NEW YORK—Main Street America is supporting Small Business Saturday and encouraging all small businesses to apply to become American Express Neighborhood Champions in advance of this year's Nov. 27 celebration during Thanksgiving weekend in the U.S. American Express has been encouraging all Americans to "Shop Small' for many years and this year holds even more meaning in light of small businesses looking to emerge from the pandemic. Main Street America is a program of the National Main Street Center. This group revitalizes older and historic commercial districts "to build vibrant neighborhoods and thriving economies."

For this year's Shop Small initiative, American Express' Neighborhood Champions program opened up for applications just this month. Details are posted here. Neighborhood Champions can encourage their communities to Shop Small through the holiday season and all year long. They can bring their community together to support local small businesses via the Small Shop Map of Amex and they can reach out to other local businesses, too.

American Express is also reminding people of their commitment to Black-owned businesses here and in providing other tools and avenues in its support for minority-owned businesses here. 

Amex also points out on its Shop Small resource center that Main Street America has compiled resources, tools and inspiration to help communities and small businesses move forward. These include a Business Resource Center for "entrepreneurial ecosystems" and Tools for Online Growth here on the Main Street America site.