Hamilton County Commissioners are considering a recommendation to award nearly $200,000 in small business grants.
The Microenterprise Advancement Passport program is recommending 21 small businesses be awarded funds. The money comes from Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. The program is designed for small businesses with four or fewer employees owned by low-to-moderate income residents within a set of participating jurisdictions — Evendale, Blue Ash, Indian Hill and Cincinnati (which has its own CDBG program) didn't participate.
Community & Economic Development Administrator Angela Rahman says 44 businesses applied. Of that 23 were deemed ineligible, largely for being located outside the participating communities. The remaining 21 are all recommended for funding.
Rahman says applicants were required to take a training class prior to being recommended to receive funding.
"They took a class ... in business planning and in marketing, so they would be prepared when they got these funds to really deploy them," Rahman says, adding there will be follow up check-ins in one year to see how the businesses are doing.
"We have a wide variety of businesses that we're assisting, from a salon to an auto mechanic to a person that does landscaping, and anywhere in between," Rahman says. "A great deal of the funds are going for folks to get their marketing strategy and partner with someone to redo their website to help with their search engine operations. Some of the funds, for instance, are going to the auto mechanic to purchase a car lift, which will then help them be able to do additional services."
Some funding will be used for working capital expenses such as rent.
The total amount recommended for approval is $196,511.01. Only one business was not recommended for the full amount it requested.
"One applicant is recommended for a partial award, which is aligned with the business's documented revenue and consistent with some program accountability standards," Rahman explained.
The board is expected to vote on the recommendations Thursday.
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