Sacramento offering up to $240,000 in grants to make improvements to some small businesses
SACRAMENTO – Help is coming for businesses on Del Paso Boulevard with the City of Sacramento offering grants for "for-profit" businesses to make big improvements in North Sacramento.
"It just feels like it got neglected a little," said the owner of Lil Joe's, John Fierro, who took over the business that's been on the boulevard for over 70 years in 2021.
He said he remembers the days of Old North Sacramento when it was a thriving part of town, but times have changed.
It is why the City of Sacramento is using the last $1.7 million of its COVID funding to offer up to $240,000 in grants for North Sacramento for-profit businesses to make store-front improvements, get new equipment or transform vacant space.
"It gives them a bridge to where they are in their current business operations to being more on the cutting edge and competitive in the marketplace," said city councilmember for North Sacramento District 2, Roger Dickinson.
The area has been riddled with crime in the past, but Dickinson said the city sees a need to invest in it.
"I don't look at the boulevard as being particularly unsafe, but we have an image issue," Dickinson said. "This is an area we are focusing on, and we'd like to see others come in with private investment."
Owner of King Cong, Cong Nguyen, has been working on transforming the image of the boulevard for the past eight years with his brewery.
"Every time we feel like we get momentum on the boulevard with new businesses things kind of change and some of them don't make it," Nguyen said.
He plans to apply for the grants to make tenant improvements like adding a large cold box and increasing the hood in the kitchen to provide more services to customers.
The help is exactly what he and other owners have been asking for.
"I am going to apply for the grants because it helps me keep this building staying always Lil Joe's," Fierro said.
The Del Paso Boulevard Partnership told CBS13 it's already seeing an uptick in new businesses and new property owners this year. The grants are just one more step to restoring Old North Sacramento to its former glory.
Applications for the grant will be upon until Feb. 28. Dickinson said he hopes businesses will start getting awarded the grants by the early summer.
