WHAT HAPPENED TO THE RADCLIFF SMALL BUSINESS ALLIANCE? 

By T.W. Shortt 

Co-founder of the Radcliff Small Business Alliance, former Radcliff City Council member, and local business owner  

My first job was delivering the morning edition of the Times-Herald in Hampton, Virginia. 

At about 3:30 each morning, bundles of newspapers were pushed from a delivery truck at the corner of “F” Street in Copeland Park, the government housing project where my family lived. I loaded the papers onto my bicycle and rode my route while most people were still asleep. 

That job taught me an early lesson: people depend on small businesses to deliver. 

Later, I spent twenty years serving around the world in the United States Army. When I returned to civilian life, I started my own real estate company. For forty years, I have worked in Radcliff and throughout Hardin County, watching small businesses open, struggle, succeed, and sometimes disappear. 

Small business runs deep in my family. My father operated a part-time heating and air-conditioning business. My grandfather sold books and other products door to door. One of my uncles owned several Shell gas stations. 

Small business was never a slogan to us. It was work, risk, independence, and survival. 

That is why I was proud to help form the Radcliff Small Business Alliance about thirteen years ago. John Flanagan and others were working toward the same goal, and Mayor J.J. Duvall helped bring us together. 

The mission was simple: 

Shine a light on Radcliff’s small businesses. 

We held ribbon cuttings, monthly meetings, networking events, and community activities designed to give local businesses visibility and a stronger voice. 

For years, that mission was honored. 

Then the organization began to drift. 

It became increasingly involved in seminars, workshops, motivational programs, nonprofit activities, and projects that had little connection to the daily needs of Radcliff business owners. 

Education has value, but another seminar will not pay the rent. A motivational speech will not bring customers through the door. Advice from people who have never operated a storefront, met payroll, paid commercial rent, managed inventory, paid city taxes or worry about keeping the lights on is not a substitute for practical business leadership. 

The alliance also appeared to become a pass-through for charitable contributions. 

It solicited money from generous banks, automobile dealerships, and other major businesses and then distributed funds to nonprofit organizations, including some that were already facing serious financial difficulties. 

Charitable giving is honorable, but that was not the alliance mission. 

A small business alliance is not a community foundation, a charitable clearinghouse, or a rescue fund for troubled organizations. 

Banks and automobile dealerships are fully capable of making charitable donations directly. They do not need a small business organization to be an intermediary. 

Every dollar redirected away from Radcliff businesses was a missed opportunity. 

That money could have supported a shop-local campaign, storefront improvements, cooperative advertising, business recruitment, a local directory, or events that brought customers directly into Radcliff businesses. 

The alliance was created to support the people who open their doors every morning, employ residents, pay taxes, serve customers, and take financial risks. 

Instead, small businesses increasingly became a source of donations rather than the reason for the organization’s existence. 

I regret that this mission drift was not challenged sooner. I include myself in that criticism. 

But recognizing the problem late is better than ignoring it forever. 

Radcliff businesses need an organization that is focused, independent, and unafraid to speak for them. 

Its guiding question should be simple: 

What does this do for Radcliff businesses? 

If there is no clear answer, it does not belong at the center of the mission. 

Radcliff businesses deserve an alliance that remembers why it was created—and has the courage to put small business first. We will continue to plan for that in early 2027.