LA COVID-19 Relief Fund Grants Fill the Gaps and Focus on the Most Vulnerable

In March of this year, the pandemic triggered a safer at home policy in Los Angeles. Within days, businesses adapted to new safety procedures and many suffered unexpected losses over the next months. Pandemic relief efforts soon followed as small business grants and loans were rolled out to help tide businesses over in this difficult time. But five months later, these efforts are yet to reach some of those most affected by the safety measures — this is why the LA Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund is filling the gaps.

In the past months, the County and City of Los Angeles, along with LISC LA, corporate and private philanthropy have come together to offer relief to the micro-entrepreneurs, small businesses, and nonprofits who need it most. The fund aims to adjust for the “financial, technical, and cultural barriers [that] have kept many of our neighborhood partners from accessing federal programs” by giving priority to under-served communities and those most vulnerable in the current state of the pandemic. LISC LA is proud to serve as the fund administrator of the LA Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund.

With $100 million in grants available, LISC LA has been deploying grants between $5,000 and $75,000 to micro-entrepreneurs, small businesses and nonprofits. The methods for distributing the Fund align with its equitable focus, in other words, “taking an equity lens to grant-making.” The fund offers applications in 15 languages and uses an online weighted lottery system approach, meaning entities with the following criteria are given priority:

• Entities located in or primarily serving low-to-moderate income census tracts
• Veteran-owned small businesses
• Small businesses and nonprofits with less than $500,000 in yearly revenues
• Census tracts that are disproportionately burdened by, and vulnerable to, multiple sources of pollution
• City and county districts that have a higher unemployment rate, lower education rate, lower median household income, and lower jobs-to-population rate

With this method, the Fund is reaching those most affected by the pandemic and with the greatest need. Here are five stories of the resilient small businesses, nonprofits, and micro-entrepreneurs awarded grants by LISC LA in the first round.

Located in the Crescenta Valley, La Cañada School of Music offers private and group music lessons for nine different classical instruments. Once lockdown measures were put in place earlier this year, the music school quickly shifted to online lessons. But despite adapting, business owner Yung-mee says that La Cañada lost more than half of its students during that time. Finally on July 1st, La Cañada School of Music reopened with new measures including temperature testing and sanitizing instruments. As the school continues transitioning back to the new normal, the LA Regional Recovery Grant is helping them to survive in a critical time.

Another grant recipient is Angels Nest Preschool, a nonprofit offering in-home childcare in the city of Lynwood. Latrice Williams, owner of Angels Nest, describes the current situation and its effect on her childcare program: “COVID-19 has impacted this business [since] because of the virus people are not bringing their children to school due to parents’ loss of income . . . Social distancing has also impacted us to only have a limited amount of children inside the facility at one time.” The effects of the pandemic on childcare facilities has been particularly amplified by economic strain and stringent safety standards, and relief such as the LA Regional COVID Grant are key to supporting programs like Angels Nest.

For grant recipient OLASTEO, they believe creating empowering experiences for students can serve as a catalyst for social change. The non-profit serves the Watts community in South Los Angeles, inspiring students to expand their world view and give back to their communities. Aaron Friedman, President and co-founder of OLASTEO, has spent the last five years curating interactive workshops, immersive trips, and powerful speakers for their youth scholars. Given the challenges of COVID-19, Friedman worked to expand their virtual programming through their very first OLASTEO Speaker Series. Friedman says the LA Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund grant OLASTEO received will help fund the series for the next nine months, featuring ten impactful speakers for the community. The grant additionally helped them fund their recent Summer Virtual Experience, a two-day event with virtual guest-speakers and educational sessions. Now, the grant is supporting their operations and marketing efforts to directly expand their organization’s presence in Los Angeles. As a newer organization in South Los Angeles, the grant gives OLASTEO and Friedman hope that major grantmakers will recognize their dedicated work in the community — starting with the successes following their LA Regional COVID-19 Fund grant.

“We are a relatively new organization with huge dreams and aspirations — thinking globally and acting locally,” said Friedman. “Years from now, when we’ve impacted hundreds, perhaps thousands of students, funded in significant part by grant money, we will never forget the one grant that got it all started.”

Receiving her grant as a micro-entrepreneur, Tickwanya Jones is a Los Angeles-based actor, musician and graduate from the prestigious Berklee College of Music. Since the shutdown, the entertainment industry has lulled to a stop and many like Jones have been forced to put their work on hold as they wait out the pandemic. Jones reports that “My show at the Los Angeles LGBT Center has been postponed until 2021, and the Kanye West Sunday Service Collective has been postponed indefinitely as of now.” The grant will be a key to holding her over until performers and entertainers like her can go back to work.

Located in Glendale, Roger Ma of New Way Nails is another micro-entrepreneur struggling to do his work as a nail technician with the stringent health and safety standards this year. Nail salons were mandatorily closed in March of this year and many like Ma have been forced to wait before further guidelines on safely operating. The grant will be a key support for Ma as New Way Nails reopens to the public.

These grants are made possible by the generosity of both philanthropic donors and the local government, and with more soon to come, the impact will only grow.