Small Business Support Is Associated with the Quantity, Quality, and Usage of Youth Physical Activity Opportunities in Urban, Low-Income, African American Neighborhoods

Abstract

Evidence suggests small businesses could play a significant role in bringing quality youth physical activity opportunities (YPAOs) to urban areas. Knowing more about their involvement with YPAOs in African American neighborhoods would be of significant value given the relatively low PA rates of African American youth. The current study examined associations between small businesses and YPAOs in low-income, African American urban neighborhoods. Surveys were conducted with 46.4% (n = 223) of eligible small business owners/managers and 44.2% (n = 38) of eligible YPAO providers in 20 low-income, African American urban neighborhoods to ascertain business and YPAO characteristics. Audits were conducted at the YPAOs and parks (n = 28) in the study areas to obtain counts of users and data on amenities/incivilities. Analyses included multiple linear regression. Only 33.6% of all businesses were currently supporting YPAOs. The percentage of businesses supporting only local YPAOs (YPAOs near the business) was significantly associated with the number of YPAOs in the area, number of YPAO amenities, youth participants, teams, amenity quality, and the severity of incivilities after controlling for neighborhood demographics. Businesses supporting only local YPAOs were at their location longer, and their owners were more likely to have a sports background, children, and believe small businesses should support YPAOs than business not supporting local YPAOs. This study provides evidence that YPAOs in low-income, African American urban neighborhoods are improved by support from small businesses. Efforts to enhance PA among African American youth living in low-income urban neighborhoods could benefit from involving small businesses.

Introduction

Youth (under 18 years of age) who engage in 1 h or more of physical activity (PA) every day during the week see improved strength, cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition, bone health, psychological well-being, brain function and integrity, and school performance [1–3]. Despite the benefits of PA, only about 20% of youth engage in 1 h of PA each day [4]. African American youth, especially those living in low-income, urban environments, are even less physically active. Nationwide, the prevalence rates of participating in the recommended amounts of aerobic, strength training, and sedentary activity are higher among African American than white youth [5]. These health behavior inequalities have persisted over the last quarter century and have undoubtedly contributed to the disproportionately high rates of lifestyle-related diseases seen in this population [6]. The incidence of type 2 diabetes is five times higher and severe obesity [body mass index (BMI) 20% higher than the obesity cutoff at the 95th BMI percentile] is two times higher in African American versus white youth [7–9]. The evidence does not favor school-based, physical education or PA interventions conducted at the individual level as approaches for positively changing PA in youth [5, 10]. For example, among African American 12th grade students, 60.7% did not attend a single physical education class during an average school week [5].

Many theories can be called upon to explain why youth are not more physically active. In general, they suggest youth PA is determined by individual, social, and environmental factors [11, 12]. The latter, especially those related to the built environment, are of particular interest as they have been implicated as viable and effective agents of change in interventions promoting youth PA [13–15]. One of the strongest environmental determinants of youth PA are the availability and adequacy of youth PA opportunities (YPAOs), which are programs and places available to youth with components/amenities that typically require/involve PA (e.g., playgrounds) [16, 17]. Not having access to affordable YPAOs of good quality is a significant barrier to being PA [18, 19]. Further, youth utilizing YPAOs improve social skills, learn sportsmanship, become more physically fit, and are relatively more likely to participate in PA as adults [20, 21]. Nearby, neighborhood YPAOs may play an even bigger role in enhancing youth PA then YPAOs further away, outside the neighborhood. Recreational facilities closer to home are used more by youth than facilities located elsewhere, and youth PA is significantly associated with having access to nearby (< 1-km distance from home) open spaces [22, 23]. Not surprisingly, low-income, African American neighborhoods have significantly fewer quality YPAOs than more affluent, white areas [16, 22–24]. Providing better quality, non-expensive YPAOs to African American youth in the neighborhoods where they live would likely be an effective strategy for promoting PA in this group [19, 24–26].

Small businesses (< 500 employees) represent a large sector (99.7% US businesses) of society that could have a substantial and sustainable impact on YPAOs and PA in economically disadvantaged, African American neighborhoods [27, 28]. There is a strong preference by small businesses versus large businesses, for sponsoring local programs and contributing to neighborhood events [29, 30]. This is beneficial for small businesses as it improves marketing efficiency and allows them to give back to the neighborhood that supports them, thus projecting the business as a socially responsible organization [31]. Ultimately, these actions can lead to increased consumer support and higher revenues [32]. Although most small businesses do not support YPAOs (~ 60%), an overwhelming majority (~ 90%) believe they should support YPAOs [17, 27].

Little information is available about small business involvement with YPAOs in low-income, urban African American neighborhoods. Such information could enhance efforts to promote PA in African American youth. Therefore, this study targeted low-income, African American neighborhoods in urban areas to explore relationships between small businesses support for YPAOs and YPAO characteristics. Further, business and business owner characteristics were investigated as potential correlates of the level of small business support for YPAOs.

Methods

Study Areas

A multi-step process recommended for use in urban health research was used to identify 54 distinct, U.S. Census block groups in an urbanized area (population > 50,000) of New Castle, County, Delaware. Block groups also had to have African American concentration > 50%, median household yearly income in the lower third of all block groups in the urbanized area, and a land-use mix at least 30% residential and at least 10% retail/commercial [33]. From this pool of block groups, 20 were randomly selected for study. The selected block groups had the following characteristics [mean (standard deviation)]: population 3,638 residents (1,878), yearly median household income $37,156 (12,537), percent of residents African American 73.8% (15.1), percent of residents < 18 years of age 28.3% (8.7), and percent of land commercial and retail 12.8% (2.7).

Procedures

All potentially eligible small businesses (n = 1,336) in the study areas were identified using a state registry and the internet. The information obtained was carefully reviewed to eliminate 123 duplicate businesses that were businesses with multiple licenses, but only one physical address. In-person visits were made to the remaining 1,213 unique businesses to determine if they met the inclusion criteria: had a physical location and could be accessed by the public, in business, and safe to approach (e.g., surveyor perceived potential for physical harm, e.g., presence of an unrestrained guard dog). During a visit, an attempt was made to complete a survey with the owner of the business. If an owner was not available, a supervisor or manager was interviewed if they indicate having the knowledge to answer the questions on the survey.

Similarly, all potentially eligible YPAOs (n = 144 including 28 parks) in the study areas were identified by reviewing data from internet sites, media (e.g., local newsletters), community tours, and asking community members. In-person visits and follow-up phone calls were made to the 144 YPAOs to determine if they met the eligibility criteria: a program or place available to youth with components/amenities that typically require/involve PA such as parks, classes, sports leagues, school athletics, and events [16, 17]. At eligible, non-park YPAOs, attempts were made to complete a survey with a person knowledgeable about the YPAO (e.g., director). YPAOs not available to the public (e.g., worksite exercise programs) or those not designed primarily for PA (e.g., sidewalks/streets and stairs) were not included.

Each business/YPAO was contacted a maximum of three times on different days and during different periods of the day. Visit outcomes were recorded as follows: survey completed, refused, or could not or did not respond (e.g., no answer and eligible interviewee not present). All research procedures were approved by the University of Delaware’s Institutional Review Board for the protection of human subjects in research.

Small Business Policy Survey (SBPS)

The SBPS is a reliable survey previously developed to capture the presence and development of small business support for YPAOs [17]. Questions are asked about the business (e.g., marketing budget and years of operation), the owner (e.g., gender and age), involvement with community initiatives, and support for YPAOs including the cost, location, and reason for each YPAO supported.

YPAO Provider Surveys

This survey is reliable and provides detailed information on YPAOs including number of youth participants, descriptions of all features and amenities, programmatic information (e.g., fees, operating times, and sessions/week), personnel qualifications, and start-up and operating costs including how costs are covered [16].

Systematic Observation of Park and Recreation in the Community (SOPARC)

The SOPARC was conducted according to established protocols to count the number of youth using the 28 public parks in the study areas [34, 35]. Briefly, each park was visited by a trained observer who mapped all potential areas for leisure-time PA (i.e., target areas) and then performed visual scans of the target areas to obtain counts of youth. All parks were assessed during 2 weeks in July, four times a day (7 to 9 a.m., 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., 3 to 5 p.m., and 7 to 9 p.m.) on two weekdays and one weekend day. This yielded 12 observations per park, the minimum needed to obtain robust estimates of park user characteristics [35]. No precipitation occurred during any of the assessment days.

Physical Activity Resource Assessment (PARA)

A trained field coder used the PARA to conduct concise (10–30 min) audits of YPAOs where surveys and SOPARCs were completed. The PARA is a reliable instrument for assessing characteristics of publicly available PA resources including YPAOs [36]. It provided further insight about the quantity and quality of YPAO amenities and incivilities.

Statistical Analysis

Shapiro–Wilk tests indicated all outcome variables were normally distributed. The characteristics of YPAOs per study area derived from YPAO surveys, SOPARCs, and PARAs were as follows: total number of YPAOs, total amenities at YPAOs, quality (PARA ratings 1 = poor to 3 = good), incivility severity (PARA ratings 1 = not severe to 3 = severe), teams (total number of sports teams active in a given year), class volume (PA or sports-related class with volume = # of classes offered per year × average length (in minutes) of a class × average # of weeks classes were offered per year), number of youth participants/YPAO (youth/YPAO), SOPARC counts of youth at parks/number of parks (counts), and average fees per unit (e.g., class and league) to participant (fees). Person product moment correlation was used to examine zero-order relationships between the percentage of small businesses supporting only local YPAOs (YPAOs inside the area where the business was located), percentage of small businesses supporting only non-local YPAOs (YPAOs outside the area where the business was located), and characteristics of YPAOs in the area where the business was located (the local YPAOs). Multiple linear regression was used to determine if significant zero-order correlations remained significant when considering study area demographics including the proportion of the study area population under 18 years of age, median household income, and the proportion of the study area population who were African American. Student independent t-tests were performed to compare continuous and chi square with Yates contingency correction for dichotomized, business and owner characteristics of businesses supporting only local YPAOs with those of businesses not supporting YPAOs and businesses supporting only non-local YPAOs. Alpha was set a priori at 0.05, and all analyses were performed with the SPSS statistical software package (IBM Corp. Released 2020. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 27.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp).

Results

Of the 1,213 businesses visited, 732 (60.3%) did not meet the inclusion criteria [residential (n = 120), not accessible to the public (n = 411), out-of-business (n = 73), unsafe (n = 17), not a small business (n = 111)]. Surveys were completed at 223 (46.4%) of the 481 eligible small businesses, 65 (13.5%) refused, and 193 (40.1%) did not complete an interview after three attempts. Percent completion rates by study area ranged from 38.9 to 50.0% (M = 45.8, SD = 2.9%). The majority of surveys (60.4%) were completed by the business owner with the remaining surveys completed by a manager or supervisor.

Overall, a total of 104 YPAOs were supported by 33.6% (75/223) of the businesses surveyed. Thirty-eight (50.7%) businesses supported only local YPAOs (n = 55 YPAOs), 32 (42.7%) businesses supported only non-local YPAOs (n = 39 YPAOs), and five (6.7%) supported YPAOs in (n = 5 YPAOs) and outside (n = 5 YPAOs) the businesses’ area. Support of businesses for only local YPAOs across study areas ranged from 0 to 71.4% (M = 21.2, SD = 18.7%), and for only non-local YPAOs, the range was 0 to 30.0% (M = 12.4, SD = 11.2%). Figures 1, 2, and 3 provide descriptions from the business surveyed regarding the YPAOs they supported. The types of YPAOs varied significantly by their location [Χ²(4,94) = 9.9, p = 0.04] (Fig. 1). Local YPAOs receiving support from nearby businesses were more likely than non-local YPAOs to be nonprofit events or programs, for profit businesses, or faith-based programs. Schools outside the businesses’ neighborhood were more likely to be supported compared with schools within the businesses’ neighborhood. No faith-based YPAOs were supported outside the businesses neighborhood. Types of support and reasons for support were not associated with the location of the YPAOs being supported by small businesses (Χ²(2,94) = 2.7, p = 0.26 for type of support and Χ²(3,94) = 2.7, p = 0.44 for reason). As can be seen in Fig. 2, most support was monetary regardless of whether the YPAO was in or outside the businesses’ neighborhood. Good will was the most common reason sighted for supporting YPAOs in the businesses’ neighborhood, but for YPAOs supported outside the businesses’ neighborhood, both good will and being affiliated with the team or program were mentioned about equally by businesses as reasons for providing support (Fig. 3).

Fig. 1.

Types of YPAOs supported by YPAO location (adjusted residuals provided above bars)

Fig. 2.

Types of support provided by small businesses by YPAO location (adjusted residuals provided above bars)

Fig. 3.

Reasons small businesses support YPAOs by YPAO location (adjusted residuals provided above bars)

Of the116 non-park, potentially eligible YPAOs visited or called, 30 turned out to be ineligible (never or no longer offered YPAOs). At 38 (44.2%) of the 86 eligible YPAOs, interviews were completed with a qualified individual, 14 refused (16.3%), and 34 (39.5%) did not complete a survey after three attempts. Interviews, SOPARCs, and PARAs uncovered 219 amenities, 4,159 youth participants, and somewhat good quality amenities (M = 2.4, SD = 0.6) and incivilities of average severity (M = 2.0, SD = 0.5) (Table 1). There were a total of 229 sports teams and 286 PA classes available at YPAOs during the past year. On average per study area, 15.9 classes were offered per year and they ran on average for 41.2 weeks/year for 71.9 min per class. The average fee per unit offered was $115.

Table 1.

Description of YPAOs surveyed, observed, and audited per study area

	M(SD), sum
YPAOs/study area	5.7(3.2), 114
Amenities/study area	11.0(6.7), 219
Quality	2.4(.6)
Severity incivilities	2.0(.5)
Teams	12.7(7.5), 229
Classes/y Class length min Class # per y Class volume	15.9(17.8), 286 71.9(30.6) 41.2(15.2) 49,845(48,642)
Counts/study area	2.7(3.0), 76
Youth participants/YPAO/study area	39.3(27.9), 4,159
Fee amount per unit	115.3(125.5)

Provided in Table 2 are zero-order correlations between local YPAO characteristics and percentages of small businesses supporting local and non-local YPAOs. Support for local YPAOs was positively correlated with the study area’s number of YPAOs, quality of YPAOs, number of amenities per YPAO, sports teams operated per year, youth participants/YPAO, and negatively correlated with the severity of incivilities. All correlations between the percentage of businesses supporting only non-local YPAOs and local YPAO characteristics were non-significant. The percentage of businesses supporting only local YPAOs and characteristics of local YPAOs remained significant in regression models that controlled for study area demographics including proportion of the study area population under 18 years of age, median household income, and the proportion of the study area population who were minorities (Table 3). All models were significant and accounted for considerable proportions of the variance in YPAO characteristics ranging from 50% for amenity quality to 78.7% for youth participants per YPAO. Relatedly, the percentage of business in a given area supporting only local YPAOs accounted for high percentages of the unique variance in the YPAO characteristics (range 26.9% for quality to 74.5% for youth participants/YPAO).

Table 2.

Correlations between local YPAO characteristics and percentages of small businesses supporting local and non-local YPAOs

	% businesses supporting only local YPAOs	% of businesses supporting only non-local YPAOs
Total YPAOs	.85(< .001)	− .07(.76)
Amenities in area	.53(.02)	.04(.88)
Quality	.78(< .001)	− .20(.39)
Severity incivilities	− .72(< .001)	.14(.55)
Teams	.77(< .001)	− .15(.55)
Class volume	− .05(.84)	.23(.35)
Counts	.08(.80)	− .11(.72)
Youth participants/YPAO per study area	.85(.001)	− .01(.96)
Fee amount	.10(.71)	.29(.25)

Table 3.

Multiple linear regression results

Model*	Dependent	R2	F	t value	95% CI	Unique variance
1	Total YPAOs	.634	6.5***	4.8	.060, .150	60.8%
2	Amenities in area	.647	6.9***	4.7	.157, .420	59.1%
3	Quality	.50	3.8*	2.4	.001, .029	26.9%
4	Severity incivilities	.574	5.1**	− 4.3	− .032, − .011	55.1%
5	Teams	.623	5.4**	4.3	.159, .476	59.0%
6	Youth participants/YPAO	.787	13.9****	6.6	.157, .420	74.5%

^*All models controlled for study area population, percent under 18 years of age, and percent African American. *p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .005; ****p < .001

Characteristics of businesses not supporting YPAOs, supporting only local YPAOs, and supporting only non-local YPAOs are shown in Table 4. Businesses supporting only local YPAOs were at their location longer (p = 0.03), and they utilized more marketing forms (e.g., social media and print) (p = 0.002) than non-supporting businesses. These two groups had similar numbers of employees, budgets for community initiatives, number of locations, and advertising budgets. Compared with businesses supporting only non-local YPAOs, businesses supporting only local YPAOs were at their location longer (p = 0.04) and had fewer locations (p = 0.04). Average marketing expenses and total employees were 2.8 and 1.6 times higher, respectively, in businesses supporting only non-local YPAOs than those supporting only local YPAOs, but these differences and differences in budgets for community initiatives and marketing types were not statistically significant.

Table 4.

Characteristics of small businesses supporting and not supporting YPAO in the area where the business is located

	Non-supporters (n = 148)	Non vs. local YPAO supporters p values	Support only local YPAOs (n = 43)	Local YPAO supporters vs. non-local YPAO supporters p values	Support only non-local YPAOs (n = 32)
Total employees	13.8(30.5)	.85	12.9(15.9)	.21	20.4(30.0)
Marketing expenses	13,864(35,111)	.41	7,946(13,640)	.23	21,881(50,196)
Budget for community initiatives	851.4(6,917)	.89	998.7(2,340)	.90	1,071(2,526)
Years at location	16.6(17.7)	.03	23.5(22.0)	.04	14.7(16.0)
# locations	1.9(3.4)	.14	1.3(1.2)	.04	2.7(3.4)
Marketing types	1.8(1.4)	.002	2.5(1.2)	.71	2.7(1.6)

No significant differences in age or years owning the business were observed between owners of small businesses not supporting YPAOs and those supporting only local YPAOs (age in years M = 45.5, SD = 14.7 in non-supporters vs. M = 46.3, SD = 13.5 in local YPAO supporters; t =  − 0.49, p = 0.62 and years of ownership M = 12.7, SD = 11.8 in non-supporters vs. M = 13.5, SD = 12.5 in local YPAO supporters; t =  − 0.36, p = 0.72). Likewise, age and years owning the business did not differ between owners of businesses supporting only non-local YPAOs and those supporting only local YPAOs (age in years M = 45.6, SD = 13.3 non-local YPAO supporters; t = 0.84, p = 0.41 and years of ownership M = 13.2, SD = 11.7 non-local YPAO supporters; t = 0.09, p = 0.93). Provided in Table 5 are comparisons of additional owner characteristics. Owners of businesses supporting only local YPAOs versus those not supporting YPAOs were more likely to have a sports background (p = 0.001), children (p = 0.005), and believe small businesses should support YPAOs (p = 0.03). The only significant difference between owners of businesses supporting only local YPAOs and those supporting only non-local YPAOs was having a sports background. Owners of businesses supporting only local YPAOs were more likely to have a sports background (83.7% vs. 62.5%).

Table 5.

Characteristics of owners of small businesses supporting and not supporting YPAO in the area where the business is located

	Non-supporters (n = 148)	Non vs. local YPAO supporters p values	Support only local YPAOs (n = 43)	Local YPAO supporters vs. non-local YPAO supporters p values	Support only non-local YPAOs (n = 32)
BS or higher degree	50.0	.89	48.8	.92	50.0
Owner makes support decision	80.6	.49	85.4	.38	74.2
Sports background	56.8	.001	83.7	.04	62.5
Children	69.6	.005	90.7	.13	78.1
Believe should support YPAO	89.6	.03	100	.25	96.9
Live in business zip code	23.3	.75	20.9	.92	21.9
Male	63.3	.38	55.8	.56	62.5
African American	61.4	.12	74.4	.33	83.9

Discussion

Not having local YPAOs or having poor quality local YPAOs is one reason low-income, African American youth living in urban neighborhoods are relatively less physically active [24–26]. The current study indicates that the YPAO profile in an area (e.g., number and quality) is better when greater percentages of small businesses in the area provide support for the YPAOs in that area. Although it is likely support from businesses going to non-local YPAOs benefited those YPAOs, keeping their support local has added benefits for “brick-and-mortar” type businesses. This type of small business draws a considerable portion of their customers and revenue from the local area [32]. By supporting local YPAOs, they are advertising directly to their customers and presenting to them an image of a business that also cares about the people living in the area (their customers) [31]. Consequently, support of local YPAOs improves the efficiency of their marketing strategies [29]. The percentage of small businesses operating virtually is growing, and it is conceivable that they too could serve as a source of support for YPAOs, but this contention will need to be addressed by future studies. In addition, further work is needed to ascertain the impact small business support has on YPAOs outside the businesses’ area.

The study of small businesses as supporters of YPAOs is limited. Others have shown that more support was provided for YPAOs from newer, small businesses with larger operating and advertising budgets, and younger owners who had sports backgrounds and beliefs that small businesses should support YPAOs [17, 37]. Similar results were found in this study, except support for YPAOs was not correlated with the owner’s age and established, rather than newer businesses, were more likely to support YPAOs. The evidence as a whole suggests business and business owner characteristics factor into decisions regarding whether to support local YPAOs [17, ³⁸]. In addition, the business/owner characteristics and YPAO support display logical and practical linkages. For instance, YPAOs in a businesses’ area are tightly aligned with the businesses and owners, in that they are sports-related (owners have sports backgrounds), for youth (owners have children), local (businesses have fewer locations, thus are locally based), and represent alternative marketing venues (businesses favor diverse marketing methods). These linkages could be targeted to strengthen bonds between small businesses and local YPAOs, which in turn could increase the flow of support from small businesses to YPAOs.

The broader concepts of community initiative and event sponsorship (which could include YPAOs) have received greater attention from researchers, especially those investigating business, rather than health outcomes [29–32, 37, 39]. Konstantoulaki et al. [39] found small businesses follow a staged process when contributing to community initiatives. At first, the business decision to offer support is based on helping the local community, then by a desire to maximize their return on investment. Small business support for community initiatives also aligns with the stage of change model. Small businesses progress from not thinking about support (precontemplation) to having written policies regarding support (maintenance) [27]. In addition, humanitarian motives, where business owners value community health, have a greater influence on small business interest in wellness than do financial motives [37, 40]. In the current study, good will was mentioned by 50% of the businesses as the reason they supported YPAOs. This reason manifested as a desire to provide financial support for sports-related YPAOs. The concept of good will could have more influence on support for YPAOs near where a business operates because of a greater amount of feedback to the business concerning the impact of their support [38]. They hear from local customers or actually observe their contributions in action because of the close proximity of the YPAOs. Such feedback provided to small businesses concerning the impact of their support may be a critical component of efforts to increase and sustain their support [41].

Powell et al. [42] found greater densities of commercial YPAOs correlated with more frequent vigorous exercise among older, underserved adolescents. In contrast, Ries and colleagues [43] found that minority adolescents utilized public, rather than commercial YPAOs, and that public, not commercial YPAOs, were related with PA. According to Voss et al. [44], improving the provision of YPAOs may not lead to increased PA among low-income, minority youth because they engage in more unstructured PA when faced with a lack of YPAOs. The findings of the current study suggest otherwise. The YPAOs in the areas receiving more support from small business reported more youth participants. It is possible that some of the youth participants were not from the area where the YPAO operated. However, it is also possible that the quality of YPAOs examined in this study differed significantly enough from those in other studies to make a difference on participation. In addition, small business support was mainly financial, which could have been used to reduce costs, essentially making commercial YPAOs similar to public YPAOs. The influence of YPAOs on youth PA is a very important topic and one that has many angles that will need to be negotiated in future studies.

A primary strength of this study was the focus on African American communities. Youth from these communities are less physically active than their white peers [5–9]. Efforts to promote PA in African American youth are needed, and targeting environmental factors (quality and quantity of YPAOs) is highly recommended [45]. The current study suggests that small businesses could play a critical role in such efforts. In-person interviews were used to obtain all data from small businesses. Without visiting each business, it would be hard to interpret the results because the nature of the sample would be obscure. In other words, if surveys were mailed or phone calls made, we would never have been able to verify certain characteristics of the business (no physical location, not in business, unsafe, residence). Moreover, it has been our experience that personal visits improve response rates (versus phone) and allow for the collection of richer data given the opportunities for interviewers to guide the interviewees (versus mailed).

This study has limitations to consider when interpreting the results. Small business support was not matched to specific YPAOs. Rather data were aggregated at the block group level. It could be argued that other reasons, besides small businesses, were responsible for better YPAOs in an area. However, it is unlikely that another factor(s) was/were operating that resulted in better YPAOs and more business support, thus creating a false correlation between support and YPAOs. Further, there were only a limited number of YPAOs and we assessed nearly 60% of them. This would be considered an ample percentage to yield a representative sample, and thus, accurate descriptions of YPAOs in an area [46]. Data for the current study were derived from urban, low-income, African American neighborhoods situated on the east coast. While there are no known reasons these areas would differ from similar neighborhoods in other parts of the USA, nuances may exist that could alter how small businesses relate to local YPAOs. Lastly, no information was obtained from youth. They could provide important and insightful perceptions of YPAOs and how additional support could best be used to bolster their participation.

This study links a non-traditional source of support to YPAO characteristics, and youth participation in YPAOs. Historically, public health has been the responsibility of government agencies. A paradigm shift to include small businesses in efforts to promote PA could have multiple benefits [47, 48]. Businesses would develop more efficient and enhanced marketing strategies resulting in greater revenue and health agencies, through small businesses, could potentially extend their reach and effectiveness, YPAO providers would have a generous source of funds to improve programming, and youth would gain access to better quality YPAOs. The results of this study can assist in intervention design to encourage small business support for local YPAOs especially in low-income, African American urban neighborhoods.

Author Contribution

All authors contributed to the study conceptions and design. Data were collected by MW and KK. Data analysis was performed by RS and IO. The first draft of the manuscript was written by RS and SH, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Data Availability

Data and material are available on request from the corresponding author [RRS].

Declarations

Ethics Approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of the University of Delaware (March 18, 2019, #1162247–8).

Conflicts of interests

The authors have no relevant financial or nonfinancial interests to disclose.