Entrepreneurs like Luis Carrasquillo who says his empanada shop on Clinton Avenue has been getting creative to stay afloat, doing catering delivery and parking lot service since his dining area has been shut down in lockdown.

“We’re used to being open,” he exclaimed. “So when you take away the door… it’s not being open… you’re taking away our way of life.”

Carrasquillo’s establishment, Munchies Roc City Empanadas, is one of a growing number of businesses grabbing a lifeline, funds from the City of Rochester Business Emergency Retention Grant Program. The city council dedicated $1.5 million to the plan, money which comes from the federal CARES Act.

The grants and the city’s loan deferment program, which gives borrowers an extra 90 days to make payments, are two new initiatives to get funds to entrepreneurs struggling as coronavirus has sickened their business.

“You know, people have to keep paying rent,” Gary Kirkmire, Rochester’s Commissioner of Neighborhood and Business Development said. “People have to keep paying utilities. People have to pay their insurance bill. People need to have inventory on hand even if they have a reduced staff”

“Your employees,” Carrasquillo sighed, “they’re looking at you and say ‘Hey, what’s going on? We work here. Where is our money?’”

Carrasquillo suspects he was one of the first to get on the city’s website and apply.  He got $2,000, which may not seem like much, but he says it makes a big difference on a tight budget.

“I got on the computer. I filled out the paperwork. And, within two weeks, I had a check in my mailbox,” he exclaimed.

“We will continue to do that,” said Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren, “because our hope is that everybody will come out of this and be able to survive, and not close their business.”

City officials say small employers have other avenues where they can find help, like Small Business Administration assistance, but that these grants are meant to get funds out fast for the immediate term to tide businesses over.

“That right there is a relief for us,” Carrasquillo said. “When you are a small business, every little bit counts.”

Kirkmire estimated the city had received applications from about 285 businesses and had sent checks out to about half of them.

https://www.whec.com/coronavirus/city-of-rochester-offering-assistance-to-small-businesses/5729045/

— WHEC