{"id":107375,"date":"2026-03-10T16:54:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T16:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=107375"},"modified":"2026-03-17T18:57:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T18:57:48","slug":"risbdc-helping-small-and-family-owned-businesses-blossom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2026\/03\/risbdc-helping-small-and-family-owned-businesses-blossom\/","title":{"rendered":"RISBDC helping small and family-owned businesses blossom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 March. 10, 2026 \u2013 Tucked amid the trees in Cranston, against the edge of Route 295, sits Lucayda Farm and Greenhouse. The company is the brainchild of Journey Basham, who has cultivated thousands of plants by hand, focusing primarily on fruits and vegetables, since 2015. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She offers something for gardeners of all skill levels, including selling community-supported agriculture shares that provide customers everything they need to start a garden and grow their own food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe goal of my business is to teach people how to garden in any space they have available, whether they have a big yard, no yard, a community bed, a pot on their deck, or a hanging basket in their kitchen,\u201d said Basham. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Journey Basham sells community-supported agriculture shares providing customers everything they need to start a garden and grow their own food. (Journey Basham)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Like the number of plants she offers, Lucayda Farm and Greenhouse has grown exponentially. But while she now operates a thriving business, it has not always been prosperous. Commercial farming is an unforgiving business with razor thin margins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have a beautiful relationship with my landlord that allows me to farm. But sometimes farming is not the easiest business to be in. Quite frankly, it is sometimes really difficult,\u201d said Basham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two important factors that can help determine a farm\u2019s success are guidance and access to government grants. Basham received both through the Rhode Island Small Business Development Center<\/a> at the äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The RISBDC, a program funded through the U.S. Small Business Administration, centers on supporting and cultivating small businesses in numerous ways. The center provides one\u2011on\u2011one confidential advising for business owners, resources for startups, and training sessions and forums where entrepreneurs can connect.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Diane Fournaris the RISBDC\u2019s state director, was awarded the National Association of Secretaries of State Medallion Award and named the Regional Business Advocate of the Year by the Southeastern Economic Development Corp. (äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It was one of these forums that planted the first seeds for Basham, when she heard Maggie Longo of the RISBDC speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe spoke about her passion for farming and her passion for business,\u201d said Basham. \u201cI just immediately thought \u2018this woman is a wealth of knowledge, and this is the kind of guidance and mentorship that I think I need.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Longo is one of RISBDC\u2019s 12 part-time consultants, supported by eight full\u2011time staff members\u2013including five full-time business advisors. Although the consultants work part\u2011time, their contributions, along with the full-time advisors, are indispensable; last year alone, the organization assisted nearly 800 businesses across Rhode Island\u2014each with different needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diane Fournaris, RISBDC\u2019s state director, was recently awarded the National Association of Secretaries of State Medallion Award and named the Regional Business Advocate of the Year by the Southeastern Economic Development Corp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She notes that small businesses approach the center with a myriad of requests. Raising capital and securing funding, and marketing and sales, are among the most-common inquiries RISBDC receives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose are the two big ones but then we get all kinds of other questions like, \u2018How do I hire my first person? How do I fire people? It really runs the gamut,\u201d Fournaris said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The center is even hosting a March 11 summit for Rhode Island small businesses, called the Rhode Island Business Readiness Summit: Summer of Soccer 2026<\/a>, to bring together business leaders and partners that can share practical guidance on how to prepare for and make the most of potential opportunities in advance of soccer\u2019s World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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Maggie Longo is one of 12 part-time consultants who work with small businesses like Basham\u2019s. (RISBDC\/Diane Fournaris)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Fournaris, who has been with the RISBDC since 2000, has witnessed how economic shifts affect small and family\u2011run ventures. The FIFA World Cup presents one opportunity, she says. She also says that as the job market continues to evolve the moment is ripe for people seeking to launch their own enterprises. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s cyclical and I think as people get worried about the economy, as they see the job market may be softening a little bit, they start to look at other avenues,\u201d said Fournaris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Basham’s case, she credits Longo and RISBDC with providing her opportunities to obtain capital\u2014making Basham aware of and helping her apply for farming grants through the State of Rhode Island. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Basham\u2019s business has grown from a one\u2011woman operation to one that employs several people. She frequently turns to Longo and RISBDC for assistance when needed, Basham says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI ran my business old school for a long time and Maggie is to this day still training and teaching me how to leave some of those less-efficient practices behind,\u201d said Basham. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond helping her secure grant funding, the RISBDC is also guiding Basham toward a Good Agricultural Products certification from the U.S. Department of Agriculture\u2019s Agricultural Marketing Service. Because Basham not only sells plants for home growers but also provides produce to those in need, the USDA certification verifies that her fruits and vegetables are handled in ways that minimize microbial risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have just impacted my business in a way that cannot be measured,\u201d said Bashram.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 March. 10, 2026 \u2013 Tucked amid the trees in Cranston, against the edge of Route 295, sits Lucayda Farm and Greenhouse. The company is the brainchild of Journey Basham, who has cultivated thousands of plants by hand, focusing primarily on fruits and vegetables, since 2015.  She offers something for gardeners of all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":107376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1913],"class_list":["post-107375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-public-engagement"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107375"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107494,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107375\/revisions\/107494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}