BY KADIE TAYLOR
THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA — Main Street America and American Express are collaborating to offer eligible small business owners the chance to receive a $20,000 grant through the Amex Shop Small Grants Program. These grants will help small businesses innovate, grow and support their communities. Applications are already open and will close on Jan. 16 at 11:59 p.m. CT. Recipients will be notified in March and will have a six-month grant completion period.
“[There will be] 250 $20,000 grants going to go out across the nation, and you have to have the project completed in six months,” said Opelika Main Street Executive Director Kelsey Sullivan. “That’s a pretty quick turnaround when you’re thinking spend the $20,000, but sometimes it’s easy to spend $20,000, especially if you have a need — and you know that need. And that’s the one thing that they mentioned multiple times, which is that it has to be a ready-to-go project. You have to be able to complete it in six months.”
Sullivan said many small businesses in the community would qualify to apply for one of these grants, and there are many ways businesses could use the money within a six-month time span.
“The eligibility requirements weren’t too crazy,” she said. “Essentially, you just have to be a for-profit business that has been around before Jan. 1 of 2024, you must operate out of a brick and mortar location and you can’t have more than 20 full-time employees. That really hits most of our small businesses, and you don’t have to be a member of Main Street, but businesses that aren’t should join… [Eligible grants can include] large capital project expenses, marketing, refresh, adding a new revenue stream — to get your supply ready to add into your current streams — creating or improving a community-centric spaces — like a patio, performance stage or something that’s gonna bring people together. So, really kind of vague for what you can spend that $20,000 on.”
With hopes to see these grants help many businesses throughout the community, Sullivan said she wants to encourage local business owners to find a project and apply.
“I encourage all of our businesses within Opelika to find a project — you never know if you’re going to get funded,” she said. “I am here to help, help them write this grant and help to find everything that they need. Because I want them to get $20,000 — I want multiple people to get $20,000 to spend downtown. It would be great, and that goes a long way. It can help them cover the cost of something that they probably didn’t budget for or something to make their business better.”
Sullivan said she wants to remind business owners that Opelika Main Street is here to help, and becoming a member helps connect entrepreneurs to resources and support.
“There’s time to think about these things and then to get with Main Street — this is what we do,” she said. “We’re here to help with this, this is part of being a member of Main Street, of being in a Main Street Community — you have access to people and resources to be able to apply for these grants and to hopefully get them and be selected, we want a strong application when it comes to any grant.”
For more information, reach out to Opelika Main Street at www.opelikamainstreet.org or apply for the Amex Shop Small Grants Program at mainstreet.org/about/partner-collaborations/amex-shop-small-grant-program.
