SELMA – Around a dozen community members and business owners gathered in the council chambers at Selma City Hall, not to discuss matters of government but to collaborate and brainstorm ways to support local entrepreneurship.
There, at the business community roundtable hosted by the Center for Community Transformation (CCT) on April 2, two individuals discovered they went through the same CCT business startup course together years ago. Others, who either run their own businesses or work with those who do, learned of the variety of small business resources available to them in Fresno County.
“This is why we convene,” CCT Community Relations Officer Cathleen Lawler said. “This is why we come together, to share these kind of resources. … It really started with having these conversations with people that have those ideas. Let us help you flush out what you want to do.”
These initial discussions highlighted the exact reason the CCT collaborated with the city of Selma’s economic development manager and the Selma District Chamber of Commerce to host the roundtable. A nonprofit connected to Fresno Pacific University that provides ministry training and entrepreneurial programs, the CCT is on a mission to bring its connections and expertise to rural communities south of Fresno.
At the roundtable, participants split into three small groups to answer discussion questions about the good things happening among the Selma business community, resource gaps that need to be filled and opportunities and programs available for youth development.
Even as the small group discussions journeyed to different places, with some talking about a citywide “youth olympics” and others about downtown parking, roundtable participants arrived at the same conclusion — it is too difficult to open a business in Selma.
Whereas business owners in Reedley said they have a lot of support from their chamber of commerce, and Sanger residents said they wanted to better market what they have to offer, Selma community members agreed that what they need is a more business-friendly city.
The permitting and licensing process is tedious, lengthy and expensive, business owners said. With some agencies, such as the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, prospective business owners can receive all of the forms they need to fill out at once, and work through the process from there. In Selma, each form must be complete and approved by staff before business owners can move on to the next.
One woman detailed the frustration she felt in 2021 as it took her “nine months, a lot of money (and) two visits to the city council” to get a home-based business license for a doula practice where she would not be interacting with customers at her home. After her license lapsed, she said she will be looking to establish her business at a residence in Visalia moving forward.
Although the city has updated its requirements for home-based business licenses since 2021, other issues that deter new businesses remain, roundtable participants said. Beyond overly complex processes and too-high costs, participants said the city of Selma has had so much staff turnover in recent years that it just takes city employees longer to find answers to questions and sign off on permits and licenses.
Selma’s Economic Development Manager Alicia Aguirre acknowledged that many of the issues with the city brought up during the discussion echoed a lot of things she has heard.
“Which is probably not comforting,” Aguirre said. “It’s probably more frustrating to admit that, but I think doing our part and trying to address a lot of these concerns, and then you guys continuing to engage with the city and continuing to communicate what we need to work on is the best path forward.”
The roundtable did identify some areas in which Selma’s economic development is gaining momentum, such as with downtown revitalization projects that are kicking off. To keep that going, participants said business owners would benefit from some type of low-interest loan or grant programs offered through partnerships between the city and financial institutions.
With that in mind, the CCT will host a free financial literacy workshop in partnership with Access Plus Capital, open to all Selma community members, from 5 to 7 p.m. on May 12 at Selma City Hall.
