A family-owned coffee shop, a floral truck, and a bait and tackle business are among 25 small businesses across southwest Florida awarded grants this week from Verizon Business, totaling $250,000. The money will provide them with critical relief as recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Ian continue.
“Long after the storm has passed, the devastation caused by Ian continues to unfold for small businesses, many of which lost everything and have had to start over,” said Aparna Khurjekar, Chief Revenue Officer, Business Markets and SaaS at Verizon Business. “Our hope is that these grants can help these small businesses with resources they urgently need to recover.”
Hurricane Ian struck Florida as a catastrophic Category 4 storm on September 28, killing over 100 people and causing damage to infrastructure, homes and other property that’s estimated to exceed $50 billion. Thousands of southwest Florida small businesses were affected by the storm.
To aid in the recovery, Verizon partnered with Collaboratory, a local nonprofit community-problem solving organization in Southwest Florida, and Florida TaxWatch, a nonprofit organization that serves as the “eyes and ears” of Florida taxpayers and promotes economic development across the state. The groups collaborated on the $10,000 grant program. Collaboratory and Florida TaxWatch worked with community leaders to select the final 25 small businesses from the hundreds of applicants and nominees.
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