The Longmont Community Foundation is announcing the recipients of Strongmont 2 funds Friday afternoon.
Twenty-three small businesses will share in $100,600 being awarded in the second round of Strongmont grant funding, according to Eric Hozempa, executive director of the Longmont Community Foundation.
The Strongmont program was created to provide relief to businesses in Longmont impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The focus for the second round of funding is on providing support to businesses owned by people of color. Such businesses need a lot of help and it’s hard for them to apply for other types of assistance, said Berenice Garcia-Tellez, a member of the Strongmont 2 selection committee and economic sustainability specialist at the city of Longmont.
The application and selection efforts were led by a committee of community members and leaders who sought to undertake an equitable approach to awarding the grants, which was missing in the first round of funding awarded in June.
The focus of Strongmont 2 funds being placed on businesses of color came about when the Longmont Community Foundation realized none of the 23 businesses awarded funds in the first round were minority owned.
In late June, Hozempa issued a letter apologizing for the oversight stating, “put simply, I'm guilty of hubris, and I apologize. I assumed we would have a simple, straightforward process that would just work ... but that was not the case. I did not recognize the inherent biases with the Strongmont grant process, and how that would affect who was selected.”
Garcia-Tellez on Friday said, “Todos (los negocios) están sufriendo ahora, pero estos negocios se enfrenta a desafíos más allá del COVID-19. No tienen buena relación con los bancos o han tenido experiencias de racismo o falta de capital social. Los miembros de el comité lo tuvieron todo esto en cuenta … muchos negocios proveen un valor a la comunidad pero no decimos lo que estamos generando.” (“All businesses are struggling right now, but these business have challenges that go beyond COVID-19. They don’t have a good relationship with banks or have experienced racism or don’t have social capital. The members of the committee took all of this into consideration … many businesses provide value to the community but we don’t say what they are generating.”)
For Strongmont 2, the Community Foundation created a new application process in both English and Spanish. Videos produced on business owners’ smartphones or tablets were accepted in lieu of written applications, and application instruction videos were available in English and Spanish.
Juan Grijalva, owner of Taqueria Madero, a Mexican restaurant that has been in the area for seven years, expressed gratitude for an easy and straightforward application process.
“Se me hizo muy muy fácil, fueron preguntas muy sencillas. Le hablé a mi contadora para que me diera los reportes que necesitaba y fue todo, yo creo que fue unos 15 minutos de la aplicación,” he said. (“Everything was really really easy, very simple questions. I spoke with my accountant to get all of the reports I needed and that was it. I think it took me about 15 minutes.”)
Grijalva said he has been needing the money to fix issues with ventilation as well as with marketing efforts, both of which will continue to improve working conditions for his employees as well as his reach in the community.
“Nunca pensé que hubiera tanta ayuda para la gente como lo he visto aquí, es muy diferente a lo que uno está impuesto. Aquí hay mucha confianza con la gente,” Grijalva said. (“I never imagined that there was so much help for people the way I have seen here, it is very different than what one is used to. There is a lot of trust among people here.”)
Hozempa expressed appreciation for individual donations and business contributions, such as those from Seagate and High Plains Bank, which helped the Community Foundation reach its $100,000 goal for Strongmont 2, and urged the community to continue engaging with businesses of color across the community.
“Look at this list and think of all these businesses. I encourage people to get out and expand their boundaries, sometimes I think we get in a rut and get stuck in the same places,” he said. “I encourage people to go out there and experience things that are new and different.”
Strongmont funding came from community donations.
For more information on the campaign, click here.
Strongmont 2 funds were awarded to:
Aesthetic Expressions LLC DBA Made U Look Lash & Beauty Bar, $2,800
Blackat Video Productions, $2,900
Blue Agave LLC DBA Hacienda Jalisco, $2,000
Blue Corn Tacos, $8,200
Full Circle Yoga LLC, $4,900
GStrongRobAssociates, LLC, $2,300
Lamplighter Cleaners, $3,800
MasterClean Carpet CO LLC, $5,000
Mini Money Management, $2,000
Mon-Rae Facility Services, LLC, $4,000
Noa Noa Fitness Club, $4,900
Oasis Fresh Fruits and More, $7,900
Old Town Marketplace, $2,800
Pistachio Cafe Bakery, $7,200
Rosario's Peruvian Restaurant, $4,700
Soul Healing Systems LLC DBA Functional Living, $3,400
Success Tax Services LLC, $2,000
Summit Tacos, $6,800
Taqueria Madero, $6,000
Tex Mex Bar, LLC, $4,400
The Speakeasy, $4,400
Trujillos Associates LLC DBA Taco Star, $5,800
Volcan Azul LLC, $2,400