Mayor Horrigan Announces $1M Awarded To 100 Small Businesses In Akron

Today, Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan has announced the 100 Akron businesses who will each be receiving a one-time $10,000 grant to help offset costs and negative impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding is coming from the City’s allocation of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars.

“Akron's small businesses have endured so much over the past several years to keep their doors open and to continue serving this community," said Mayor Horrigan. "I'm proud to be able to invest into these businesses with our ARPA dollars and help them bounce back from the impacts of the pandemic.”

“We hear stories every day of how our small businesses stepped up through the height of the pandemic to take care of their customers, their employees, and their communities,” said Director of Strategic Development, Catey Breck. “These grants are our way of mitigating the fallout they experienced from COVID-19 and putting these once in a generation funds back into the community. We’re excited to support our small businesses in this way.”

Of the 100 grant recipients, 43 are minority-owned businesses and 40 are women-owned businesses. They represent a variety of industries including bars and restaurants, healthcare, auto repair, barbershops, entertainment venues, construction companies, and more.

Full List of Small Business Grant Recipients:

2 Live Music

Full Service Logistics, LLC

Scanlon & Elliott

A & B Tent Rental Inc.

Gear Star American Performance Transmissions, Inc.

Smith Godios Sorensen Inc.

A AND A VENDING, INC.

Good Life Body Piercing and Fine Jewelry

Slaughter Tire Service Inc

AKRON FAMILY BUSINESS

Great Lakes Premier Distribution

South Akron Awning Co.

Akron Honey Company LTD

Green Light Auto Sales

SPARKS INVESTMENT INC.

Akron Legends Barbershop

Hamad's on Main

SpeedPro Akron North

AKRON-CANTON INTERNATIONAL FORWARDING

In A Minute Ltd.

Square Nightclub

Allegiance Insurance Group LLC

Inda Blatch-Geib

Subway

American Family Insurance

JILLY'S MUSIC ROOM LLC

Summit County Classics Inc

American Medical Transport

Kane Investments LLC

Summit Tax & Insurance Services

Angels on Earth Health Care Services

Kids Academy 2

Sweet Modern LLC

ARLINGTON STREET MUFFLER LLC

KLEEN IN MOTION LLC

Tear-Ez

A to Z Auto and Truck Repair

L & H Home Care

T.R. Fields & Associates, Inc.

Backup Power Solutions, Inc.

Laplace Events, LLC

Technology Management Solutions, Inc.

Barley House

LOVING HEARTS HELPING HANDS

The Akron Plating Co., Inc.

BARMACY

M&L EQUIPMENT COMPANY

The Brat Boulevard Corporation

Baxters LLC

Marques

The Culinary Chameleon

Beyond Expectations Barber College

Mason Construction and Concrete LLC

The Growing Patch LLC

Blue Leaf Apothecary LLC

Mint Hair Collective LLC

The Hatterie Inc.

Caring Angels Healthcare LLC

Mr Dans Daycare LLC

The Score Draft Room

CLARKTEL/TELE-COMMUNICATIONS, INC.

Nando’s auto care LLC

Transit Transportation Services, LLC

CNJ Renovations LLC

NOMZ, LLC

Twisted Tomato

Coast to Coast Caulking & Waterproofing LLC

ORLEANS AVENUE ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION

Uncle Bacon's BBQ LLC

Design Perspective LLC

Paolucci Law, LLC

VIGEO GARDENS

Diamond Daleesa Accessories

Polymet Recovery, LLC

Westside Masonry, LLC

Diamond Grille

Pritt Entertainment Group, LLC

White Glove Cleaning Solutions LLC

Dot Org Solutions LLC

R&S Cleaning Solutions

Wilkinson Funeral Home

Duo Tax Services LLP

Rasheed F. Nemer, M.D.

WORDS BY MOM

Eddies Famous Cheesesteaks

Red Point Digital, LLC

Yoga Squared

Eighty-Three Brewery

ROSAS PLAYHOUSE INC

Your Virtual Solution

El Papa’s Mexican Bistro

ROT SORN

Zeber-Martell Studio, Inc.

Emidio & Sons

Rubber City Clothing

FARMER BOY RESTAURANT

S 3 Technologies, LLC

FG SOLUTIONS, LLC

S4 Mobile Laboratories LLC

FIRST GLANCE IMAGINING, INC.

In order to qualify, businesses had to meet the following requirements:

• Be a legal for-profit business;

• Must be located within a Qualified Census Tract (QCT) in Akron;

• Must have 2 to 50 workers on payroll (including full-time or part-time employees, and owners actively working in the business);

• Be current with income tax and property tax obligations for the business with the City of Akron and County of Summit;

• In operation in the City of Akron on or before January 1, 2020;

• Must be able to describe how the business has been negatively impacted due to a reduction in business activity or increase in supply chain costs related to COVID-19 pandemic or related public health restrictions and orders.

To see a full list of requirements please click here.

Allowable uses of the funding include:

• Rent or mortgage costs for the business location;

• Payroll and benefits;

• Utility costs for the business location;

• Investments to meet reopening guidelines, such as purchasing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other workplace improvements directly related to mitigating the spread of COVID-19;

• Remote access equipment and connectivity, such as computers, software, printers, and/or online meeting platforms for employers to enhance social distancing; and/or technology that enables businesses to develop and manage service/product delivery to enhance social distancing.

Comments from grant recipients:

• Brent Wesley, owner of Akron Honey Company: "With more funds like this available, we can move faster in buying the equipment we need in order to increase in scale."

• Hannah Hamad, owner of Hamad’s on Main: “Maintaining a small family business downtown after the pandemic sometimes feels like being a captain of a slowly sinking ship. Receiving the Small Business Relief Grant has finally given us a shore in sight. We are grateful to have been given this opportunity to help keep us downtown where we belong. We will be able to pay off debt accrued while trying to survive the past few years and will be able to move forward with a more hopeful future. Additionally, receiving the grant has allowed us to focus on our son’s heart surgery and Jon’s recovery without additional stress. It’s feels good to know our city is here for us.”

• Nicole Woodford-Shell, owner of Yoga Squared: “We are so honored and grateful to receive this grant from the city we call home. The pandemic created new challenges for the already difficult small business sphere, and the support we’ve received from the City of Akron has been instrumental in our ability to keep moving forward! We have dedicated our lives to providing services that support the well-being of our neighbors and we’re thankful to be surrounded by folks who recognize our value and have our backs!”