Today, Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan has announced the 100 Akron businesses who will each be receiving a one-time $10,000 grant to help offset costs and negative impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding is coming from the City’s allocation of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars.
“Akron's small businesses have endured so much over the past several years to keep their doors open and to continue serving this community," said Mayor Horrigan. "I'm proud to be able to invest into these businesses with our ARPA dollars and help them bounce back from the impacts of the pandemic.”
“We hear stories every day of how our small businesses stepped up through the height of the pandemic to take care of their customers, their employees, and their communities,” said Director of Strategic Development, Catey Breck. “These grants are our way of mitigating the fallout they experienced from COVID-19 and putting these once in a generation funds back into the community. We’re excited to support our small businesses in this way.”
Of the 100 grant recipients, 43 are minority-owned businesses and 40 are women-owned businesses. They represent a variety of industries including bars and restaurants, healthcare, auto repair, barbershops, entertainment venues, construction companies, and more.
Full List of Small Business Grant Recipients:
| 2 Live Music
| Full Service Logistics, LLC
| Scanlon & Elliott |
| A & B Tent Rental Inc. | Gear Star American Performance Transmissions, Inc. | Smith Godios Sorensen Inc.
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| A AND A VENDING, INC. | Good Life Body Piercing and Fine Jewelry | Slaughter Tire Service Inc |
| AKRON FAMILY BUSINESS | Great Lakes Premier Distribution | South Akron Awning Co. |
| Akron Honey Company LTD | Green Light Auto Sales | SPARKS INVESTMENT INC. |
| Akron Legends Barbershop | Hamad's on Main | SpeedPro Akron North |
| AKRON-CANTON INTERNATIONAL FORWARDING | In A Minute Ltd. | Square Nightclub |
| Allegiance Insurance Group LLC | Inda Blatch-Geib | Subway |
| American Family Insurance | JILLY'S MUSIC ROOM LLC | Summit County Classics Inc |
| American Medical Transport | Kane Investments LLC | Summit Tax & Insurance Services |
| Angels on Earth Health Care Services | Kids Academy 2 | Sweet Modern LLC |
| ARLINGTON STREET MUFFLER LLC | KLEEN IN MOTION LLC | Tear-Ez |
| A to Z Auto and Truck Repair | L & H Home Care | T.R. Fields & Associates, Inc. |
| Backup Power Solutions, Inc. | Laplace Events, LLC | Technology Management Solutions, Inc. |
| Barley House | LOVING HEARTS HELPING HANDS | The Akron Plating Co., Inc. |
| BARMACY | M&L EQUIPMENT COMPANY | The Brat Boulevard Corporation |
| Baxters LLC | Marques | The Culinary Chameleon |
| Beyond Expectations Barber College | Mason Construction and Concrete LLC | The Growing Patch LLC |
| Blue Leaf Apothecary LLC | Mint Hair Collective LLC | The Hatterie Inc. |
| Caring Angels Healthcare LLC | Mr Dans Daycare LLC | The Score Draft Room |
| CLARKTEL/TELE-COMMUNICATIONS, INC. | Nando’s auto care LLC | Transit Transportation Services, LLC |
| CNJ Renovations LLC | NOMZ, LLC | Twisted Tomato |
| Coast to Coast Caulking & Waterproofing LLC | ORLEANS AVENUE ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION | Uncle Bacon's BBQ LLC |
| Design Perspective LLC | Paolucci Law, LLC | VIGEO GARDENS |
| Diamond Daleesa Accessories | Polymet Recovery, LLC | Westside Masonry, LLC |
| Diamond Grille | Pritt Entertainment Group, LLC | White Glove Cleaning Solutions LLC |
| Dot Org Solutions LLC | R&S Cleaning Solutions | Wilkinson Funeral Home |
| Duo Tax Services LLP | Rasheed F. Nemer, M.D. | WORDS BY MOM |
| Eddies Famous Cheesesteaks | Red Point Digital, LLC | Yoga Squared |
| Eighty-Three Brewery | ROSAS PLAYHOUSE INC | Your Virtual Solution |
| El Papa’s Mexican Bistro | ROT SORN | Zeber-Martell Studio, Inc. |
| Emidio & Sons | Rubber City Clothing | |
| FARMER BOY RESTAURANT | S 3 Technologies, LLC | |
| FG SOLUTIONS, LLC | S4 Mobile Laboratories LLC | |
| FIRST GLANCE IMAGINING, INC. |
In order to qualify, businesses had to meet the following requirements:
- Be a legal for-profit business;
- Must be located within a Qualified Census Tract (QCT) in Akron;
- Must have 2 to 50 workers on payroll (including full-time or part-time employees, and owners actively working in the business);
- Be current with income tax and property tax obligations for the business with the City of Akron and County of Summit;
- In operation in the City of Akron on or before January 1, 2020;
- Must be able to describe how the business has been negatively impacted due to a reduction in business activity or increase in supply chain costs related to COVID-19 pandemic or related public health restrictions and orders.
Allowable uses of the funding include:
- Rent or mortgage costs for the business location;
- Payroll and benefits;
- Utility costs for the business location;
- Investments to meet reopening guidelines, such as purchasing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other workplace improvements directly related to mitigating the spread of COVID-19;
- Remote access equipment and connectivity, such as computers, software, printers, and/or online meeting platforms for employers to enhance social distancing; and/or technology that enables businesses to develop and manage service/product delivery to enhance social distancing.
- Brent Wesley, owner of Akron Honey Company:
"With more funds like this available, we can move faster in buying the equipment we need in order to increase in scale."
- Hannah Hamad, owner of Hamad’s on Main:
“Maintaining a small family business downtown after the pandemic sometimes feels like being a captain of a slowly sinking ship. Receiving the Small Business Relief Grant has finally given us a shore in sight. We are grateful to have been given this opportunity to help keep us downtown where we belong. We will be able to pay off debt accrued while trying to survive the past few years and will be able to move forward with a more hopeful future. Additionally, receiving the grant has allowed us to focus on our son’s heart surgery and Jon’s recovery without additional stress. It’s feels good to know our city is here for us.”
- Nicole Woodford-Shell, owner of Yoga Squared:
“We are so honored and grateful to receive this grant from the city we call home. The pandemic created new challenges for the already difficult small business sphere, and the support we’ve received from the City of Akron has been instrumental in our ability to keep moving forward! We have dedicated our lives to providing services that support the well-being of our neighbors and we’re thankful to be surrounded by folks who recognize our value and have our backs!”
Original source can be found here.
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