Success Stories

Long hours and double shifts are a familiar routine for many entrepreneurs and Racine, Wisconsin-based aesthetician Tristah Romero-Kelly is no exception. In 2019, she opened her own business, Renew Medical Aesthetics , while continuing in her “day job” as a nurse practitioner at a clinic in Milwaukee.

Rob Snowberger is a U.S. Navy Veteran and local entrepreneur in Wilmington, Delaware. In July 2019, he opened the Faire Market and Café, a grocery store and coffee service. In addition to offering the community more food choices, this unique endeavor also served as an economic revitalization project, bringing new customers to the downtown area.

When psychologist Haleigh Scott completed her postdoctoral clinical training at the University of California, Davis she knew she could best continue her commitment to individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities in a small setting that would allow personalized patient treatment and case management.

California has experienced its share of wildfires. Nothing, however, could prepare the Golden State for the devastation of the 2018 Camp Fire. The historic and unprecedented conflagration laid waste to a large section of mountainous and semi-rural Butte County, going down as the single most devastating fire disaster in state history.

Mike Williamson is a former Air Force mechanic from Lynchburg, Tennessee. After serving his country, he returned to his hometown and opened Lynchburg Machine Tool, which provides tools and dies for the local automotive manufacturing industry.

Over the last few years, many Americans have moved to Florida, making it one of the top destinations for domestic migration. In 2021 alone, more than 220,000 people moved to the Sunshine State.

Coupled with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, this mass migration put a serious strain on the state’s resources, minimizing its lending power to small, minority-owned businesses and other entrepreneurs. However, with assistance from the Economic Development Administration (EDA), the South Florida Regional Planning Council (SFRPC) is helping many such businesses develop and grow.

With just two employees, the Mid-Shore Regional Council (MSRC) may be among the smallest of EDA’s economic development districts. But by leveraging the strength of its regional partners, the MSRC makes an enormous impact on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Economic Development Districts (EDD) play a vital role in the EDA grant application process. Comprised of multiple jurisdictions that often cross state lines, EDDs leverage the involvement of the public, private, and non-profit sectors to establish a strategic blueprint for economic development.

​​​​​​​Tewelde’s Lafitte Drugs has operated inside a grocery store in Lafitte, Louisiana, for more than 40 years. It has long served an important role in the rural community of 2,500 people.

Fire protection in California’s rural and heavily forested Humboldt County is provided by a patchwork of more than three dozen different agencies, many of whom rely entirely on volunteer firefighters.