In May of 2020, Greater Trenton quickly pivoted due to the massive disruption caused by COVID-19 and created the Businesses Helping Businesses (“BHB”) initiative. BHB complements and supplements the City of Trenton’s Emergency Small Business Loan program which was limited to only 40% of the city’s businesses. The BHB program raised a private pool of funds for loans that allow businesses throughout the city to be eligible for no/low interest loans and maintain jobs, businesses and vibrancy in Trenton. Greater Trenton’s BHB initiative is an excellent example of building upon, and expanding, partnerships and relationships. We were successful in creating a private capital pool from businesses throughout the region in the form of grants and in some cases, loans into the capital pool from smaller organizations. Combining the grants and loans providing the opportunity to create a “first-loss” position using the grant funds in order to protect the loans provided by the smaller organizations. During the coming years, BHB will continue to provide much-needed financial assistance to struggling businesses across the entire city through this innovative public-private partnership with the goal of minimizing community stress, reducing social inequity, preserving businesses and jobs, and maintaining/creating economic vibrancy.