Grants flow slowly to area small businesses

By Mike Meiler and Julia Merulla
BengalNews Reporters
 When Kim DeFlyer looks out across the street from the New to You thrift store, she sees a building with great potential.
 It’s a former beauty salon at 286 Grant St. that has been vacant at least since the thrift store opened in 2007. On the Job Ministries eventually purchased it with the hope of expanding its operations, DeFlyer said.
 But after so much time of neglect, the building needs $160,000 in renovations to restore it.

Kim DeFlyer discusses plans to apply Main Street grant money to a vacant building: 


DeFlyer is looking to get some of that money from a $500,000 grant that was awarded to a two-block area of Grant Street.
 Since September 2010, when PUSH Buffalo received the state-funded grant, the effects have been varied.
 Business owners in the area from Delevan Avenue to Auburn Avenue along Grant Street are able to apply for funds from the New York Main Street Grant to enhance their stores, said Michael Clarke, executive director of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation.
 Clarke said his organization helped PUSH apply for the grant, which serves as an incentive for businesses to make the improvements they need.
 The grant extends beyond just businesses, however. Clarke said some of the money will go toward adding benches and trash cans, street planning, and even fixing up residential properties, such as those above stores.
 “It’s a mixture of public improvements plus property improvements,” Clarke said.
 According to Sarah Gordon, community organizer for PUSH, some businesses have been approved, others are waiting to be approved and some have not yet applied. Clarke said there was no specific timeline for the projects to be completed but estimated it would take a couple years.
 Even with a half a million dollars in funds available, money is still an issue. Clarke said businesses must contribute some of their own funds toward their projects.
DeFlyer said businesses must have the funding for the entire project themselves before they can be approved to receive part of the grant. The grant will reimburse a business for 75 percent of the cost of the project, or $150,000, whichever is less. The business contributes the remaining 25 percent.
 “I know a lot of people were excluded because they didn’t have cash up front,” DeFlyer said.
 But even though On the Job Ministries was approved, DeFlyer said she was frustrated with the delay in making progress on the new building.
 “Right now, we’re waiting for certain building permits,” DeFlyer said. “We’re gonna roll in good faith because we can’t afford to go through the winter with the building not weatherized.”
 At least one business has made an improvement under the grant, however.
 Liz Ettestad, owner of West Side Bazaar, said the landlord applied for and received money for a new door that was installed about a month ago, replacing a less energy-efficient model.
 "It was an older wooden door and there was quite an air gap underneath," Ettestad said.
 She said she was unaware of future plans to use more of the grant money.
Edited by Kevin Freiheit