With funding from Wells Fargo, LISC Jacksonville is encouraging tiny organizations survive the pandemic with grants and zero-fascination financial loans.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Tiny companies are the backbone of our economy, building tens of millions of careers across the nation. The US Small Enterprise Administration claims there are much more than 31 million compact corporations in the country.
As corporations struggle to get back on their ft article-lockdown, there are some organizations hoping to preserve them afloat.
Jacksonville was once referred to as the 2nd-finest city in the nation for little organizations. That was back in 2015.
LISC Jacksonville is continuing to foster the professional-compact small business setting, especially in city main neighborhoods, by giving $500,000 in grants and financial loans. Bark on Park is a person business enterprise that has them to thank.
“I labored for so lots of various (employment),” operator Jamee Yocum-Pittman reported. “I went to university for art. I worked for a health care company. I was a bartender at a person position and I was like I just can’t. I want to do a thing of my very own.”
Yocum-Pittman claims she was 24 yrs previous when she opened Bark on Park in 5 Points and at some point Bark on Main in Springfield. When the pandemic shut her company down for a month, she says offering up was not an solution.
The business was down 75%.
Her spouse and co-owner, Matt Pittman, states they pivoted turning to on-line income as considerably as they could.
“To say that COVID experienced a major impact on our little businesses is a large understatement,” Pittman said.
In some cases you will need some more help in the kind of a $10,000 grant. After 9 months of scraping by, they been given a grant from LISC Jacksonville that they say is everyday living-shifting.
“No strings connected,” claimed Chuck Shealy with LISC Jacksonville. “We know you‘ve had complications and we are striving to support out.”
Shealy describes LISC Jacksonville as an group that connects smaller corporations in city core parts to cash. This $500,000 arrived from Wells Fargo.
“Businesses are the heartbeats of our communities,” mentioned Valerie Jenkins with Wells Fargo. “When they are thriving, so are the communities exactly where they reside and function.”
Jenkins discussed that the cash comes from the $400 million dollar Open For Business enterprise fund that was developed in 2020.
The cash that was offered to LISC Jacksonville has been split up into two: grants and zero-desire financial loans. Altogether it has assisted 28 firms in Jacksonville.
