If you own a business in PhinneyWood, there’s a good chance you know Chris. As PNA’s Small Business Advocate, Chris’s job is to support the businesses in our neighborhood—and any business that comes to PNA looking for assistance, resources or connections.
Some of that work is highly visible. Throughout the year, Chris organizes major business district activation events that bring neighbors out into PhinneyWood and create opportunities for local businesses to participate, collaborate, and connect with customers. Rainbow Hop fills the neighborhood with Pride celebrations each June (the city’s first outside of Capitol Hill!); the PhinneyWood Art Walk pairs local artists with neighborhood businesses; Hunger Goblin draws hundreds of families for business district trick or treating; and the PNAnimal winter lights glow proudly in shop windows up and down Phinneywood. Chris also organizes smaller networking events, Lunch & Learns and After Hours, that give business owners opportunities to meet and learn from one another.
But the vast majority of his job happens outside any of that: Chris estimates he has 15–20 “business touches” on a typical day: an email, a phone call, a quick drop-in or coffee with a business owner. He tries to get to know every business in the district—where they are in their business cycle, what they need, what they provide and, most importantly, where their connection points are.
“Businesses are so much stronger when they collaborate and find common ground,” Chris says. “I look for win-wins, and they’re easy to find.”
That might mean introducing two business owners who could work together, connecting someone with a resource, helping solve a problem or simply being the person a business owner can call when they need a hand.
Chris understands the value of that kind of support firsthand. Before coming to PNA, he owned restaurants in Seattle for 14 years.
“When you’re a small business owner, you have 10 million small things you have to do,” he says. “There are always so many things you want to do and so many things farther down the list you’ll never get to. Just being able to get a little bit of help can really make a difference.”
From business owners to business advocate
In fact, Chris helped create the position he now holds.
While he was still a small business owner, Chris served on PNA’s Business Advisory Committee. At the time, PNA had a staff position that dedicated about 10 hours a week to supporting local businesses. Chris and other committee members saw the need for a full-time person focused on the business district and approached PNA leadership about expanding the role. The answer was simple: PNA couldn’t afford it.
So Chris went looking for another way. He found a grant opportunity, wrote the application and presented the proposal to the Seattle Office of Economic Development—all while still running his own business. Not long after Chris sold his restaurant, he received an email from PNA: the grant had been awarded. PNA was going to hire a full-time Small Business Advocate for a one-year trial.
“I said, ‘I’d like to do that,’” Chris remembers.
PNA interviewed him, offered him the job, and nine years later, he’s still here. Within his first six months, the PNA Board had seen enough value in the program to make the position permanent, regardless of whether grant funding continued.
Building a stronger business district through connection
Nine years into the job, Chris still sees relationships as the foundation of his work. PhinneyWood has an unusually rich collection of independent businesses. Between 59th and 85th street, Chris estimates there are roughly 250 small businesses that aren’t franchises—from longstanding neighborhood institutions to brand-new businesses just finding their footing. And those businesses are part of a larger neighborhood ecosystem.
“We’re the best business district in all of Seattle. We have incredible neighborhood support, 360 degrees of it in every direction. We’re surrounded by people who love the business district.”
Chris’s job is, in many ways, to help strengthen the connections within that ecosystem: between businesses, between businesses and neighbors, and between local entrepreneurs and the resources that can help them succeed.
Looking 10 years ahead
Now, Chris and the PNA are thinking about what the next chapter of support for the PhinneyWood business district could look like. For the past four years, PNA has been working toward establishing a Business Improvement Area (BIA) for PhinneyWood. If successful, the BIA would provide dedicated funding from commercial property owners to support and invest in the business district for years to come.
For Chris, the exciting part isn’t simply having more resources. It’s having the capacity to think much further ahead. What should PhinneyWood look and feel like 10 years from now? How could traffic and transportation work better for businesses and neighbors? Could PhinneyWood become a recognized arts district? How could PNA offer deeper assistance to individual businesses while continuing to create events and experiences that bring people into the neighborhood?
A BIA could give the district the bandwidth to start tackling those bigger questions while building on what already makes PhinneyWood special: independent businesses, strong neighborhood support, and a community committed to its local businesses. For Chris, it comes back to the same thing that has shaped his work for the past nine years—connection. Building relationships now, finding the win-wins, and working together to imagine what this business district can become.