A second round of funding aimed at providing coronavirus relief to local businesses through a more equitable and inclusive lens will be awarded as early as next week. But before the applications are reviewed and the recipients determined, one last push to raise money for the grants is getting a boost from two community members.
Through Friday, donations to the Strongmont 2 Fund— the second iteration of the fund and campaign developed by the Advance Longmont Economic Partners to support small businesses and help mitigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic — will be matched thanks to Deborah and Wayne Simmons.
The Simmonses have pledged to match up to $10,000 in contributions. Their generosity is poised to help the fund, which will distribute grants to businesses owned by people of color, reach its $100,000 goal.
Eric Hozempa, executive director of the Longmont Community Foundation, managing entity of the fund, said the fund was at $90,000 on Tuesday. That amount includes $5,000 in contributions being matched by the Simmonses.
Deborah Simmons is founder of The Reentry Initiative, a local nonprofit that helps people reenter society after incarceration. Through various community roles, she said she has seen the importance of recognizing and celebrating the minority community. And as a founder of a nonprofit, she said she also has seen firsthand the value of grants from the Community Foundation that go beyond dollars and cents.
Through her role as a board member with the Community Foundation Boulder County and Engaged Latino Parents Advancing Student Outcomes, better known as ELPASO, Simmons said she has come to see “how neglected the minority community feels and has been.”
She said she believes that neglect stems from a lack of understanding rather than malice, as well as a lack of exposure to the challenges faced by people of color. And while she said $10,000 “hardly is enough” to address the needs of the number of minority-owned businesses in the community, “maybe we can fill in the gaps and keep them going.”
Strongmont 2 was announced in June after the first round of funding — $223,000 disbursed to 23 local businesses in $10,000 grants — failed to include any businesses owned by people of color. In the wake of that realization, Hozempa issued a letter of apology for the process that excluded them. Strongmont 2 included a new application (in English and Spanish) created in partnership with a diverse group of community volunteers and organizations; the opportunity for applicants to share their businesses with the community through a short video; and tutorial Zoom calls or videos to answer questions about completing applications.
Simmons praised Hozempa for the second Strongmont initiative as well as his apology for the lack of equity in the first round of funding, calling it just a “small example” of what can be done to “be more inclusive of all members of our community. We want to understand their challenges, so those who are in a position to help can do so.”
Shiquita Yarbrough is chair of the committee that will select the Strongmont 2 grant recipients. She, too, said the process is vital to recognizing the challenges of minority-owned businesses as well as to rectifying the omissions in the first round of funding, calling it a positive step for the community and the future of Longmont.
She said she appreciates that the lack of equity in the first application process was called out and corrected, adding that owning up to the mistake is one step and making it right is another.
Strongmont 2 also is valuable because of the way it can help highlight the breadth of businesses in the city, Yarbrough said. Home-based businesses, for example, that don’t have traditional storefronts, but whose Longmont-based owners offer services and skills state and nationwide.
“It is important that we highlight these people right here in our community who are making a difference,” said Yarbrough, who is director of community engagement and equity at YWCA Boulder County.
Particularly striking to her is the number of businesses that were shuttered or had to reduce their hours or offerings but still stepped up to help the community as the pandemic took hold.
“I’m really proud of all the businesses in Longmont, the ones that through COVID provided resources for their community,” she said citing food donations and other similar aid efforts. “That just made me so proud, they’re closed but still doing things for their community, saying ‘we’re still here and we still think about you.’ That’s really near to my heart and shows you how strong Longmont businesses are and the sense of community we have here in Longmont.”
Yarbrough with the help of Berenice Garcia-Tellez, economic sustainability specialist with Longmont Public Works & Natural Resources, reviewed the 25 applications received for Strongmont 2 funding, with Garcia-Tellez translating Spanish applications to English. The selection committee, comprised solely of people of color, will meet Friday and again on Monday to review the applications, with an announcement of recipients hoped for no later than next week, Yarbrough said.
The committee will take the time to be thoughtful, though. “We don’t want to make a mistake. We want to make sure we’re looking through an equitable lens as we are choosing. We want to make sure we don’t have to come back and apologize again,” she said.
No matter the recipients, Yarbrough said she believes Strongmont 2 can serve as a springboard to greater community support for minority-owned businesses and their role in Longmont.
“The key thing is we need to start to highlight our businesses of color in the community. If we start patronizing these businesses, take our kids to these businesses, kids get to see people of color in different ways and in relaxed settings. … We need to expose our children, our community to people of color so we can have more of an understanding.”
