Stories of Resiliency: Empowering Local Businesses in South Los Angeles
The LA Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund has provided a much-needed wave of financial relief and recovery tools for small businesses, non-profits providing essential services, immigrant-owned enterprises and the most vulnerable Angelenos impacted by the pandemic. Serving as the Fund Administrator, LISC LA has awarded grants to over 1,000 businesses. Each week, we’ll be sharing the stories of our resilient grant recipients.
Since March, the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the way we live and work. On top of the public health crisis, the lockdowns and operating restrictions in effect across the city and county have made running a business a daily struggle. Some were able to transition their services online and develop protocols to meet new safety standards, but with less revenue coming in and bills piling up, Angelenos needed economic relief. A number of financial relief programs were created to address the needs of local businesses, but unfortunately, the many cultural, technical and financial barriers in receiving this aid have caused many businesses to fall through the cracks.
To support the small businesses that form the backbone of the diverse Los Angeles community, the City and County created the nearly $100 million LA Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund to provide $5,000 to $75,000 grants to small businesses, microentrepreneurs and non-profits. With over 40 years of experience connecting communities to resources and opportunities, LISC LA ensured grants were distributed equitably and reached the most vulnerable Angelenos.
In Los Angeles’ City Council District 8, two such local businesses who became recipients of the LA Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund grant are Potter’s Printing and Little Imaginations Child Care, both located in the city of Los Angeles.
Get LISC LA’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Potter’s Printing has been operating for 21 years — and for 16 of them, the small business has worked to inspire and educate incarcerated individuals by sending motivational books to prisons nationwide. The book program, which has now distributed 75,000 books to over 700 prisons, was inspired by owner Jerold Potter’s own experiences with the families of the incarcerated; some of the young boys in his bible courses at the California Youth Authority in Whittier would read letters to and from incarcerated family members aloud in class. Sales from Potter’s Printing has helped cover the costs of running this program, but when COVID-19 struck, the business was forced to close its doors and halt operations like many other small community businesses. Once they were finally able to reopen, Potter noted he saw orders drastically shift from business cards and menus to funeral pamphlets and obituaries, but even these sales were not enough to keep up with their usual sales.
The grant Potter received from the LA Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund has helped him purchase necessary equipment like printers and supplies and gain the storefront’s financial footing back.
“I went through the first two rounds of the Fund and won a grant the third time around,” Potter said. “I paid the machines down, bought inventory, and caught up on bills. We are not out of the woods, but the grant was a blessing to our business.”
Another City Council District 8 recipient was Little Imaginations Child Care, which provides family childcare so working parents have an affordable option to provide their children with an engaging environment. Although many are now working from home, these services are even more critical now that children are not able to attend in-person classes at school — so founder Rebecca Sumandal got creative and started hosting hiking trips as a socially distant alternative. However, the pandemic also brought a slew of issues as many parents were left unemployed or feared their children would get sick. As a result, Rebecca shut down twice, losing half of the children under her care and encountering financial challenges that led to layoffs. She has tried her best to stay open while she waits for things to return to normal, but running such a large daycare center comes with a plethora of bills that she just can’t afford under current conditions.
The grant that Little Imaginations received from the LA Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund was a godsend for Rebecca as it allowed her to catch up on her bills and take some of the stress off of her company and her family. This grant provided much-needed support to ensure that Little Imaginations can continue to operate so that children currently under her care — and those returning after the pandemic — receive the high-quality child care Little Imaginations is known for.
While the Fund’s final round of its grant program is now closed, LISC LA continues to build resilient and inclusive communities for people, places and businesses through a number of programs they offer throughout the year. To learn more about LISC LA and the programs they offer, visit https://www.lisc.org/los-angeles/.
