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Illustration: Amanda Assadi-Rullow, based on a concept by Local First West Michigan and data from Civic Economics. For a larger version of the chart, click here.

Owning a small business anywhere is hard enough, but our big-sister city to the east can make it even harder to do it in Jersey City. After all, how many residents work in New York City, and get everything from home goods to coffee to restaurant meals almost exclusively across the river?

Still, small business owners help make this city tick, and it is important to support their efforts. After all, as we’ve reported in the past, studies have shown that a much larger portion of your dollar spent at a locally owned business stays in the community than the same dollar spent at a business that is not locally owned.

That’s why we’re excited about a new grassroots initiative that begins on Sunday: Make My City. It’s a week-long event featuring deals and discounts at dozens of Downtown Jersey City businesses, and a number of cool events to boot. The whole idea is to spur residents to keep their money in the community in an effort to help small and independent businesses thrive.

The week is the brainchild of Hamilton Park resident Cara Birnbaum, who came up with the idea while having a phone conversation about struggling local businesses with Ward E councilman Steven Fulop. Since the idea struck, Birnbaum and a host of other volunteers have been working furiously to get the word out and sign on a wide variety of restaurants and stores.

She says that going into the planning phase, she was expecting to have maybe 10 or 15 businesses on board. Now, as the tally surpasses 50, with new businesses already calling about future events, Birnbaum says she’s been pleasantly surprised by the reaction of the business community.

“I think it bodes well for Jersey City in general,” she says, “and it really points to the fact that there’s a real need and a real hunger for small businesses to come together.”

She says that she hopes to have another event this fall and eventually expand to other parts of the city. But she also hopes the week becomes a first step toward greater cooperation and idea-sharing between Jersey City’s countless small businesses, many of whom — like Kanibal Home’s Kristen Scalia — are also city residents.

“I know firsthand how powerful local support can be for a business. Positive word of mouth and customers who dedicate themselves to shopping locally have helped Kanibal Home survive and flourish,” she says. “In return, the shop has been able to support our community through a range of initiatives — from free monthly chamber music shows to craft classes taught by local artists.”

Scalia says the week is a good reminder “to invest in the place where we live, so we can continue to enjoy the extraordinary small businesses that make Jersey City so special.”

For more info on all of Make My City’s deals and events, click here.

Postscript

On a personal note, most casual readers don’t necessarily think of a news organization like ours as a business, per se. But of course, it is a business — and a very difficult one at that. As a small, locally owned and locally focused publisher, we by nature rely on the support of other small businesses in Jersey City. We’ve been very happy to count scores of them as sponsors or partners (or both!) in the short time since our 2009 launch. But working in close contact with many small businesses, we’ve also come to intimately know their struggles.

That’s why it was a no-brainer for us to sponsor Make My City, alongside Print Facility, councilman Fulop and the Downtown Jersey City Historic Special Improvement District. We need these businesses to thrive — not just to make Jersey City the best place it can be, but also to support the ecosystem that they help feed.

That ecosystem creates life in many different forms, one of which is our business. In order to continue providing the best news and information that we can to the city we love, via both the Independent and NEW magazine, we need the support of Jersey City’s small businesses. And in order for that to continue, we need you to patronize them. So please remember to do your part, both this coming week and going forward — we all need you to.