FARGO - The Downtown Community Partnership and several partners have created a website promoting small businesses in the Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo area called FMStrong.com .
The goal of the project was to create a straightforward website to support small businesses as they work through the challenges brought by the fight to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19.
The site has been in the works for the last two weeks and went live Tuesday, March 31, said Melissa Brandt, president and CEO of the Downtown Community Partnership.
“It’s all about supporting our local businesses,” she said Wednesday morning, April 1. “We’re hoping it will get legs and people will use it.”
Brandt said businesses not on the site that want to be included only need to contact the DCP and “we’ll add them on.”
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“We wanted to get it up and going and build it as we go,” Brandt said.
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The early feedback has been “great so far. People are excited about it. We made it for the public,” Brandt said.
She said she wants the site to be “a positive message” for the F-M area’s small businesses.
“They make our community unique. Without them, we’d be very vanilla,” Brandt said..
Fargo Underground is a contributor to the website’s creation.
"Building FargoTakeout.com and FargoBiz.com (two of the content areas for FMStrong) were natural moves for us,” Fargo Underground co-founder Maren Jorgensen said. “Creating new resources to help connect Fargo-Moorhead residents to our restaurant and retail partners was something we could do to help out.”
Other links on the page include:
- Hotdish (updates from area businesses).
- Helping Hearts, a portal that allows visitors to donate to local non-profit organizations.
- Chamber of Commerce updates.
- A delivery guide compiled by the Fargo Moorhead Convention and Visitors Bureau.
- Resources for small business owners.
- A list of companies open for business.
“Even though it might look like our lives are suspended, even though we find it hard to accept this sense of unpredictability, it is not the moment to stop,” the introduction to the website says.
“It's the moment to do anything possible. Solidarity and collaboration among the businesses and residents are crucial during this crisis. The independent small businesses and nonprofits are suffering and are at risk of never recovering. These are the businesses and groups that make our city unique and serve those that need it most. You.
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“Let's do what we can to shop local and donate to our most at risk local businesses. Everywhere new ideas are emerging to get in touch with each other so find it all in one place,” the introduction said.
