AVON LAKE, Ohio — Businesses come and businesses go. It’s a simple platitude, but much more meaningful in this crisis year of COVID-19 and protest marches, sometimes accompanied by looting and other property crimes.
What’s a city economic development director to do?
Ted Esborn, economic development director for Avon Lake, has taken on the task of talking — and listening — to local businesses.
“I started a campaign about the beginning of April to talk to as many businesses as I could about economic development,” he said. “We have about 300 businesses in Avon Lake. I correspond with as many as I can, too.”
Through his efforts, he has gotten a picture of “what it’s been like for the businesses out there.”
On the one hand, he said, “… The financial impact is huge. Revenue for everyone has been decimated. But on other hand, there has been, so far, an astounding attitude for folks to stay alive.
“They know they may continue to face possible breaking points in the future, but in most cases they are finding ways to stay alive. They use the resources available. Even though it is a grim time and my conversations with most businesses are oftentimes bleak yet, in most cases, they are hanging in there.”
In March and April, “I was hearing what they wanted most was a timeframe for reopening,” Esborn said. “They couldn’t plan without knowing when they could get back to business. That started to change and take shape in late April.”
Since then, he said, through May, optimism was spurred when Gov. Mike DeWine said that about 95 percent of businesses could reopen.
But challenges continue to loom — many think until a vaccine is discovered and distributed.
“Now they are in a place where they are trying to figure out how to operate within guidelines,” said Esborn.
Even the Ford Assembly Plant, the city’s largest employer, is in the same fix as all the others, he noted, including government and non-profit organizations.
But guidelines aren’t the only problem. The virus is the biggest problem of all. Esborn mentioned the patriarch of a family manufacturing business in the city.
“He got the virus in early April,” said Esborn. “But, good news, he has recovered now and is back with the company.”
Esborn points to the city’s website, which has a wealth of information and resources to aid businesses. Visit https://www.avonlake.org/residents/coronavirus/business-support for many resources the city has pulled together, such as the following:
• Minority Micro-enterprise Grant Program: Up to $10,000 for small minority- and women-owned businesses with 10 or fewer employees. To be eligible, businesses must have been certified as a Minority Business Enterprise or woman-owned EDGE-certified business as of Feb. 29, 2020; have 10 or fewer employees and up to $500,000 in annual revenue; and have not received funding under the federal CARES Act.
• Ohio PPE (Personal Protection and Equipment) Retooling and Reshoring Grant Program: Up to $500,000 for Ohio businesses to retool or reshore (return business to the U.S.) PPE production. Twenty percent of the available $20 million is set aside for manufacturers with fewer than 25 employees.
Read more from the Sun Sentinel.
