SCRANTON, Pa. — Earlier this week, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti announced the launch of a $560,000 Small Business Relief Program. It will support small businesses in Scranton that temporarily lost money during the pandemic.
"It's a wonderful thing. I mean, everybody downtown needs help at this point. I mean nothing's opened up, and any revenue right now is perfect," said Abe's Deli owner Renato Luongo.
The program offers two funding opportunities for eligible small businesses in the City of Scranton: grants of $2,500 per business and loans up to $20,000 per business.
Lackawanna County had a similar program offered to businesses, and the Scranton Running Company was one of the recipients.
"We don't know if and when it's going to settle in and is there going to be a second wave hopefully not so yeah, it came out a great time," said Scranton Running Company owner Matthew Byrne.
Coney Island Texas Lunch owner Brendan Bell says his business also took advantage of the county's grant opportunity and plans to apply for the city's program as well.
"We're still behind the eight ball right now because we're not opening, we're just doing, literally, less than half of our business. So, it absolutely will help," said Bell.
Businesses that took advantage of the county's program say that they were happy for the help, and while they may not need the help from the city's program, they're happy that it's there.
"Certainly grants, I would definitely jump on it as soon as you can, you know, absolutely, I would encourage everybody to take advantage of and apply," continued Byrne.
The city also set up a website devoted to the small business community in Scranton called ScrantonWorks.org. It has information on how to apply for the grants and loans as well as health and safety tips and those out of work because of the pandemic.
"If the city has got something set aside for its small businesses. I would say absolutely go for it because it's only there once and once it passes. You might regret it," continued Bell.
Funds will be given on a first-come, first-served basis.