The Palm Springs City Council voted to devote $1 million for small business development, prioritizing entrepreneurs who are former residents of Section 14 and their descendants.
The allocation was part of the city's package of restorative justice initiatives the council agreed to fund in addition to its $5.9 million settlement with a group of former city residents
and their families who had been evicted from their homes in the 1950s and 1960s.In a unanimous vote on Wednesday, Sept. 9, the council agreed to send $1 million to Caravanserai Alliance for Entrepreneurs, a small business incubator that offers educational resources to early business owners. The money will fund the BizUp Small Business Support Program, which aims to train 40 to 50 businesses
annually and provide $3,750 grants to those that complete the program.
While the program will be open to all businesses in Palm Springs, former Section 14 residents and their families will be prioritized for selection.
“We made a promise to invest in survivors and descendants of Section 14, and the BizUp Small Business Support Program backs that commitment with meaningful training, mentorship, and access to capital,” Palm Springs Mayor Naomi Soto said in a news release. “BizUp is an investment in Palm Springs entrepreneurs who are working to turn ideas into businesses, strengthen existing businesses and build greater economic opportunities for themselves and the community. Together, the City and Caravanserai are building a program that can make a tangible difference in people’s lives.”
The program will run for five years and 75% of the funding will go directly to the business grants, while 25% will be used to administrate it.
"This five-year commitment from the City of Palm Springs will allow us to work with entrepreneurs from the earliest stages of an idea through the hard work of building a sustainable business — combining practical training and one-on-one coaching with meaningful access to capital," Franzene Minott, CO-CEO of Caravansera, said in the release. "We are proud to expand this partnership and especially proud that Section 14 survivors and descendants will be a priority in that work.”
The city ran a pilot of the program with Caravanserai in 2024, which the city says led to local businesses creating 21 new jobs and generating around $1.2 million in economic impact.
Now, officials hope to widen the scale of the program.
Other initiatives tied to the Section 14 settlement include a $10 million program to assistance first-time homebuyers, and $10 million for a community land trust for affordable housing.
What is Palm Springs Section 14?
Section 14 is a one-square-mile tract of land in downtown Palm Springs where many people of color lived due to housing laws that restricted their ability to buy a home elsewhere in the city. The land is owned by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, who sought to redevelop their property in the middle of the 20th century.
This caused the residents who had been living there to be evicted. The legality behind the evictions has been fiercely debated since the time they occurred, especially the city's role in burning some homes after people had been removed. The city had found some of the structures to be unsafe and unfit for habitation.
Anindependent study funded by the city determined the city was broadly involved in planning and carrying out the destruction of homes. However, the study was been criticized by some as inaccurate, leading the city to order a review.
Sam Morgen covers local government for The Desert Sun. Reach him at smorgen@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: How Palm Springs will spend $1 million to help small businesses
