The president and CEO of Prosper West has resigned, just over four years after taking the helm of the West Side business and economic development organization.
Ramiro Gonzales was tapped to be interim CEO of what was then the Westside Development Corporation in February 2020, just weeks before pandemic lockdowns drastically upended the business landscape. He stepped down on May 10.
His resignation comes almost eight months after an internal city audit found that the city had not been adequately monitoring its funding agreement with Prosper West, and the nonprofit had not properly documented all its processes.
That audit kicked off a deeper look at the city’s funding agreements for all three business development organizations (BDOs) that get operational funding from the city’s general fund, and has shifted much of the oversight of them to another nonprofit, at least through the next fiscal year.
It’s unclear how or if these organizations will receive taxpayer funding in the future.
Gonzales said ongoing funding struggles with the city played a role in his decision to depart, and he did not have the support of District 5 City Councilwoman Teri Castillo (D5), whose district encompasses Prosper West’s service area. He said this tension had become a distraction for the organization, which offers business support services to small businesses and is seeking investors to redevelop several West Side properties.
Gonzales said he was “deeply grateful” for the support of the Prosper West board, and “committed to supporting its continued progress.”
Castillo is meeting with Megan Legacy, Prosper West’s interim board chair, on Wednesday, and said in a statement that she looks forward to discussing “areas of strategic planning development, operating guidelines, data collection and strategy to ensure that we are providing ways for our small businesses to thrive in San Antonio.”
Legacy praised Gonzales’ vision for the West Side and said “he did a lot of great work for the organization.”
The Prosper West board, she said, “appreciates the city’s historic and ongoing collaboration,” and looks forward to “working closely with city management, elected officials, city staff, funding partners and sponsors to support a promising future for San Antonio’s Westside citizens, businesses and organizations.”
Nonprofits in transition
The broad mission of Prosper West, San Antonio Growth for the Eastside (SAGE) and Southside First Economic Development Council is economic development within the geographic confines of each group’s service area, all of which have historically suffered from neglect, disinvestment, high poverty and low educational attainment.
As of now, none of the three have funding agreements in place with the city, and so have not received any of the general fund money allocated for them in fiscal year 2024, which ends on Sept. 30.
Brenda Hicks-Sorensen, executive director of the city’s Economic Development Department, said that given the audit findings “plus a number of other things,” including the recent leadership transition at SAGE, the city chose not to create new funding agreements.
Instead, the city amended its existing contract with the San Antonio chapter of Local Initiatives Support Corporation, or LISC, so that organization could use American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money from the city to reimburse the organizations for operational expenses and salaries through fiscal year 2025.
The amended contract effectively shifts much of the burden of monitoring the nonprofits away from the city and onto LISC, which was already mentoring them through the BDO Alliance, which it formed in 2022 with grant funding from JPMorgan Chase.
That group includes Prosper West, Southside First and SAGE, plus nonprofits that have not in the past gotten operational support from the city: Maestro Entrepreneur Center, American Indians of Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions (AITSCM) and Culturingua.
The ARPA money can now be used to help all of those organizations with operational costs, while the BDO Alliance will continue its work to strengthen their capacity through a recently completed needs assessment, board training and technical assistance.
After the ARPA dollars run out, Hicks-Sorensen said a determination about future city support will be part of fiscal year 2025 budget discussions — which kicked off this month.
Connected to the city
Prosper West is in a unique position compared to the other business development organizations, as it was created by the city as a local development corporation in 2006 to help spur economic revitalization through land redevelopment on the West Side.
In 2021, WDC changed its name to Prosper West; the rebrand was meant to respond to the entire business and real estate ecosystem on the West Side, rather than focus only on business support services.
While that has been effective in helping individual businesses, Gonzales said at the time, it wasn’t sufficient as a catalyst for true economic development. “He who controls the dirt controls the destiny of the West Side,” he is fond of saying.
As part of that effort, Prosper West partnered with DreamOn Group to redevelop the Basila Frocks building at 500 N. Zarzamora St. The 20,000-square-foot building will house small and emerging businesses, with variously sized offices and co-working desks, a retail space shared by local artisans, a coffee shop and more. Another goal is to create a stable revenue stream for Prosper West. Construction is expected to be completed at the end of this year.
With Gonzales’ departure, it’s unclear the fate of the organization’s other redevelopment efforts. One, InvestWest, sought to raise several million dollars to buy and restore West Side properties before investors swoop in and the community loses control of its assets.
Last year, Prosper West completed the purchase, renovation and sale of a West Side home under the Casa Bella Program, funded through a $1 million grant secured by Rep. Joaquin Castro from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, additional funding from the San Antonio Area Foundation and “flexible financing” from Texas Capital Bank.
The goal is to renovate more houses under the program this year, Prosper West interim CEO Ryan Kuhl said in a statement Tuesday.
The organization’s small business development efforts remain an important part of the work, Legacy said, citing its Compañero program, which sends two full-time staffers out into the neighborhoods, meeting small and micro-businesses wherever they are, and helping connect them to services and capital. ARPA funding will allow Prosper West to expand the program in 2024.
“These amazing Compañero ambassadors go out on the streets every single day and help our community,” she said. “For 18 years, the city and Prosper West have worked closely to pursue its mission of fostering ‘inclusive economic prosperity on the West Side.'”
That work will continue, she said.
