$2.4 million distributed to local businesses through Grants Program

Published on June 07, 2023

More than $2.4 million distributed to local businesses throughCOVID-19/Construction Recovery Grants Program

SAN ANTONIO, (June 7, 2023) – The City of San Antonio has awarded more than $2.4 million to local small businesses as part of its COVID-19/Construction Recovery Grants Program.

“The City of San Antonio understands the challenges to local businesses recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and now faced with construction projects in their neighborhood. We heard feedback from the community, and moved quickly to get this program launched,” said Erik Walsh, City Manager.

The program, which was approved by City Council in January and administered by LiftFund, received 219 applications across 15 eligible construction corridors. As of today:

• 91 applications have been awarded*.
• 69 applications were denied.
• • 58 of these denials were due to businesses not demonstrating the $10,000 net revenue reduction from 2021 to 2022, as set out in the qualification parameters.
  • Other reasons for application denial included failure to meet the minimum revenue requirement, ineligible business-establishment date, location outside of geographic limits and failure to provide required documents.
  • One application was withdrawn by the applicant.
  • The average award of funds is $26,856.46.

*Two of the applications are pending funding.

An additional 58 applications remain suspended due to documented inconsistencies in the information provided. These applicants were communicated with throughout the evaluation process, and again in the week of May 22. LiftFund encourages applicants to continue submitting clarifying documents as any received by June 23 will be considered during final evaluations.

City staff worked to expedite the development and implementation of the program, to ensure that local businesses received funding as soon as possible.

Program outreach included more than 400 visits to eligible businesses and three information sessions presented in both English and Spanish. City Council offices and partner organizations throughout the community were also equipped with resources and information to help contact businesses.

The City of San Antonio and LiftFund are committed to supporting local small businesses while maintaining ethical stewardship of taxpayer money. Qualification parameters and additional information are available on the program website.

A list of current recipients has been added to the website listing previous small business grant recipients, and a final list will be published after June 23.  

Representatives from the City of San Antonio Economic Development Department and LiftFund are available for interview upon request. No information will be shared related to specific applications.

Contact information of a grant recipient is also available upon request. 

Feedback from grant recipients:

• “The pandemic — coupled with the major construction — completely hampered our business/sales and made it super difficult for our guests to access our space and find parking construction while the pandemic causes many guests to shy away from dining out. The pandemic also caused the supply chain to be extremely inconsistent, so we were always out of certain products and menu items. This grant will be such a major help to us as we will use this to pay for rent, triple nets, payroll and will also allow us to hire more staff to ensure smoother operations. We are so incredibly grateful and excited to be able to use these resources.” – Sean Wen, Curry Boys BBQ, 2334 N St Mary's St, 78212

• “The pandemic has affected my small business in many ways. First off, all prices of vehicles has gone up tremendously. The price of cars has doubled if not tripled. Many customers haven’t been able to purchase vehicles due to lack of job or financially trying to stay afloat. This grant will help me so much and want to thank LiftFund for this opportunity to be able to access this grant to help make my small business more appealing and hopefully be able to improve and have more sales. With this grant I plan to continue to upkeep all my inventory clean and presentable. Also keep my office as clean and comfortable for my current customers and future customers.” - Gina Victorino, Jefes Auto Dealer, 962 Enrique M. Barrera Parkway, 78237
• “This grant will help me a lot. Since last year I have been having trouble selling Motorcycles and getting people to come in for work. This money will help me buy a motorcycle tire machine that I desperately need. That way I will have people coming in for tire work which we are in season so there will be more motorcycles on the road. Thank you for the grant. It is greatly appreciated.” - Ricardo Arana Jr., Redline Motorcycles, 641 Enrique M. Barrera Parkway, 78237.