The Stand
By Violet Lazarus
The Syracuse Economic Development Corporation awarded 39 small, local businesses with COVID-19 relief funds this week, eight of which went to businesses located on or near the South Side.
According to Mayor Ben Walsh, more than half the recipients of funding are minority-owned businesses and 22 are women- and/or minority-owned businesses.
Dr. Julianne Malveaux, celebrated economist, fittingly delivered a talk at Syracuse University the Wednesday before the city announcement on economics of racial equality.
“We lost about 100,000 Black men in the labor market and about 600,000 Black women,” Malveaux said, noting losses related to the pandemic. “That’s an alarming number. They just dropped out of the labor market. They are just not there.”
Malveaux emphasized the importance of targeted aid specifically for the Black community, both when discussing COVID-19 relief and general relief for the country’s history of violence perpetrated against the Black community.
The relief grants come as New York approaches the one-year mark of shut downs. The city is unsure exactly how many businesses closed their doors this year but the economic effects of the pandemic are reflected in the myriad of dark store fronts.
Tajuana Cerutti, a representative from the mayor’s office, said that they’ve been doing their best to distribute available funds and waive fees that further encumbered business owners, like the fee for sidewalk seating and certain permit fees. This second round of grants will bring the total dollar amount of relief to Syracuse small businesses to $1.3 million.
“There was much done to assist mainly through Neighborhood Business Development and the Department of Public Works along with the central permits office,” she said.
All About Me Childcare Center, Art of Message/Spa @ 500, La’Tonia Creative Specialists, Salt City Coffee, Sound Univercity, Southside Fitness, Time 2 Eat Catering and Yvette Edwards Day Care are all businesses located near the South Side that were given the grants, which ranged from $2,250 to $10,000.
Unfortunately, with the city itself experiencing a decrease in revenue, and business owners unable to count on consistent income or relief, these grants can be seen as a temporary fix.
According to a study by Morning Consult, only 42% of the public feels safe dining out. The Onondaga County Health Department is in charge of vaccine roll out, not the city of Syracuse, but Cerutti said the mayor’s office is willing to aid and assist with vaccination efforts.
Until vaccines are more widely available, local businesses, especially those owned by minorities, will need strong consumer and governmental support.
“With focused outreach by the city of Syracuse, nearly two thirds of businesses are minority- and women-owned,” the release announcing the grant read.
“Economics is a study of who gets what when, where and why – how the pie is sliced,” Malveaux said in her virtual talk. “We can’t talk about the slicing of the pie from a race neutral place unless we talk about history.”
Violet Lazarus is a senior studying journalism at the Newhouse School
