Gary City Councilman William Godwin and Kiki Smith, a Gary small business owner
Legacy Foundation and Indiana Black Expo put $50,000 in COVID relief fund
Contributed By:The 411 News
For small businesses in East Chicago and Gary that need it the most
The Legacy Foundation and Indiana Black Expo are putting their philanthropy to work where the need is greatest. Together, the nonprofits have created a $50,000 grant fund dedicated to women and minority-owned businesses in the cities of Gary and East Chicago.
The COVID-19 Small Business Relief Fund was announced Wednesday during a press conference at the Gary/Chicago Airport and applications for the one-time grants ranging from $2500 to $5000 are available on the Legacy Foundation website.
These businesses were too small for the CARES (Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security) Act and its loan programs.
Carolyn Saxton, Legacy's president said, "We are thinking about the small businesses that were hanging on by a thread before the pandemic and the impact this has had on them. We're thinking about small businesses that were thriving, had to lay off staff and difficulties they have experienced."
"Together, we want to be a resource for businesses who experienced loss and the businesses that continue to experience that loss," Saxton said.
Among the loan requirements, the grant applicant must be a representative of a for-profit privately held small business with 1-25 employees with principal place of business in Gary or East Chicago.
The business must be registered in the State of Indiana.
The business must have experienced revenue loss and business distress due to COVID-19.
The business must have been established on or before January 1, 2020.
The business must have been mandated by federal, state, or local government to reduce or close services and/or have a demonstrated reduction in sales revenue due to the loss of business income related to COVID-19.
The business must provide written justification of economic loss or injury caused as a result of COVID-19. Justification can be sales or income from a previous year compared to the current period. Documentation must be provided of the reduction in sales revenues.
The business cannot be home-based; it must occupy a commercial space.
Businesses in the hardest hit industries should apply. Some of those identified in the grant application are restaurant, retail, hair and beauty salons, barbers, day spas, saunas, tattoo shops, laundry and cleaning services, fitness centers and gyms, funeral services, event spaces and event services.
Helping minority-owned small businesses was the purpose when Indiana Black Expo was founded 50 years ago, said IBE President and CEO Tanya McKenzie. "We were created to match small black businesses with prime corporations in areas of supplier and capital development."
The partnership with the Legacy Foundation is their first.
IBE is a partner with the State of Indiana to do small business outreach to help those businesses take advantage of opportunities under the CARES Act, PPP and SBA loan programs. Outreach includes counseling and training for small businesses so they will be able to overcome the challenges of COVID-19.
Saxton said the Legacy Foundation's assistance in helping businesses with the PPP loan application process saved 300 jobs and secured close to $3 million funding for those organizations.
Application for the grants starts with visiting www.legacyfdn.org and creating an account to login to the Legacy Foundation Small Business Relief Fund Grant application. The deadline is 5pm on October 7, 2020.
Funding decisions will be announced on October 23.
Story Posted:09/17/2020
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