The Community Loan Fund of the Capital Region is proud to continue our COVID-19 Small Business Continuity Program.
We would not be able to provide these grant awards without the generous support of our funders: Neil and Jane Golub, John and Beverly Petiet, Capital Region Chamber, Berkshire Bank, Citizens Bank, KeyBank, as well as other community organizations and municipalities.
With their support, we have been able to make awards to 18 businesses from across the Capital Region, representing a range of industries.
Here’s some of the grant recipients that you just have to meet!
Grant amount: $2,500 for operating expenses. “We were so surprised when we got the call that we were awarded a grant from Community Loan Fund. It couldn’t have come at a better time. This unprecedented moment in history has been a bit stressful. This grant will help to alleviate some of that. It allows us to keep our staff at regular hours. They have been so flexible with ever changing guide lines, and thanks to their adaptability, it has been easier to make the changes needed. It allows me the time to find new ideas to serve our customers. Thank you again for this grant: the small business community is very lucky to have an organization like Community Loan Fund in our corner,” says Shelley Albright, Owner of City Line Cafe and Deli in Watervliet.
Grant amount: $2,500 for operating expenses for this production studio in the South End of Albany. “This grant means hope and a step toward sustainability for Image Quilt,” says founder Omonike Akinyemi. “We will be able to continue to develop the films, dance and theater projects that empower people to better live their lives. This year our ambition is to create a historical fiction film that ties the histories of Africa and the Caribbean in an evocative way…. we will stay on track and continue the creating of this project virtually and in outdoor spaces until able to film.” Akinyemi will also use the funding to pay needed stipends to staff to continue to develop and present dance and film arts classes.
Grant amount: $1,500 for operating expenses including rent. “Because of the grant that Micropolis Cooperative, Inc. received from the Community Loan Fund of the Capital Region, we are able to cover rent, liability insurance and other expenses for the three months that the art gallery was closed. During the last week of June we were able to hang a new show of artwork in the gallery and on July 1 our artist volunteers returned to working in the gallery,” says Linda Hinkle, one of the founding members of Micropolis. The cooperative art gallery was founded in 2011 in space inside the Mohawk Valley Cooperative. Since then, Micropolis has held a “Meet the Artists Reception” every two months— debuting a show of new work by its member artists as well as featuring the artwork of an invited guest. Over the years the gallery also has hosted a variety of special community events including “The Recycled Paint-Out,” held with support from the Fulton County Department of Solid Waste, “Soup-er Art” in conjunction with the Mohawk Harvest Soup Competition, and their Fifth Anniversary Juried Art Show open to all artists within a 100 mile radius of Gloversville.
