Today, Mountain BizWorks announced total grantee impacts from the first round of Asheville-Buncombe Rebuilding Together Grant Fund, which provided grants of up to $25,000 to local Buncombe County-based small businesses severely impacted by Hurricane Helene. In a model of post-Helene collaboration, Buncombe County, the City of Asheville, the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, and Mountain BizWorks awarded $4,070,755 in grant funding for 339 small businesses, though the amount of unfunded need remains significant.
Applicants reported total economic damages of $139.9 million and physical damages of $75.7 million, totaling $215.6 million from 844 submissions. Of that, the program awarded $4,070,755 million in grant funding this round. This leaves $211 million in unmet small business impacts and 505 small business applicants without an award at this time. The chart below illustrates the current level of grants (green) and scale of the overall Helene-caused business losses (dark orange).
Mountain BizWorks administered the grants as part of a community collaboration of funders and partners working to support local businesses through the Helene disaster. Funding contributors included Buncombe County, the City of Asheville, the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce through their Mountain Strong campaign, and Mountain BizWorks through its WNC Strong initiative. The partners recognize that pressing unmet needs remain and are working to secure additional funding for future grant rounds.
Supporting Severely Impacted Businesses Throughout Buncombe County
The Asheville-Buncombe Rebuilding Together Grants Program aimed to support small businesses most impacted by the disaster – physically and economically – and to reach all geographic areas and small business sectors within Buncombe County.
To accomplish this, grantees were required to submit information in line with key selection criteria such as:
- Level of Helene impact
- Pre-Helene financial health of the business
- Business longevity
- Reopening plan
- Local ownership
The businesses awarded ranged from single-employee sole proprietorships to well-known restaurants, arts businesses, manufacturers, and retailers. From the time of storm through the time of application, the total applicant pool showed a loss of 2,146 jobs, representing a roughly 38 percent decrease from pre-Helene levels. The awards provided in this first round of grant funding will help retain 2,084 local jobs, and plan to recover and rehire an additional 1,527 employees over the coming year.
“We are so sincerely appreciative and this will help us tremendously at The Market Place Restaurant,” said grant awardee William Dissen, Executive Chef and Owner. “It has been one of the hardest times ever to operate a restaurant in downtown Asheville, and the grant funds helped us to keep things afloat. We are excited about the future for our restaurant and for Asheville.”
Awardees represented the span of Buncombe County, with grants made in 22 zip codes. Funding also reached hard-hit communities across the county, including Alexander, Arden, Asheville, Barnardsville, Black Mountain, Candler, Fairview, Leicester, Swannanoa, Weaverville, and Woodfin.
The program focused on small businesses, with 74 percent of awardees owning businesses with 10 or fewer employees. Ninety-one percent of those awarded had 25 or fewer employees, supporting the local businesses that make our region a great place to live and work.
Awardees were included across sectors that make up our local economy. Most represented categories include: Food/Beverage, Arts & Entertainment, Retail, Manufacturing, Construction, Healthcare, and Service industries.
In alignment with the selection criteria listed above, the strategy ensured funds were awarded to businesses that had the most impact and least ability to recover without additional support. The awardee pool closely mirrors the demographic makeup and geographic distribution of applicants, and also reflects the program’s focus on Historically Underutilized Businesses, including those owned by veterans, women, people of color, and low-to-moderate income individuals.
One grant recipient, Suzy Phillips of Gypsy Queen Cuisine shared, “To me, receiving a grant served as a vote of confidence and validation in our business…[it had] a positive impact on us, and the community, by keeping all my staff employed and off of unemployment. It allowed me to remain open and focused on other aspects of the business.”
The Ongoing Need for Additional Small Business Relief
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), 40 percent of companies do not reopen after a disaster, and another 25 percent fail within one year. “We know every dollar deployed will help our beloved local businesses in this critical period – and that’s essential,” shared Matt Raker, Executive Director of Mountain BizWorks.
“The Asheville-Buncombe Rebuilding Together Grant Fund has been an invaluable tool, and a great example of how deploying intentional, collaborative resources can turn the tides on the dire FEMA statistics related to small business failure after a disaster,” continued Raker. “Further, $211 million in unfunded losses highlight the ongoing need for more grants to support a robust recovery and to prevent a generation of economic decline.”
For more Hurricane Helene business recovery resources, including loan information and the latest grants, visit wncstrongtogether.org.
