The St. Louis Development Corporation has finished awarding $4.5 million in federal coronavirus relief funds to small businesses in St. Louis.
Grants will support 900 small businesses across 72 of the 79 neighborhoods in the city.
More than 75% of the recipients are located in areas that the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development identified as having lacked sufficient economic development in the past.
“It was a definitely a team effort to engage people that traditionally do not have access to these programs, getting them the resources they need and really providing the high-touch level of service through our neighborhood management team,” SLDC President and CEO Neal Richardson said.
Ten neighborhood managers knocked on the doors of businesses to spread the words about the grants, Richardson said.
Businesses that were hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and have 25 or fewer employees were eligible. Business owners also needed to be up to date with their city taxes and permits.
The SLDC began awarding the grants in April 2022, after the Board of Aldermen allocated funds for the program from the $498 million the city received from the American Rescue Plan.
Recipients may use the funds as they see fit.
They include Kimberly St. Clair, who developed a product called Doc Dash that gathers motorists’ automobile and medical information in one place to help facilitate a smooth exchange of information with police during traffic stops. She’ll use her grant money to pay her patent lawyer.
“It was a huge gap-closer for me,” said St. Clair, who developed the idea for a few years before starting her business. “Right when the pandemic came, I got the courage and just decided to jump.”
At Creative Touch Barber and Beauty Shop, owner Keith Jefferson used his grant to update the shop’s lighting, restrooms and work stations.
Leaders of Riverview West Florissant Development Corp. will put their grant toward a program that hires young people to mow lawns around the homes of elderly residents and vacant properties in Walnut Park.
“We know beautification is important because we have so many derelict buildings, derelict cars and things that just make the neighborhood look dysfunctional, said director Christiana Hampton.
“The way we see things kind of determines the way we act within a community. So beautifying the community is one of the major, paramount things that we do. We know the importance of just seeing beauty in our neighborhoods,” Hampton added.
A common need for local small businesses is to put more aspects of their operations online, Richardson said.
“We wanted to provide them with those supportive services to move to a more digital-first platform, for their business to be able to sustain through COVID and now be to able to be successful post-COVID as we look to go back to normal practices and they begin to improve their customer base,” he said.
