PRESS RELEASE

Long Beach, CA – Two years after the adoption of the Long Beach Recovery Act (Recovery), the City announced today more than $10 million in funding has been awarded to support local businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Small Businesses and Nonprofit Relief Grants included the Restaurant, Brewery and Bar Relief Grant; Personal Services and Fitness Relief Grant; Small Business Relief Grant and the Nonprofit Relief Grant.

“Our small businesses have overcome challenges in the last few years to keep their doors open and their employees working,” said Mayor Rex Richardson. “Thanks to the flexibility of American Rescue Plan funding and our comprehensive Long Beach Recovery Act, we were able to get this funding out the door to empower small businesses in their recovery from the impacts of COVID-19.”

Originally adopted in March 2021, the Long Beach Recovery Act was one of the first COVID-19 recovery programs to utilize federal ARPA funds. LB Recovery supports a number of major economic, public health and fiscal initiatives for Long Beach residents, business owners and workers critically impacted by the pandemic.

The Small Business and Nonprofit Relief Grants program launched in March 2022 to support small businesses and nonprofits that have experienced financial hardship from the COVID-19 pandemic. The program provided working capital for grant awardees to pay for a variety of business expenses, such as payroll, rent, personal protective equipment, technology upgrades, marketing, and more. A total of 894 local businesses were awarded with grants ranging from $2,500 to $25,000.

The Small Businesses and Nonprofit Relief Grants awarded a total of $10.34 million across four grant programs including:

• $3.5 million to 208 recipients through the Restaurant, Brewery and Bar Relief Grant;
• $3.5 million to 323 recipients through the Personal Services and Fitness Relief Grant;
• $1.4 million to 234 recipients through the Small Business Relief Grant; and
• $1.8 million to 129 recipients through the Nonprofit Relief Grant.

The below table shows the number of businesses funded, funds distributed and average amount awarded under each of the grant opportunities:

 According to application data, 68% of awarded businesses were Black, Latinx, Cambodian, and Asian and Pacific Islander-owned and 62% were women-owned. Additional demographic data is available in the Long Beach Recovery Act Small Business and Nonprofit Grants Final Report.

Throughout the program’s longevity, the City’s Department of Economic Development’s BizCare team provided technical assistance to small businesses to complete their applications and accept grant awards. Businesses contacted the hotline by phone and email and visited Pop-Up locations for in-person assistance. Pop-Up locations were strategically chosen to provide services to low-income communities and be accessible to business corridors.

“Small businesses are what make our community so vibrant and are the backbone of our local economy,” said Economic Development Director Bo Martinez. “We are proud of these results from the largest grant programs the City has ever run for small businesses, and we are committed to supporting Long Beach’s small businesses in their continued recovery and future success.”

The City prioritized the equitable distribution of resources for these grant programs. All applications were scored using a weighted-selection process to prioritize resources for diverse entrepreneurs, brick-and-mortar businesses, businesses that were in existence prior to March 2020, and businesses located in low-and-moderate income areas. To ensure funding was distributed equitably to groups that may be hard-to-reach or are historically underserved, outreach and engagement efforts were deployed in business corridors in low- to moderate-income level areas and targeted Black, Latinx, Cambodian, and Asian and Pacific Islander-owned businesses. The City partnered with community organizations, including the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, Centro Community Hispanic Association, United Cambodian Community and the Long Beach Center for Economic Inclusion, to contact small businesses with the most financial need. In total, 978 businesses were contacted through the combined efforts of the BizCare team, Business Liaisons, and community partners. Below is a map showing the grants awarded by zip code.


Additional program data is available on the Long Beach Recovery Act website at longbeach.gov/recovery.

The Small Business and Nonprofit Relief program aligns with Goal 4, Strategy 2 of Long Beach’s Racial and Reconciliation Initiative to invest in small businesses and nonprofit organizations through focused outreach and partnerships with community-based service delivery organizations that have established, trusting relationships with Black community members and communities of color.

This program is made possible by the Long Beach Recovery Act (Recovery Act), a plan to fund economic and public health initiatives for residents, workers and businesses critically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional information about the Long Beach Recovery Act is available at longbeach.gov/recovery.