SCHENECTADY -- Livingston Energy Group is among those applying for the new grant. They say in these times all the support helps.
"We're still paying all our bills, we're still keeping all our employees, we're still doing everything we can to move forward," said partner Jason Zarillo.
Livingston Energy Group is still working, planning, and serving clients, but the shutdown means that the construction work has stopped.
The company in Schenectady does efficiency upgrades for properties big and small, including finding funding incentives, and they're doing a lot of electric vehicle charging stations now.
"They'll be here, they'll be in downtown Schenectady, they'll be on Route 7 in Schenectady, Central Avenue, Wolf Road, we've got a variation of sites," said General Manager Steve Coons. "We'll be ready to go as soon as we can get people to work."
They're among the many applying for a $5,000 grant from the Save Small Business Fund, which is administered by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. To qualify, businesses must have 3 - 20 employees and be in what is considered an "economically vulnerable community." To see if you qualify, you can put in your business zip code on the website. It's help during a pandemic. One interesting result of the shutdown is that people are seeing less smog, less pollution-- and what a green business like Livingston Energy can do. "It's all reinforcing to people that oh wait it does actually make a difference if I drive an electric car versus drive a gas car. because you can actually see a real-world example," said Zarillo.
"We are very confident in what we're working on," said partner Schuyler Poukish. "We're passionate about it. We don't want this to derail us with all the work that we have done and the direction we're going in."
According to the Save Small Business Fund, grants will be awarded weekly until the money runs out. Once businesses are approved, they say it will take three to five days to process the payment. Reported by Kumi Tucker, WNYT News Channel 13, April 20, 2020
Source: https://wnyt.com/schenectady-new-york-news/save-small-business-fund-grants-5000-money-livingston-energy-group-schenectady-company-support-help-/5706208/?cat=10114