“That $7,500 is saving us right now,” said Jessica Quinhones, in reference to a recent CDBG-CV microbusiness grant awarded to Around the Corner coffee shop.
Recent Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) were made possible by the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, as were new grants for nonprofits and small businesses born of the SPARK program, which are detailed in more depth below.
Quinhones said that her $7,500 in grant funds “means a couple months more of keeping our doors open,” and until business picks up during the holiday season.
“It allows us to move forward. … get back on track.”
Getting back on track has been difficult at the coffee shop lately, and things have been especially tough since people are no longer receiving government stimulus benefits, noted Quinhones.
“We’re having more trouble now than we were two months ago,” she said.
“We aren’t an essential business,” Quinhones added. “When people cut something, it’s coffee.”
As for how the grant funds would be spent, Quinhones said they’d mostly go to cover payroll, along with “a couple of big, outstanding bills.”
The overall application wasn’t too difficult, she remarked, save the challenges produced by not having any previous experience with grants.
The hardest part was “gathering up all we’d paid for,” in terms of invoices, Quinhones said.
“The more organized you are, the easier it’s going to be.”
Quinhones also recommended that other local entities pursue COVID-19 relief programs born of the CARES Act.
“Anybody, if they’re struggling right now,” she said, “I would definitely tell them to try.”
“Might as well throw your hat in the ring.”
READY to throw?
