Welcome to Spring! We have had a great few day of sunny skies that sure do feel good for the soul!

A year into the pandemic driven economic downturn and the team at GGHI still actively working on relief options for businesses as well as providing technical assistance to businesses as they navigate reopening standards and assistance options.

Starting April 9th, the Working Washington 4 Business Relief Grant portal opened for applications. This grant is administered by the Washington State Department of Commerce and is one of the most robust business relief programs to date.  Business eligibility and the impact of funds received in earlier rounds is nuanced in this round, but we encourage all businesses to explore this opportunity.  The online portal with a depth of resources can be found here. There is a staffed support line and technical assistance is offered in 7 additional languages. As of last Friday, Grays Harbor County had less than 50 completed applications in the system (this does not include those applications in-process). The portal closes Friday, April 9th so do not delay in getting your application submitted.

This past month our business retention and expansion responsiveness looked a bit different as an emergent need for our business community came from a facility emergency rather than a pandemic related emergency.  The announcement of the closure of the Shoppes at Riverside rallied a large amount of community response to support the displaced tenants.  Throughout March GGHI hosted a weekly Resource Roundtable bringing together financial institutions, realtors, financial services providers, the Washington State Department of Commerce, and public officials of all levels to discuss needs and concerns related to the displacement and relocation.

We wrapped up the weekly calls last week and we are preparing our final report on what was learned, what is needed and what might be next, but a few key takeaways and reflections are outlined below.

  1. Local small businesses value being in Grays Harbor. Our business owners are incredibly proud of their place in the community and how they have grown their enterprises. It is no accident that they have chosen to locate their businesses here and want to remain here.
  2. There is a large amount of empty commercial space in the Port cities. However, many spaces need a significant number of improvements to be ready for a tenant. The City of Aberdeen’s Good Neighbors Revolving Loan Fund is one example of a resource for landlords to improve the façade of their building.  Can and will other resources and incentives be created to support move-in ready commercial space?
  3. Lease negotiations and landlord/tenant communications can be hard and confusing. Training and technical assistance in these areas is important. In Grays Harbor we have a top-notch resource in the Small Business Development Center and local officer Mia Johnstone.  If you are a business and have not established a relationship with Mia please make it a priority, she can provide you guidance on navigating issues related to small, but significant details in the financial agreements of commercial leases.
  4. Grays Harbor County has the resources to help small business! On most calls we had more resource providers than we did tenants because the community truly cares about the success and safe landing of these displaced businesses.  Throughout the response process, we did not have a single occurrence of having to refer a tenant to a resource out of county for assistance. This is a good reminder that “shopping local” applies to professional services as well. Check out the GGHI Online Member Directory to find the professional services you need, right here in Grays Harbor.

There is more relief aid and industry specific resources coming to our community soon. Please monitor our COVID 19 Resources page and our social channels as we share all this updated information on this site.