More than $3 Million for Cuyahoga County Small Business Loans and Grants Could be Available by Monday

Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish, speaking at Friday’s City Club virtual forum, said that roughly $3 million had been raised to provide emergency relief for small businesses. Those funds could be available as early as Monday of next week.

Budish, who appeared on the forum to address the various ways in which the county has been responding to the Coronavirus pandemic, said that the county chipped in $500,000 to the small business fund and that the Economic Community Development Institute (ECDI) had provided $1.5 million. Additional sources brought the total to $3 million, and Budish said he was hopeful the fund would continue to grow.

“Small businesses are the lifeblood of this community,” he said. “Our number one priority in economic development is saving these businesses. Because once they permanently close, it’s almost impossible to re-open them.”

Budish said that the funds would be disbursed by ECDI in the form of both loans and grants. The loans are likely to be zero-interest. The Urban League and the President’s Council (the African-American chamber of commerce), have also partnered on the fund, Budish said.

He said these funds would not be made available to non-profit organizations — it’s strictly for small businesses — but that he’d spoken to Cuyahoga Arts and Culture (CAC) about re-aligning its funds and that an announcement may be forthcoming soon about relief for 501(c)3s.

Additionally, Budish encouraged small businesses to apply for the loans that will be made available as part of the Federal government’s stimulus package. And he encouraged residents, to the extent they were able, to still support small businesses in their home communities.

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This article appears in Mar 25-31, 2020.