New Jersey’s Future Starts with Community Building
If you want to understand the potential of a low-income neighborhood, look closely at its small businesses — the barbershops, childcare centers, cleaning businesses, corner stores, and contractors that support the community and create jobs. These enterprises shape daily life and keep local economies moving. Ninety-five percent of U.S. businesses are microbusinesses (less than 10 employees) and despite their small size, they account for about 25% of all private sector jobs. These companies hire locally, spend locally, and keep dollars circulating in their own ZIP codes. When these small businesses thrive, local economies prosper; when they struggle, communities feel it.
For low-income communities to flourish, we need to support local businesses and the entrepreneurs who want to start and grow them. But today’s support systems fall short.
A system ready to be overhauled
How we currently support these businesses isn’t working; for every new business started, another closes. We need to create profound change. Tight lending standards and high rates of loan denial for early-stage or low-income entrepreneurs continue to limit opportunities. Many face a lack of collateral, insufficient credit history, and restricted access to mainstream financial institutions. Others struggle with gaps in financial literacy, marketing, and digital skills.
These barriers prevent talented entrepreneurs from getting their businesses off the ground, growing their companies, and contributing to local economic strength. Heading into 2026, New Jersey needs a new approach.
2026 Imperatives: What must change
Strengthening New Jersey’s small business landscape in 2026 requires a shift from fragmented support to a more cohesive, practical set of solutions that reflect what entrepreneurs need to thrive. Here are some achievable examples:
Pairing capital with an entrepreneurs’ support system. Businesses need more than loans and grants; they need access to banking and insurance, and the guidance, tools, and skills that help them to deploy that capital in the most effective manner. Businesses receiving both financing and technical assistance grow 4.5x faster, according to research. That type of growth emphasizes why capital must be paired with comprehensive support, including help with marketing plans, digital skills, accounting systems, and day-to-day operational challenges. When financial resources and hands-on assistance are provided concurrently, long-term stability dramatically increases.
Building community resilience through connection. When entrepreneurs connect with their peers, mentors, and local institutions, they become more resilient (and so do their communities). These networks accelerate learning, expand access to opportunity, and distribute knowledge more widely across regions. In 2026, every entrepreneur in New Jersey, regardless of ZIP code, should have access to these types of relationships and support structures.
Taken together, these imperatives outline a model of small business development that is more equitable, effective, and aligned with the realities entrepreneurs face.
A new model taking shape
While many community-focused efforts have emerged in response to growing local needs, BrightStreet’s model stands out as a leading force in revitalizing communities and strengthening local economies by supporting and empowering entrepreneurs through affordable loans, grants and, in collaboration with other supportive organizations, training, financial resources, and mentorship.
But the deeper lesson extends far beyond one program. Microbusinesses are denied capital at more than twice the rate of larger small businesses, and community-based financing models, mission-driven funds, and philanthropic capital can fill this gap. To be effective, other organizations must also step up and pair entrepreneurs with the tools they need to succeed: loans, grants, access to financial services, technical skills, business training, mentors and peer networks.
A path forward for New Jersey’s small businesses
The state’s future will, in part, lie with how it supports business creation and growth, making the path forward clearer than ever. Supporting small businesses is one of the most effective ways to strengthen neighborhoods, broaden economic opportunities and build vibrant communities.
The opportunity is here. If New Jersey can embrace a model that combines capital with enhanced access to financial resources and technical assistance, mentors and more robust local peer-to-peer entrepreneur ecosystems, it can unlock meaningful economic mobility for residents and long-term stability for communities.
We simply need the willingness to collaborate and pursue new approaches, invest in the tools that matter most, and create an environment where small businesses and the neighborhoods they serve can thrive. Join us in this mission and help strengthen families, communities, and our state’s economy.
Rob Falzon is the founder and CEO of the not-for-profit organization BrightStreet. A former vice chair of Prudential Financial, he applies his C-level financial expertise and a commitment to economic empowerment toward accelerating small business growth and closing the credit gap in under-resourced communities.
