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Mayor Jenny Durkan Announces Initial 250 Grantees of the Small Business Stabilization Fund, Calls on Private Sector and Philanthropy to Help Support Future Grants

Office of Economic Development Received Nearly 9,000 Applications for the Fund; Comcast Donates $50,000 to Support Next Round of Small Business Stabilization Fund

SEATTLE (April 13, 2020) – Mayor Jenny A. Durkan announced the initial 250 grantees of the City’s $2.5 million Small Business Stabilization Fund. The fund provides $10,000 grants to small businesses financially impacted by COVID-19. Nearly 9,000 small businesses applied for the first round of the City’s Small Business Stabilization Fund, demonstrating that the need goes far beyond what the City can provide without further support from the private sector, philanthropic partners and economic relief from the federal government. With loans and grants available at the state and federal level, OED has also created a comprehensive resource page for workers and small businesses impacted by COVID-19 and is providing technical assistance to support our small businesses.

Cities across the country, including San Francisco, Atlanta, and New York City, have reached out to learn more about the Stabilization Fund and try to replicate this model in their own communities. On April 1, Mayor Durkan signed into law her legislation to ensure the City of Seattle can accept donations, including for initiatives like supporting small businesses through stabilization funding and for families via food vouchers.

Comcast has donated $50,000 to address the urgent need for future rounds of the Stabilization Fund. This investment will help ensure the Office of Economic Development (OED) can continue providing direct capital assistance to small business owners struggling to support their employees and stay open during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interested individuals and organizations can donate to the Stabilization Fund by emailing covidpledge@seattle.gov.

“At the City, we’re doing everything we can locally to support our small businesses and workers during this unprecedented moment in history. Working together in the early days of this crisis, we quickly created this $2.5 million Small Business Stabilization Fund, which has become a model for cities across our country. With nearly 9,000 small businesses applying to the first round of the Stabilization Fund, it’s clear that the need far outweighs what the City can provide to our small businesses,” said Mayor Durkan. “I am grateful to Comcast for their commitment to help fund further rounds of the Stabilization Fund and support the small businesses that make Seattle the best city in the country. I urge all those who are able to support future rounds of this fund, and also support our small businesses by ordering pickup, delivery, or shopping online during this unprecedented time. While we continue to do everything we can at the City level to support small businesses, I will continue to advocate at the state and federal level to ensure our region receives the economic relief we need, both now and as we recover.”

The $2.5 million expanded Small Business Stabilization Fund is funded by federal Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). The federal government requires eligible CDBG small business awardees to have five employees or less and for the business owner to be at or below 80 percent of the Area Median Income. In addition, the Mayor directed OED to focus outreach on historically underserved small businesses, and nearly 80 percent of the 250 grantees identify as small business owners of color. After screening for eligibility, businesses were categorized as being from high or low-displacement areas of the City, and then awardees from each displacement category were selected by lottery. Weighting the investments towards high-displacement risk areas allowed the City to target businesses that are more likely to experience economic shocks. OED received around 80 applications when the department launched the first Stabilization Fund back in January 2020.

“The city’s initial investment in the Small Business Stabilization Fund is being used by micro-businesses to support their employees and to ensure they can stay in business during this crisis. We hope these grants give Seattle’s small businesses a lifeline, so they can re-open quickly once the immediate crisis is over and be part of the city’s recovery,” said Councilmember Andrew J. Lewis, and member of the Small Business Recovery Task Force. 

“The city’s grants to micro-businesses will help buffer the crisis, but the city must do more to ensure local businesses can remain in their storefronts and are not pushed out during this crisis. When we keep local businesses in place, it means we can keep dollars and jobs in the local economy, which in turn builds community wealth,” said Councilmember Tammy J. Morales, a member of the Small Business Recovery Task Force. “I want to thank the Office of Economic Development for moving quickly to distribute these grants, and am hopeful the next round of grants, including those provided by our private partners, will focus on micro-businesses owned by minorities and immigrants and refugees.”

“Villa Escondida is a family-owned restaurant, and we are proud to support our local community and economy here in Belltown,” said Jose Perez, Owner of Villa Escondida. “Our small business was hit hard when many downtown workers began to work from home. This grant from the City will help us keep our staff on payroll and will help us increase our marketing to get more takeout and delivery orders.”

“I am incredibly proud of my OED team, including those from other departments who lent their time and energy towards this effort. What normally takes months, sometimes years, to develop and perfect, our team dedicated themselves to complete in a matter of weeks. This dedication comes from a sense of community and solidarity with business owners who are working people just like us. Though our funds were limited, we saw firsthand the kind of impact these grants can make – from being able to pay staff to simply keeping families afloat who relied on their business for household income. This would not have been possible without the small business development team who boldly paved the way towards a new way of thinking about how we support our communities,” said OED Small Business Development director Pedro Gomez.

“We recognize the important role that small businesses play in our economy and our community. Now more than ever they need our support and we are pleased to do our part,” said Rodrigo Lopez, Regional Senior Vice President of the Comcast Washington region. “We also know that internet service is essential and are working hard every day to ensure that our network is helping both businesses and residents across of our community keep connected.”

The City also recently launched the #SupportSeattleSmallBiz map, which helps residents find small businesses providing takeout or delivery in their neighborhood. The map allows users to search for open small businesses in their neighborhood and navigate directly to a business’ website or third-party delivery service page. As of April 8, 1,198 small businesses are included in the map, which has been viewed 185,000 times. If you’re a business owner interested in adding your information to the #SupportSeattleSmallBiz map, please contact the City at supportsmallbiz@seattle.gov.  

Mayor Durkan and the City of Seattle have worked to implement a series of actions that support artists, nonprofits, small businesses, and workers, including:  

The full list of grantees for the initial round of the Small Business Stabilization Fund are listed below:

30 Minute Hit Dante’s Inferno Dogs Lashes a la Mode Roq La Rue Gallery
A DJ and a Cook Dao’s Kitchen Lily´s Salvadorean Catering Rose’s & Siga African Hair Braiding
AAMCO Transmissions of Seattle DeliNoMore Lisa Tsujikawa Noji Inc S&S 23 Beauty salon
Abdul Gafoor’s Halal Meat & Deli Delish Ethiopian Cuisine Lou Henry Hoover S/T Hooligans
Ace Barbershop Detour Espresso LT Design Sabando Design
Acme Barbershop Dim Sum House Inc Lucke By Keisha Sabor Delicioso
Adarash Market Diva Nails Lucky Chinese Restaurant Safari Njema Restaraunt
Addis Market Dong Thap Noodles Luna Azul Salon 206
Al Shukri Bakery East African Grocery Luso Food & Wine Salon Adidez LLC
All in the Cut Barbershop El Parche Colombiano Restaurant Madison Avenue Salon Salon Filament
Alyssa McCowan, Barber Emazing Photography Magus Books Salon Nouveau
Ambakity Cocina Mexicana Emma’s BBQ Mala & Satay SD Computer Repair Inc
Amina Family Childcare EriStar Building Maintenance LLC Maleda Grocery & Deli Seattle Tailor
Amy’s Merkato Ernesto Ybarra Original Art Mama Luna LLC SELEUŠS Chocolates
An Nam Pho F Rock Clothing Market Magic & Novelty Inc Sell Phone Store
Andro Barbershop Fade Master Marrakesh Moroccan Restaurant of Seattle Serenity Housekeeping LLC
Arcaro Boxing Gym Fancy Massive Monkees Studio: The Beacon Seward Park Market
Ascend Nail Lounge Fine Tuning McComb Sound Shear Finesse Barbershop
Asian Star Frank’s Barber and Beauty Salon Meskel Ethiopian Restaurant Simply Soulful
Asian Street Food French Mornings Preschool Milan Hair & Spa Sirena AGLW LLC
Athena’s Food Truck Full Tilt Columbia City Mimi’s Bakery & Flower Slice Box Pizzas
Athina Grill Geni’s Ethiopian Corner Mjod Enterprises SoleMates
Atlantis Studio & Gallery Girls Gone BBQ Modern Japanese Cuisine Somtam Thai
Baja Tacos and Beer Golden Daisy Restaurant Moe Vegan St Andrews Bar & Grill
Baltimore Barbershop Golden Nails & Spa MoMo’s Kebab Studio Stu
Bamboo Thai Cuisine Greenfire Products Moonlit Beauty and Wellness SugarPill
Bambu Desserts and Drinks Gyro’s Place Moxie Beauty Boutique Sunset Café & Deli
Bananas Grill Hairapy by Natalia Mr. Lu Seafood & Burger Swift Hair Removal
Basil Viet Kitchen Haircare by Asyah Mystic Kombucha T. Brooks Quality Cuts
Beacon Hill Drycleaners Hamdi Home Daycare Najla Family Child Care Tan Dinh Deli
BeanFish HardWok Cafe Nam Phuong Book Store Tango Enterprises Inc.
Belltown Romios Pizza & Pasta Hare Salon Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery Taqueria El Rincon Express
Big Tuna Hawaii General Store & Travel Neptune Furniture Taqueria Tehuacan
Bilal Mini Market Hella Happy New Century Tea Gallery Teriyaki & Wok
Bissell Barber Hello Bicycle NextLevel Personal Training Studio Teriyaki Plus
Blue Heron Cafe Hi B3ar Northwest Wushu Academy Teriyaki Time
Blue Nile Restaurant Hill’s Barbershop Oaktree Teriyaki Thai Curry Simple
Bodytonic Pilates Hive BE Salon Old Habits Barbershop Thai Star
Boru Childcare Hoang Lan Olympia Il Pizza and Spaghetti House Thai Taste
Broadway Nails Holy Cow Records O’Malley Photographers Thanh Thanh Cafe
By’s Drive In Hood Famous Café & Bar Othello Station Pharmacy That Brown Girl Cooks!
BZ Port Trucking Hue Ky Mi Gia I Corp Palacia Chamberlain Lee Salon The Postman
Cafe Avole Image Corporation Pam’s Kitchen The Station Coffee Shop
Cafe Banh Mi Intermezzo Salon & Spa Pasta Joe’s The Uncommon Cottage
Cafe Ibex International Examiner Peter Pan Auto Glass Thien Phat Restaurant
Cafe Opla International Model Toys Pho Ba Time Bistro
Café Racer Iris Cutler LLC Pho Hai Yen Timothy De Clue Collection
Cafe Red Ironsteak Pho Hanoi Restaurant Town Electric, Plumbing & Heating LLC
Cafe Soleil J Styles Barbershop Pioneer Square D&E Trevino Beauty Collaborative
Canton Noodle House Jalanne Family Childcare Platinum Cuts and Salon TTTI Services
CDFD Childcare Jana Designs Platinum Plush Fashions U DupBop
Central Barber Shop Jasmine Thai Restaurant Poke Plus VAM Studios, LLC
CHATIME JoJo Hair Salon Poke Square Van Karma
Che Dessert Lounge Joseph’s Elite Image Print Fusion Villa Escondida Mexican Restaurant
Chuan BBQ Jose’s Taqueria Publishing Desk LLC Warren Moy Motorsports, Inc.
Citra Julie’s Garden Restaurant Rachel Huss Hair We Free Hearts LLC
Classy Beauty School Tea Republik Rain Cafe Where Ya At
Clover Art Juneau Street market Rainier Teriyaki Whole Body Health
Coco’s Cuts and Colors K O Fitness Reality Auto Sales Winning Edge Academy
Columbia City Fitness Center Kawaii Nail Red Bowl Yummy House Bakery
Columbia City Preschool Kendi Studio Relish Zaytuna Mediterranean Catering
Combat Arts Academy of Seattle Kitchen Istanbul Resistencia Coffee Zheng Cafe
Dandylion Restaurant L. Mariee Boutique Robin Rosell Salon Ziba LLC

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