ALEXANDRIA, Va. — For more than a decade, Cameron Café in Alexandria has been a go-to staple for the community. Owner Dayan Worku managed to survive the pandemic, but like many other small businesses in the city, he understands the struggle to make ends meet.
Worku joined dozens of minority-owned businesses in Alexandria interested in the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) Small Business Grant Program. The grant set aside $250,000 for qualifying business owners.
“While many businesses have struggled and are still recovering in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, these hardships are particularly felt by Black, Indigenous and people of color (“BIPOC”) owned businesses due to structural barriers and discriminatory financial lending practices," the City of Alexandria said in a statement announcing the program.
Worku, who qualified and was excited for the opportunity, hoped to replace old equipment.
“We could definitely use the funds,” Worku said. “Some businesses are really struggling.”
A couple of miles down the street, Aesha Ray of Envy Us Beauty Supply was hoping to use the money to help her business grow. She opened her store in October 2018 because there was a need for her business in the community.
Unlike other businesses, she had to think creatively to survive during the pandemic with lack of assistance from the city and federal government.
“I was just in the fight or flight mode because it was doing whatever I could to save my business,” Ray said. “I did feel like there were a lot of businesses that received funding who really didn’t need it as badly and didn’t suffer in the ways that we were suffering.”
The program would offer between $1,000 and $7,000 in grants.
However, before the city could open up the application process, a local business called Tridentis, LLC filed a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit alleged the program was racially discriminatory and violated the Fourteenth Amendment.
The owner, who is white, says Tridentis met qualifications other than the color of his skin.
“This program is blatantly illegal,” the lawsuit read.
Amid the lawsuit, on Feb. 13, the city decided to scrap the program.
“Upon review of the lawsuit and the program, we have decided we will not launch the program as currently proposed," a statement said. "Instead, we will review options to use this funding to meet the needs of our diverse small business community in a more comprehensive and sustainable way, and look forward to launching a program that achieves that goal."
It was a disappointing and disheartening decision for Worku and Ray.
“I would ask people to have a heart and understand that as underrepresented business owners, we work really hard and sacrifice a lot to bring our businesses to the public,” Ray said.
Nearly a month after the decision to stop the launch, Councilwoman Alyia Gaskins said business owners are still calling and wondering about the future of the funds.
The city manager recently proposed an additional $500,000 in resources to support diverse businesses, pulled an internal team to reassess the criteria and grant size, and analyze other similar programs implemented across the country.
“We want to make sure that any resources that we put into the program are able to go towards that, and that remains our focus,” Gaskins said. “We have to make sure we’ve done the due diligence that we need so we don’t have this type of challenge again.”
“What want to do is to serve businesses and that we needed to take a step back and figure out how we best do that,” she added.