Financial Support to Pivot During COVID
This past summer, LISC LA partnered with the County and City of Los Angeles along with other philanthropic partners to oversee and manage the LA COVID-19 Regional Recovery Fund. The Regional Fund provided much-needed relief with grants for small businesses, non-profits providing essential services, immigrant-owned enterprises and the Angelenos most impacted by COVID-19.
As businesses adjust to change in demand and new protocols that have to be in place to operate, the Fund has provided a cushion to reimagine business in this new normal.
Funds have been used to help equip learning centers with upgraded technology so students can continue to get the best education in a healthy and safe environment, resaurants catch up on rent and bills, and organizations continue to operate.
A & R Gifts General
A & R Gifts General is a small gift shop and botanical store, just a few miles south from the University of Southern California run by local Rosa Sanchez. Sanchez faced more than just her store closing as a result of the pandemic—she also tested positive for COVID-19, battling the illness without any source of income for four months. With the help of the LA Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund grant, Sanchez was able to get back on her feet and pay the store’s rent and electricity bill. She is hoping that she will be able to use any additional funds left from her grant to acquire more inventory for her shop. The grant has been a tremendous help to A & R, she said, because it offered her a way to pay off bills that she was behind on. Through these unprecedented times, there has been a lot of uncertainty, including the gift shop’s four month closure.
“The grant has been such a blessing to my life and business. Without it, I would probably be struggling to get back on my feet."
Fitte-Jones Family Child Care
The Fitte-Jones Family Child Care center has been in business since 2008, inspired by owner Antionette Fitte’s passion for creating a safe environment for children as a foster parent herself to three now-teenagers. The childcare facility nurtures, educates and provides nutritional meals in a safe environment for her kids. During the pandemic, Fitte saw less students coming to her child care center as parents were laid off and schools closed their doors. Unsure of what to do to supplement the loss of income, Fitte almost turned to food delivery just to make sure her business would be able to survive. With the LA Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund grant, Fitte was given a new opportunity to refigure what services her care center would provide during COVID-19. When the school year started back up, many of the kids she cared for didn’t have access to the resources they needed for distance learning—so she used some of the money to upgrade the facility’s safety measures and adapt to distance learning with new technology and teaching mechanisms. These include upgrades to the teaching tools she uses, like laptops, flat screen monitors and desks. The grant funding also helped Fitte expand and modernize her care facilities to ensure that parents felt they could safely drop off their children in a friendly, comfortable space to do their school work. The Fitte-Jones Family Care center is now expanding a new play area as an improvement to the environment for her students for when the pandemic passes, as well as boosting marketing to attract more clients moving forward.
“It is a pivot and learning curve for me to run the technology, but I do it because I go the extra mile for my kids,” she said.
La Lupita Restaurant
Silvia Chavez runs her family restaurant La Lupita, which has served the East LA community for almost 30 years. When COVID-19 hit Los Angeles County back in March, Silvia was forced to close the restaurant under the countywide shutdown. With her business closed, bills began to pile up and Chavez was unable to pay rent on her restaurant. Even as restaurants were allowed to reopen, La Lupita had no parking or space they could use to host outdoor dining and they were struggling to get by on takeout orders. During these hard times, things got harder for Silvia—she contracted COVID-19 and was forced to close the restaurant. What money she had left started going to getting the care she needed as she battled both the coronavirus and a case of pneumonia. The building owner began applying pressure to La Lupita and Silvia, threatening to get a new tenant, when she discovered the LA Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund. The $5,000 grant she received helped her catch up on her rent and bills for the restaurant. While Silvia is still recovering from her health scare, she is hoping to be able to reopen La Lupita soon.
Little Imaginations Child Care
Little Imaginations Child Care provides family childcare so working parents have an affordable option to provide their children with an engaging environment while they are away from home. Although many are now working from home, these services are even more critical now that children are not able to attend in-person classes at school—so founder Rebecca Sumandal got creative and started hosting hiking trips as a socially distant alternative. However, the pandemic also brought a slew of issues as many parents were left unemployed or feared their children would get sick. As a result, Rebecca shut down twice, losing half of the children under her care and encountering financial challenges that led to layoffs. She has tried her best to stay open while she waits for things to return to normal, but running such a large daycare center comes with a plethora of bills that she just can't afford under current conditions. The grant that Little Imaginations received from the LA Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund was a godsend for Rebecca as it allowed her to catch up on her bills and take some of the stress off of her company and her family. This grant provided much-needed support to ensure that Little Imaginations can continue to operate so that children currently under her care—and those returning after the pandemic—receive the high quality child care Little Imaginations is known for.
Los Angeles Music and Art School
Los Angeles Music and Art School, an East Los Angeles cornerstone in arts education for 75 years, has provided more than 2 million lessons to 100,000 students. The school started as a settlement home in the 1940’s, but has always stayed true to its mission: to provide the community of East LA with equitable access to multidisciplinary arts education programs and offer opportunities for underserved youth. Kathleen Jequinto, a development and events associate, said that they’re here to create programs for immigrant families—just like they did for those fleeing during the Jewish Diaspora more than half a century ago. Since May this year, LA Music and Art School has been partaking in online learning, and their team spoke to each and every student to ensure they would be able to attend. The school usually serves 530 students a week, but today, is only able to serve about half of that. Despite the challenges to retain students who are unable to transition to online learning, Jequinto said that the grant they received from the LA Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund is helping them continue employing their teachers and helping them reach new students past the standard two-mile radius. LA Music and Art's main focus is to spread the grant throughout the community to those who face a disadvantage at their school, and innovation is more important than ever to serve their community. Their staff is performing remotely to inspire their kids to maintain their love of the arts. The funds have already and will continue to help them sustain their programs, including support to 37 teaching artists who create virtual lesson plans and curriculum that will be implemented through December 2020.
Jequinto says that with support from the LA Regional COVID-19 Fund and strategic planning, the school has been able to stay open and reach more students. She encourages other organizations in similar situations to apply.
