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Arcadia Awards Grants to Small Businesses Impacted by COVID-19
Arcadia Weekly Jun 18, 2020
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The City of Arcadia recently held a lottery to award grants to 49small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 Small BusinessGrant Program, under the new Arcadia Works! Program, is dispersing $245,000 inCommunity Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. Grants of $5,000 each,primarily provided under the federally funded CARES Act to assist with COVID-19relief, are being directly awarded to small businesses in Arcadia.
Hundreds of businesses applied for the grant program and the needis deep throughout the community. Recipients included the full range ofbusiness types, from small retailers, to restaurants, to spas and salons, tooffices that have been in Arcadia for decades. Mayor Roger Chandlerparticipated in the lottery with Development Services Department staff. “TheCity received an overwhelming response to the COVID-19 Small Business GrantProgram,” said Chandler. “It is important that we do everything we can tosupport small businesses during these challenging times.”
The response from the Arcadia community has been overwhelming andseveral grant recipients have shared their feedback. “I am looking forward tosharing the great news with our employees,” said Mariza Gatdula from ArcadiaDentistry, who will be using the grant towards helping retain employees.
“We have been a small women-owned business for over 20 years inArcadia,” said Cheryl Marino of Cake Sisters. “It is so nice to see the supportthe City has given small businesses during this pandemic. This grant will helpalleviate some of the stress caused by the mandatory closures,” she added.
“We are appreciative of the local business community’s interest inthe grant program, and we sincerely hope this funding is helpful in keepingthese businesses active and vibrant,” said Jason Kruckeberg, assistant citymanager/development services director. “The COVID-19 Small Business Grantsrepresent a concerted effort by the City of Arcadia to provide direct relief toas many local businesses as possible and is just one of the steps the City istaking to support our small business community.” In addition to the grants, theCity is providing other local resources and initiatives, including businesslicense renewal payment extensions, extension of development deadlines,business assistance ombudsman services, allowances for additional outdoorseating areas for dining, and a partnership with the Arcadia Chamber ofCommerce for business outreach and marketing.
The City is hopeful that more CDBG funding will become availableto be used for additional grants in the near future, and is exploring otherfunding opportunities as well. “We plan to keep all applications on file shouldfuture funding become available,” said Kruckeberg. “I believe that this directfinancial assistance is the best way to help. Unfortunately, there is no quickfix to the economic impacts of COVID-19 but we are here to support our businesscommunity in any way we can,” he added.
Visit ArcadiaCA.gov/LocalBusiness for more information, and stay tuned for additional announcements in the coming weeks. For any questions or assistance, contact the Development Services Department by phone at (626) 574-5409 or by email at DSD@ArcadiaCA.gov.
