side of San Antonio, similar to the Exchange Food Hall in Dallas or the Fareground in Austin, said SAGE’s latest CEO, James Nortey, who started in January.

SAGE received the last of its Economic Development Department dollars from the city in September, a fund it had depended on for about 20 years and is undergoing a large shift in where its revenue comes from, although he noted SAGE is still receiving some of the last remaining ARPA dollars from the city. This new federal planning grant is a step in the right direction, he added.

“As a new CEO, it was incumbent upon me to find new sources of funding,” he said. “We have not applied for a federal grant in 10 years … this was one of the first opportunities I found that was a good fit.”

The new grant will help the nonprofit gather local input, perform studies on possible market locations, and draw up an initial vision, Nortey said. SAGE will launch applications to create a steering committee made up of community members for the project in the new year, and will be seeking local business owners, builders and vendors as partners, he noted.

“We want to get the community’s input for best locations and for what the needs are,” Nortey said. “There are different types of markets — people may want to see something closer to a food truck court that’s indoors. I don’t want this to just be what James Nortey thinks is best, but what the community thinks is best. The East Side is already overanalyzed and over-asked — what we want to see is follow through. We’re tired of being talked to, now we’re trying to put this in action.”

The grant application was supported by Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-Texas). In the grant announcement, Castro said the new hub will hopefully strengthen the area’s economy and provide a valuable space for people to come together.

“For more than 25 years, [SAGE]… has supported local small businesses by working to address economic disparities and create opportunities for growth,” he said. “I look forward to seeing this project come to life on the East Side.”