LISC + Lowe’s Small Business Relief Grant Recipients L.A. Focus Newspaper and El Monte Optometry
4.14.2021
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LISC StoriesEconomic Development
Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, but for much of 2020, they faced tremendous financial hardship because of COVID-19. LISC teamed up with Lowe’s to provide financial relief for small business owners throughout the country. One of those grant recipients is Lisa Collins of L.A. Focus Newspaper.
L.A. Focus Newspaper is a monthly newspaper that spotlights news of interest to the Los Angeles’ Black community. It also acknowledges the church’s role and its vast influence—in the progress, state, and politics of LA County’s Black community.
Lisa Collins established L.A. Focus in 1995 after noticing a gap in the quality of publications serving the African American community and the church. A Los Angeles native, Lisa has been passionate about her goal to enlighten the African American community in the county with the news and resources they need to make better choices.
Through her newspaper, she has consulted with local leaders and corporations on a wide range of topics, from media and messaging to targeted community engagement. She has also helped church leaders looking to expand their faith outreach.
Since its inception, L.A. Focus has played a significant role in strengthening the community through multiple outreach programs and charities. Their Annual First Ladies High Tea honors the role women of faith play in mentoring the youth while at the same time providing scholarships to at-risk girls. They’ve also helped in various campaigns such as child sex trafficking, the census, and COVID-19.
Seeing that it is a faith-based publication, L.A. Focus’s primary source of revenue comes from churches through distribution and advertising. They have over 300 churches making 60% of their distribution. Therefore, when COVID-19 hit the churches, the newspaper lost a considerable chunk of its revenue. They were also forced to cancel the Annual First Ladies High Tea due to the pandemic.
The LISC + Lowe’s Small Business Relief Grant was a blessing for Lisa and her team. With this grant, Lisa was able to adjust successfully to the “new normal” by shifting more to podcasts, online servicing, and increasing the frequency of their digital newsletter to twice a week. She also helped church leaders with the resources they needed to service their parishioners and expanded their faith outreach campaigns to get the word out about COVID-19 testing, resources, and vaccine information.
“We were so grateful for this grant and to LISC,” She said. “It was part of the reason we were able to pivot to our current business model, which has been very successful in helping us to mitigate the pandemic and expand our faith outreach model and advertising to new sectors.”
Owning a small business in Los Angeles can come with it’s fair share of challenges, especially if you are a person of color. With limited access to bank credit, capital, and other support services, most small business owners found themselves in a financial crisis when COVID-19 started. The LISC + Lowe’s Small Business Relief Grant offered financial assistance to such businesses so they can continue running.
Dr. Cecilia Wong grew up knowing the pains of not functioning without her glasses after having suffered from poor eyesight as a child. Now an experienced optometry specialist and owner of El Monte Optometry, Cecilia has made it her mission to provide eye care to people in low-income neighborhoods that is affordable and convenient.
El Monte Optometry is a full-service optometry and eye care office in the city of El Monte, California. For over 20 years, they’ve served the community by offering emergency and routine eye care for many low-income residents in the area. They’ve also participated in annual medical mission trips to Ensenada as a way of giving back to the community.
However, since the pandemic started, the optometrist office experienced many hardships. At some point (from March to June 2020), they were forced to close down after their optometric board canceled routine eye care. This came as a massive blow to the office since their main revenue source came from primary eye care.
Still, they learned to adjust to the current situation. They started seeing patients by appointments to avoid crowding in the office, changed the seating arrangements for social distancing, and regularly sanitized all surfaces. They’ve also bought COVID-19 testing kits and PPEs to ensure that all the clinic staff are healthy and even started delivering glasses and contacts to patients’ homes so they don’t have to come to the office.
All these adjustments had eaten into El Monte Optometry’s finances, so Dr. Cecilia Wong was thrilled when she received the LISC + Lowe’s Small Business Relief Grant.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” She said. “We are so thankful for your grant during these very trying times. We will continue to provide great eye care in our little community.”
Since the introduction of the LISC + Lowe’s Small Business Relief Grant, many small businesses have been able to get the funding they need to keep afloat. They now can pay their rents, utilities, payroll, and debts to vendors.
