By Chris Tyler, Communications Manager
June 5, 2026
Earlier this spring, SAJE hosted the Small Business Anti-Displacement Network (SBAN) for a site visit on climate gentrification—a sometimes surprising driver of displacement in communities undergoing development. SBAN is a cohort of 200+ member organizations that collectively support more than 38,000 small businesses in diverse neighborhoods across the US. Together, members work to prevent displacement of BIPOC- and immigrant-owned small businesses in gentrifying neighborhoods.
Climate gentrification specifically refers to the process when local investment in green infrastructure to curb heat, pollution, and other threats can also drive rents higher and push small businesses out of their communities. These investments can take myriad forms, from something as simple as upgrading a building’s HVAC system to improve energy efficiency to implementing rapid bus lanes across a neighborhood. While climate investments big and small can beautify neighborhoods and help create healthier and safer environments, they can also displace existing businesses and residents, paving the way for altered landscapes marked by corporate chain logos and luxury high-rises.
Over the course of three days, the SBAN cohort of 22 community leaders from around the US learned more about SAJE’s ongoing work with small businesses via our South L.A. Business Alliance. Activities included bus tours down commercial corridors to learn more about the community impacts of climate investment, stopping by the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to interrogate the climate promises of the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, and lunching at Mercado La Paloma to understand what a community-oriented (and economically successful!) climate-conscious project can look like.
Urgent, proactive responses to the climate crisis are of course essential. Still, it’s important that our responses don’t simultaneously reshape neighborhoods at the expense of those who live and work there. Together, we can build the power and capacity needed for commercial tenants to have a real voice in the direction of new, climate-related investments—as well as the tools needed to advocate for stronger anti-displacement protections at various legislative levels.
SBAN is hosting a virtual Summit on Preventing Climate Displacement November 12–13, 2026. Organizers are currently accepting proposals for panels and individual presentations focused on equitable climate resilience and recovery strategies that help small businesses—especially BIPOC- and immigrant-owned businesses—stay rooted in their communities. Learn more and apply by June 15.
Photo courtesy SBAN, Photographer: Allison Shelley
