McAllen is building a small business program to support retailers as they weather the brewing economic storm

Small businesses are facing such an increase in pressure to stay profitable that the city of McAllen is collaborating with the McAllen Chamber of Commerce to build a program to help local retailers survive. 

McAllen City Manager Isaac Tawil shared the early stages of the plan with the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal during a McAllen Chamber of Commerce event on Tuesday. 

The idea is to partner with local universities, such as the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, to build a course that would match business school students with small companies to help them develop a new business plan that would likely include marketing. 

Tawil said the idea came after a local retailer reached out to discuss the difficulty of the current business climate, especially after the Trump Administration increased tariffs on imported goods.