Wells Fargo has announced a $2.6 million small business recovery grant to help minority owned businesses in Southern California stay afloat amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The grant is part of the bank’s Open for Business Fund program which launched as a $400 million small business recovery effort across the U.S. to help entrepreneurs recover and rebuild.
Pacific Coast Regional Small Business Development Corp. used $2.1 million of the money to establish a People of Color Business Elevation Fund to help struggling minority-owned businesses. The fund is providing low-rate, micro-disaster loans of up to $50,000 to eligible and impacted small businesses.
Those interested in applying can visit pcr.lendwithspark.com/widget/leadframe/?version=16.
Genesis LA will deploy its $550,000 award to provide flexible and forgivable loans to minority led businesses across Los Angeles County. Historically, two-thirds of Genesis borrowers have been woman and/or minority owed or controlled enterprises.
Mark Robertson, Pacific Coast’s president and CEO, said the funds are sorely needed.
“Our organization is able to help businesses pivot and get through this pandemic,” he said. “Across Southern California, we’ve seen economic disparities among black and brown communities widened as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.”
Dulan’s Soul Food Kitchen is one of the early loan recipients. With three Los Angeles-area locations — two Dulan’s Soul Food Kitchen eateries and and a third called Dulan’s on Crenshaw — the restaurant chain has been hit hard by the health crisis.
“It’s been a roller coaster,” owner Greg Dulan said. “Our sales dropped by more than 70% after the first shutdown. We didn’t know what to do.”
With the help of Pacific Coast’s People of Color Business Elevation Fund, Dulan’s has pivoted to a new model that also includes food trucks. One serves hot food and the other is a cold truck to keep supplies temperature-controlled.
“I have never seen this kind of access to capital and the amounts that are available to me and other small businesses,” Dulan said. “Mobile restaurants won’t be as risky as brick-and-mortar restaurants. I can pull up to a spot and then go somewhere else.”
Gregg Sherkin, Wells Fargo’s senior vice president of social impact and sustainability, said many minority-owned small businesses in Southern California are struggling.
“L.A. County is home to more than 1.3 million small businesses and many are diversity owned,” he said. “We know these people provide the majority of jobs, but tens of thousands of these enterprises are at a significant risk and many are located in moderate- to low-income communities. We want to do whatever we can to support them.”
Robertson said Pacific Coast will target minority communities with much needed grants, loans, coaching and technical assistance to end the disparities around business ownership, job creation and the development of generational wealth.
“We could not be more grateful for Wells Fargo’s support of our vision for a program specific to the needs of the African-American and LatinX businesses,” he said. “About 40% of African-American businesses and 35% of Latino-owned businesses have closed nationwide and some of those may not come back.”
Using his food trucks, Dulan plans to cater TV and movie productions.
“I got a call from Netflix to cater some of their shows, and that’s never happened before,” he said. “Trucks will be in more demand because of the food delivery capability. I feel that by mid-2021 the economy will come roaring back.”
This post first appeared on ocregister.com
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