Urbane Development is building the infrastructure for community wealth. Their approach centers on strengthening community anchors through a multi-disciplinary approach: research and analytics, business and development advisory services, and place-based investing. We worked with Urbane Development to create “Built by Philly,” a microsite that features Philadelphia business owners of color. This site serves as an effort to provide more support to entrepreneurs of color in the region.
A microsite is an auxiliary site typically used to present a clear and concentrated focus on a particular brand, event, or campaign. Built by Philly, is connected to the larger entity, Urbane, which conducted research to assess the state of Philadelphia’s small businesses. Through this research, programs and paths forward were created to address the historical inequalities that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) small business owners face.
Creative Repute was hired to create a microsite to highlight community entrepreneurs. We provided the following uses to the Built by Philly’s microsite’s respective target audiences:
Business owners and entrepreneurs see a clear demonstration of business owner participation in the project and hear directly from peers who advocate for a more equitable system. Business owners now they have a place to join the conversation and elevate their own voices. They also gain a view into how the BIPOC business experience is differentiated from the experience of other small businesses.
Service providers include established business service, professional service, and social service providers as well as business peer networks (an emergent and important source of service provision in the BIPOC business community). Service providers gain a full picture of the ecosystem beyond their work and of prominent and persistent business owner needs. The understanding gained from the Built by Philly microsite can help these stakeholders consider and plan for their own role in the ecosystem.
Policymakers/public actors learn business owner perspectives on the business, policy, and regulatory environment in the City. They gain a sense of the purpose and potential impact of the small business ecosystem. This insight can inform policy and programmatic decisions that support the ecosystem and improve the regulatory environment.
Funders receive guidance directly from small business owners, as well as other key stakeholders, on critical needs in the ecosystem, allowing them to better target funding investments and resources to address pressing issues of justice and equity. They can now obtain a picture of actionable funding opportunities and their potential impact on communities through poverty alleviation and wealth-building. Funders can connect their existing non-profit granting modality to a more robust venture philanthropy framework that allows them to invest in the entrepreneur and the larger BIPOC support ecosystem.
The Creative Repute team started the project with a kick-off meeting to connect with stakeholders and ensure an understanding of the desired goal, mission, and vision of the microsite. Then through a series of internal discussions, we developed and presented drafts of an updated style guide, site map, and wireframe to the stakeholders. The feedback gathered from these presentations drove the direction of the project and allowed us to continuously refine our designs to fit our client’s preferences. Design transitioned into development, UX/UI, quality checks, and the final launched microsite.
Creative Repute®, LLC is an award-winning graphic design, mobile app, and website development agency. Our mission is to deliver impactful design solutions through a multidisciplinary approach. We intentionally hire, support, and empower diverse experts who share a collective drive for positive impact and global transformation.
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