Chicago knows how to take on challenges and come out stronger on the other side. This is the city that reversed a river and fought through a great fire, a great recession, and a pandemic.
That resolve is showing up again in new data. The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and the University of Illinois Chicago recently polled small business owners about the direction of the economy, and two themes emerged from the results.
The first is caution. Small business owners are nervous about the future.
The second is resilience. Even with those concerns, owners are still doing what they can to double down on their communities. More than half said they are implementing a growth strategy in 2026 rather than retrenching.
That combination — clear-eyed about the challenges, but still investing in the future — is the story Grow Chicago is built to tell. Through the initiative, the Chamber will share what small business owners are doing to meet this moment, and champion the policies that help them do it.
Together, let’s Grow Chicago.