Ten small businesses from the Valley area received $10,000 grants this month to help promote their post-lockdown recovery, awarded by the Drachkovitch Family Foundation and TMC Community Capital, a California online nonprofit microlender.The Valley Rising Small Business Recovery Fund has provided no-strings-attached funds to help small businesses get back on their feet in Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys, Encino, North Hollywood, Toluca Lake and Burbank.
“From local restaurants and retail storefronts to neighborhood salons and coffee shops, over the last year, we’ve seen the pandemic take an economic and emotional toll on far too many small businesses in our San Fernando Valley community,” Stephanie Drachkovitch, a television producer who formerly worked at both Warner Bros. Entertainment and Walt Disney Co. in Burbank, said in a statement. Together with her husband, Rasha Drachkovitch, they founded 44 Blue Productions and Drachkovitch Family Foundation.The Drachkovitch Family Foundation donated $100,000 to fund the grants, which were distributed by TMC Community Capital after a lottery of eligible applications.“Many small business owners have had to give up their brick-and-mortar locations and move their businesses completely online, or, as we see in our neighborhood, many have had to close down permanently,” Drachkovitch’s statement continued. “This is why we launched the Valley Rising Small Business Recovery Fund in partnership with TMC Community Capital. We wanted to support local entrepreneurs that create the spaces, places and connections that make our neighborhoods feel like home.” Brick-and-mortar businesses with fewer than 20 employees were permitted to apply for the grants and were required to provide proof that their previously profitable businesses had been impacted by the pandemic. Of the businesses selected, four were owned by women and eight were minority-owned.
“My parents taught me to save for a rainy day, but no one told me it might rain for a year and a half,” Robert Shabkie, owner of Robert Ellis Inc., a high-end women’s clothing store located in Studio City, said in a statement.
Shabkie’s boutique was one of the small businesses to receive a grant after he was forced to close his store during the pandemic. His revenues have fallen to less than a third of what they were before business restrictions were put in place last year.“This grant could not have come at a better time,” Shabkie said.While the names of all grantees were not announced, additional businesses that received funds included Sun Spa Tanning in Sherman Oaks, My Sister & I Catering in Van Nuys and Neko Stop in Burbank.
Small Firms Are Lifted By Recovery Grants
