Legacy Corridor Business Resilience Grant Program Now Accepting Applications

Toledo City Council approved Wednesday the Legacy Corridor Business Resilience Grant, a new program to assist eligible businesses located directly on designated Legacy Commercial Corridors that are being improved by a City road reconstruction project.

The Legacy Corridor Business Resilience Grant program offers a grant of $5,000 to qualifying businesses for eligible operating expenses such as rent, utilities, payroll, marketing, and business insurance. This program is designed to support businesses that rely on customer foot traffic and may experience disruptions due to an ongoing road reconstruction project.

The first Legacy Commercial Corridor eligible for this grant program is Broadway Street, from Western Avenue to Stebbins Street.

"The Broadway corridor is such an important part of our Old South End in District 3," said District 3 Council Member Theresa Gadus. "Once we started hearing that road reconstruction was affecting the businesses there, we knew we had to find a way to connect the people to helpful resources and provide them some monetary relief as well. That's what this grant program is for-protecting those small businesses and helping to keep them open. And later on, when other streets around the city are going through their own reconstruction, we want the businesses there to be supported too."

"As a small family business, I understand the many challenges of running a successful business, so it was important to me to advocate for businesses in general, but particularly the small businesses on the Broadway corridor," said District 2 Council Member Adam Martinez. "Thank you to the Broadway residents and business owners, Lucas County Commissioner Lopez, Mayor Kapszukiewicz, the Administration, the Department of Economic Development, and our community partners for helping put together a program that I believe will go a long way now and into the future that shows our small business community that we are listening, we hear their concerns, and stand with them in times of struggle."

Eligible businesses must meet the following criteria:

• Be a for-profit business merchant or a registered 501(c)(3) organization with a client-facing business model.
• Have a brick-and-mortar storefront on Broadway Street, within the designated area of road reconstruction.
• Have been in operation for at least six months prior to the start of the road reconstruction project.
• Be in good standing with governmental entities and registered with the City of Toledo, Division of Taxation.

Grants will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, with funds distributed until all available funding is exhausted. Applications are open now and will remain open until funds are fully allocated.

Certain types of businesses, such as payday loan businesses, liquor stores, and national chain franchises, are not eligible for this grant program.

Staff from the Department of Economic Development will be canvassing the corridor to assist businesses in completing the application. Office hours will be also held at the South Branch Library on October 24 from 2-4 p.m.

To learn more about the program and how to apply, please visit toledo.oh.gov/legacy.

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