30 Norwalk Small Businesses Receive Coronavirus Aid Grants

Norwalk CT

19 February, 2021

6:58 PM

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NORWALK, CT — Thirty Norwalk small businesses were selected this week to receive coronavirus aid grants of $5,000 each under the city's $150,000 COVID-19 Small Business Grant Program. The program is part of an ongoing effort by the city to help Norwalk businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. Only businesses with 25 or fewer employees were eligible to apply for the grants, and the winning businesses were chosen at random through a lottery Thursday night. See video of the lottery drawing below. "We had 234 applications, and that just goes to show that the need is real," said Mayor Harry Rilling. "A lot of businesses are struggling. They're not able to open, and when they are able to open, they can't conduct their full operations." Rilling added that 38 percent of the businesses that applied for the grant program had not received any government assistance during the pandemic. Other statistics from the applications" 44 percent of the businesses that applied are minority-owned39 percent are woman-owned24 percent that applied were restaurants The winning businesses are: 1) Ride Share/Actor Biz, Seaview Avenue 2) The Chamo, Taylor Avenue 3) CP Piercing, South Main Street 4) Marval USA, Connecticut Avenue 5) Piasecki & Company, Richards Avenue 6) College Admissions Coaching, LLC, Hunters Lane 7) Color Cafe North, Main Avenue 8) F45 Training South Norwalk, West Avenue 9) Utopia, Connecticut Avenue 10) Los Portales, South Main Street 11) Blackstones Steakhouse, Main Street 12) Superior Limousine, Emerson Street 13) Mira Mar Cafe, Monroe Street 14) Hype Room, Wall Street 15) Sexton Lighting Design, Newtown Avenue 16) A.B.Baekey Architecture + Design, LLC, Melbourne Road 17) Match Restuarant, Washington Street 18) LeeAnn DeLeo, Realtor - Kinard Realty Group, Yankee Doodle Court 19) Oman's Garden Center, Harbor Avenue 20) Marie's Kitchen, West Avenue 21) The Drawing Deck, Crest Road 22) Soluma MultiService, Main Street 23) O'Neill's Pub & Restaurant, North Main Street 24) JA Custom Woodwork, LLC, Oakwood Avenue 25) Rockbottom Furniture & Flooring, Lois Street 26) Durty Jerk, France Street 27) The Dilly Duck Shop, Main Avenue 28) Safe and Sound Daycare, LLC, Scribner Avenue 29) Palace Production Center, North Main Street 30) JB's Deli and Pizza, Tierney Street The grant program was launched by the city's economic development team, led by Sabrina Church and Jessica Casey. There are no current plans for another coronavirus grant program, but Rilling is hopeful that the federal government will provide new funding to states, which in turn could trickle down to municipalities to seed similar efforts. "We wish we could have given $5,000 grants to all 234 applicants, but we're going to keep on exploring and do whatever we can to help our local small businesses," Rilling said.