![]() “I know that our members were hurting, and they didn’t get anything.” “We acted quickly to get the applications in, and we thought we would’ve been up on the top,” Cortinas said. Cortinas said he found out through another nonprofit and immediately reached out to eligible association members. The association did not get an email or any notification of the grant when it first opened, even though it’s a registered nonprofit with 110 members. ![]() “There wasn’t enough money for all the restaurants.” “They’d rather help one or two people instead of 50 people,” Cortinas said. “It would mean the world to them,” Anton said, “to see Congress step up, do the right thing and help them.”ĭavid Cortinas, the president of the Latin Business Association in Pasco, said he’s shocked that some businesses ended up with millions while others got pennies in comparison or nothing at all. At least 90,000 restaurants and bars across the country have closed since the pandemic broke out two years ago, said the bill’s main sponsor, U.S. If passed, it would provide funding to all original applicants from the first round, plus an additional $13 billion for struggling business. House of Representatives voted to allocate $42 billion toward replenishing the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, and it now awaits a Senate vote. There’s a sliver of hope for the future of restaurants: The Restaurant Revitalization Fund grant program could receive a new influx of money. “I’ve talked to several of those folks who thought they were going to be OK and then had their heart broken a second time.” It’s heartbreaking when you hear those stories,” Anton said. “Those got put back in the stack and didn’t proportionately get the same amount of money back out. White male business owners in Texas and Tennesee also filed lawsuits, alleging the priority deadlines were discriminatory, later forcing the SBA to revoke thousands of previously awarded grants to priority restaurants. Millions more went to chains and franchises. Despite those efforts, the six largest grants in Washington were awarded to business owners in nonpriority groups. The SBA initially prioritized grants to self-identified restaurant owners of color, along with majority woman- and veteran-owned businesses, by giving those applicants a 21-day head start. This story is a part of Crosscut’s WA Recovery Watch, an investigative project tracking federal dollars in Washington state. “They submitted, they went through the process, we know how much they qualified for,” Anton said. Statewide, he said, almost 4,000 businesses applied and qualified for the grant but received nothing. Association President and CEO Anthony Anton said he expects another wave of closures if these restaurants don’t get financial support. The Washington Hospitality Association estimates at least 3,335 restaurants across the state shut down between January 2020 and May 2021. Within days of the application opening last summer, business owners requested more than $72 billion - about 2½ times the amount of available funds. Nearly 40% of that went to just 5% of applicants. Nationwide, only about a third of qualified applicants received a portion of the $28.6 billion in federal relief grant funds. The funds were intended to cover expenses accrued during the pandemic, yet thousands of businesses are still drowning in debt. Of the 145 businesses awarded more than $1 million, about 89% were located in the Seattle area.īut there wasn’t nearly enough to go around. SBA data shows the top 23 grants - worth between $3.3 million and $10 million each - all went to businesses in the Puget Sound. Seattle-based businesses received the largest grants statewide. As part of the American Rescue Plan Act, the Small Business Administration awarded $918 million in Restaurant Revitalization Fund grants to more than 3,200 restaurants in Washington state last year. One of the main reasons they’ve been able to avoid closing down is because of a $11,705 federal grant. Before the bar, Lozano spent 20 years selling cars, and now he plans to go back into car sales. To help shore up their finances, Gonzalez works overtime at her job in health care. “We're stuck in a building that we're paying for,” Lozano added, “so we have to keep it open.” We’re just making enough to pay the bills and pay the employees right now. “, it’s a lot tougher than what I thought. People would shoot up in here, but I cleaned that all out,” Lozano said. ![]() It’s a large open space with booths, two pool tables and even a jukebox. Lozano looked forward to revamping the bar, which has been around for more than 50 years. They bought Tipsys in Eastern Washington as a means of income for their children.
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