Did you know? The Department of Commerce’s Taking Care of Business (TCB) Program currently funds 51 neighborhood-based nonprofits to sweep sidewalks, participate in beautification efforts, and maintain clean neighborhood commercial corridors while creating employment opportunities for local residents.
Championed by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, the TCB Program has grown from serving 49 commercial corridors at its inception in 2020 to 179 commercial corridors this year.
The TCB Program is part of a larger effort by the Department of Commerce to enhance and promote vibrant commercial corridors.
Creating opportunities for local cleaning companies
About half of the TCB-contracted neighborhood-based nonprofits subcontract with for-profit, locally owned and operated cleaning companies to manage their cleaning crews.
The TCB Program creates significant economic opportunity for local businesses. Since the program’s expansion in July 2025, six new for-profit cleaning companies have been able to join the program as subcontractors. This fiscal year, 10 subcontracted local cleaning and greening companies will earn $6.2 million in contract opportunities.
TCB subcontracts help these businesses grow their capacity to compete for larger government and private contracts in the future, hire more staff, purchase new equipment, and expand their services.
“The credibility of holding a municipal contract improved our ability to attract commercial clients and expand into adjacent service sectors,” shared Shane Randall, owner of Atomic Living LLC, one of the newest businesses subcontracted through the TCB Program. Randall added that the community partnerships his business has built through TCB, “transformed a cleaning contract into real economic development by building capacity, income stability, and long-term wealth pathways within the community.”
TCB subcontracts also help provide organizational stability and support professional development. TCB subcontractors’ employees participate in trainings, peer mentorship, and program-wide education events.
Reflecting on the value of her company’s TCB subcontract, Sierra Walker-Worrell, founder and CEO at Purple Gloves Cleaning Company shared, “It represents more than revenue growth. It means expanded hours for our current team, new job creation, broader corridor coverage, and deeper reinvestment into the neighborhoods we serve. Every contract dollar stays local, supporting families, strengthening workforce development, and creating long-term stability and advancement opportunities within our company.”
Clean commercial corridors are good for business
In addition to the economic opportunities created for local organizations and cleaning companies, TCB also benefits local businesses along the commercial corridors served by the program, helping drive economic opportunity across Philadelphia.
Clean sidewalks create a welcoming environment for Philadelphians to visit, shop, and work.
Businesses throughout the city frequently express to TCB Cleaning Ambassadors and program staff how much they value the program, recognizing that clean sidewalks encourage customer visits. TCB-contracted organizations build strong relationships with corridor businesses through their reliable, consistent presence, giving them a greater connection to the city’s cleaning efforts and to the Department of Commerce’s neighborhood economic development goals.
TCB represents a critical investment by the Parker Administration to support the quality of life within neighborhood commercial corridors. The Department of Commerce is proud to help drive economic opportunity across Philadelphia by working in service of – and in partnership with – Philadelphia’s businesses, their customers, and the surrounding neighborhoods through the TCB Program.
As Walker-Worrell of Purple Gloves notes, “We are not just cleaning corridors, we are building economic mobility.”
