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Richard F. Burkhart, CPA and Salvatore J. Pizzanelli, CPA, JD, PFS
The talented team at Burkhart Pizzanelli
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Jason Vásquez envisions his business growing and someday being run by his son, Nazareh.
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help address the stigma attached to opioid addiction; work is expected to behind on that production soon.
Bermudez’s story is one of many that help bring to life
the work going on at the LEDC, a new agency that Business- West profiled last year. Its mission, in simple terms, is to help employees become employers, said Andrew Melendez, direc- tor of Operations for the LEDC, and enable small businesses to take the next step.
It does this through a unique model focused on everything from these mini-grants to training programs offered by those coaches that will focus on everything from how to qualify for a business loan to workforce training to mental wellness, and much more.
As for the grants, they are indeed small, with amounts vary- ing from $1,000 to $3,000 in the first few rounds. But small businesses just getting off the ground can use such funds to take important steps forward, Melendez
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said.
“Capital infusions — putting money
into the hands of small business owners — even if it’s only $1,000 or $2,000, can often make a huge impact, whether it’s
a new business or even an existing busi- ness,” he explained, adding that the grants are funded through $450,000 in overall support awarded to the LEDC by the state. “They can put that money to use in many different and important ways.”
Such was the case with Pedro Arroyo, who used his $2,500 grant to secure new and better signage for his business, Jugui- tos Healthy Grab & Go, at its new home on State Street in Springfield.
Arroyo and his sister, Elizabeth, saw
a unmet need in Springfield for a place where people could get healthy foods in
a hurry and moved forward to meet it, despite the pandemic, which was descend- ing on the area just as they were getting started.
“Capital infusions
— putting money into the hands
of small business owners — even if it’s only $1,000 or $2,000, can often make a huge impact, whether it’s a new business or even an existing business.”
“We saw an opportunity to provide
something that wasn’t really available any-
where in the city,” he noted. “We came together, took a chance and said, ‘let’s try this.’
The stories behind these businesses, and people taking chances — and the grants they’ve obtained — help shed impor- tant light on the important work being done by the LEDC, and how it is changing the business landscape in all kinds of ways.
Progress Report
It’s called the unrestricted construction supervisor’s license.
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