PACE Business Development Center

The Small Business Rental Assistance Program is launching soon on Monday, April 18! The City of Los Angeles will provide $12 million in grants to eligible businesses located in the City that need financial assistance to aid in their recovery from COVID-19. Grants will be of up to $15,000 or six months of back rent, whichever is less. Applications are due May 2.

The grant may be used for rent payments that are in arrears that were incurred on or after March 1, 2020. To be eligible, businesses must be for-profit and have a brick-and-mortar storefront location located and operated within Los Angeles city limits. Businesses must also provide lease agreements and proof confirming that back rent is owed. For more information, please visit https://rebrand.ly/rentassist22

Economic & Workforce Development Department

Research Participation Opportunity!

The University of Delaware is seeking to connect with newly self-employed women or female business owners for a research study that will be conducted within the next few weeks.

Research Participation Opportunity Details (With Compensation If Eligible):

Recruiting self-employed women to participate in the study, Identity prototyping of newly self-employed women, which aims to explore the professional identities of women in the United States who have transitioned into self-employment full time within the past 3.5 years.

Participate in this study in one or two individual phone or Zoom 60-minute interviews to share your identity-related experiences and perspectives, including how you relate to how others experienced this time. The purpose of the interview is to hear more about how self-employed women or women business owners experience the transition from traditional employment into their new careers.

Participants will be compensated with a $50 gift card for each 60-minute transcription review completed. The information learned from this study may help other self-employed women to understand how they might experience or perceive their transition into self-employment.

If interested, please email Stephanie E. Raible at [email protected]. Please share with your friends if they are eligible!

PACE Mid-City BusinessSource Center - Women Entrepreneur Angella Cole's Success Story

PACE Mid-City BusinessSource Center (BSC) helped pastry chef Ms. Angella Cole successfully obtain a microloan to expand her business, Angella's Sweet Spot.

In May 2021, Angella reached out to PACE Mid-City BSC, to seek strategies and guidance to grow her company. Angella met with PACE Business Counselor Supranee May to discuss her business plan and needs. Supranee guided Angella in her expectations regarding business growth and cash flow. Together, they created a plan that included marketing strategy and financial literacy.

With these tools, Angella was able to obtain a First Choice Bank microloan. She also secured a credit card to build assets and forge a path forward to financial success.

The microloan will be a tremendous help in establishing Angella's satellite location for selling her sweet treats at the "Grab and Go" counter at the Hilton Hotel Los Angeles. The treats are also featured on the hotel's room service menu.

The infusion of working capital will also allow Angella to hire extra staff, buy supplies and ingredients for her signature gluten-free and vegan cupcakes, cookies, biscotti, sweet loaves, birthday cakes, and other desserts. She said she looks forward to opening her first brick-and-mortar store in the future.

"I'm extremely grateful to PACE business counselor Supranee May and the PACE Mid-City BSC for their encouragement of me fulfilling my dreams and for allowing me to share my story with other small business entrepreneurs," Angella said.

Do you want to be the next successful women entrepreneur like Angella? Get the help you need from PACE Mid-City BSC: http://pacelabdc.org/pacebscs

PACE Central West BusinessSource Center - Women Entrepreneur Aksarapak Bondu's Success Story

Ms. Aksarapak Bondu, a minority single mom from Thailand, immigrated to the USA in 2007 with her 3 children, 3 luggage, and only $6,000 in her pocket. The first year in the USA was the hardest time for her as she didn’t speak much English and didn’t have enough money for her family's daily expenses. As a strong woman who has high ambition, she didn’t want to ask for any support from anyone or welfare but did any legal work to live and tried her best to learn everything. She started earning by selling Thai costumes at the open market in the Fairfax area and working for Equinox Sports Club as a Massage Therapist.

Thanks to her strong effort and willingness to learn, she became more successful by opening her first business in Jan 2011 as a high-end Thai Spa in Westwood and another business in Jan 2013 as a Fancy Traditional Thai Costume in Hollywood with $300,000 annual revenues, and she has created 13 jobs for both businesses. Aksarapak also has built a high reputation in her Thai community by contributing to the community’s activities and sponsoring beauty contests.

With her ambition, she plans to open five Massage Spas in five years and increase more jobs for the communities, and she came to PACE Central West BusinessSource Center (BSC) for an SBA micro-loan. Her Loan Counselor, Mr. Phuong Le, not only helped her with a loan of $61,000 for her project of $144,000 but also provided her with technical assistance and employment information. Once approved, she started renovating, recruiting, and training her staff to get ready for the opening in the following month.

Do you want to be the next successful women entrepreneur like Aksarapak? Get the help you need from PACE Central West BSC: http://pacelabdc.org/pacebscs

Join our webinar Managing Debt on March 28, from 10 am to 11:30 pm (PST). You will learn how to recognize the signs of trouble and how to regain full control of your financials. Hosted by the Central West BusinessSource Center.

Topics will be covered:

• What is Debt.
• How Debt works
• Reducing Debt
• Dealing with Student Loan Debt
• Understanding Medical Debt
• Reducing High-Cost debt

RSVP Now at https://rebrand.ly/mdweb328