Mayor Horrigan Announces $1M Awarded to 100 Small Businesses in Akron
Ohio Pen/10202023

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City of Akron Press Release
From the desk of City of Akron Press Office
Published: 11-23-2022

Akron, Ohio, Nov. 23, 2022 — 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.	Shifrin Newman Smith Inc.
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.

To see a full list of requirements please click here.

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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.

Comments from grant recipients:

• 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!"

For further information, contact:
Stephanie Marsh
Chief Communications Officer
Phone: 330-375-2754
E-mail: [email protected]

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