As the second wave of COVID-19 hits Canada, uncertainty regarding the future of many local, small businesses are rising once more. Will they be forced to shut down again? Will even more businesses have to permanently close their doors? At Markham Public Library, we strongly believe that small businesses are crucial pillars of any healthy community. Thus, we strive to provide programming, resources, and information to small businesses, in order to help them thrive even during the worst of times.
Given that October is Small Business Month, here are some of the ways in which we are assisting small businesses within our community:
- Blog posts (such as this one) to share important business-related information to our community. We also have a helpful post about resources for businesses and free online resources that may be of value to many local businesses in Markham.
- We offer tons of free programming that can help instill new skills in our community members, as well as programs intended for specific audiences. For instance, Small Business Resilience (happening on Wednesday, October 7) looks at different ways to pivot or even re-imagine your business, so that your business remains resilient, even during a pandemic!
- Our social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) disseminate community-related information all the time! These can include upcoming programs, Markham-related news, and much more. Staying in the loop has never been more important.
- We subscribe to many online business resources which you can readily access from the comfort of your home. Additionally as a library, we offer tons of business books, to help your business stay competitive, to learn a new skill, or simply to stay informed with current happenings.
Though we are already doing many things to support our local businesses, we are aware that there is always more that can be done. As such, if you have any further suggestions on how we can support Markham’s small businesses, we welcome you to email them to us at ayossofzai@markham.library.on.ca so that we may share them with our community.
Not a business owner yourself? Fortunately, you can still help by sharing these helpful resources to any of your friends that may own small businesses themselves, so that they may hopefully persevere during these trying times!
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