The Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation Is Helping Businesses During COVID-19

Many Fresno businesses are going through rough times as the small business industry struggles through the coronavirus pandemic.

There has been some local and state-wide effort to provide relief to businesses. Unfortunately, many minority-owned businesses in Fresno face barriers when it comes to receiving that financial aid.

"It's hard to pay bills. Bills keep piling up if we are indoor or outdoor. They don't know what the situation is," Kathy Hernandez, manager of Tacos Tijuana in Fresno, told ABC30. "That's what's difficult, cutting hours for our employees, employees that have been with them from the beginning."

Tacos Tijuana was one of the many businesses able to receive assistance from the Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation.

The foundation has helped Fresno and Fresno County give out over $2.5 million in grants, according to ABC30.

They have reached out to businesses in rural communities like Firebaugh, San Joaquin and found that language and technology can be barriers for minority-businesses looking for pandemic relief.

"We were able to go there and walk through their cities and start telling small businesses, look, you need to apply," said Dora Westerlund with Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation. "We handhold the information to them. We were able to help them fill it out."

Many businesses like Tacos Tijuana have been able to pay their rent and employees with the grant money.

The Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation hopes to help more businesses across the Central Valley as the pandemic continues.

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