St. Pete Catalyst; Published By: Veronica Brezina
Entrepreneurs in South St. Pete struggling to keep the lights on, or progress to the next step in expanding their business, now have a new funding source.
On the steps of St. Pete Greenhouse Tuesday morning, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch announced the rollout of the South St. Petersburg CRA (Community Redevelopment Area) Microfund program – a new accessible funding pot for business owners.
“Our business owners can use it to make targeted improvements without providing any upfront capital or matching,” Welch said. The CRA Microfund program will distribute a total investment that exceeds $1.35 million. The city will disburse the funds in increments over a four-application period.
In addition to the funding, St. Pete Greenhouse will be the “boots on the ground,” serving in a cohort capacity by pairing participating individuals with navigators to receive guidance in finance, marketing, sales and management.
City officials previously launched a commercial matching grant program for existing businesses in 2016. However, it had shortcomings and excluded a lot of other businesses vital to the CRA that were not able to take advantage of it because of a lack of capital access. Read more
