Cypress Funds Classes for Entrepreneurs, Waives Development Fees
Cypress officials are looking to drum up more tax revenue using federal COVID bailout dollars to fund programs aimed at helping small business owners grow and market their shops as well as waive thousands of dollars in development fees for entrepreneurs.
The programs are part of a city pandemic recovery plan fueled by nearly $12 million in COVID federal bailout money – with nearly $1 million earmarked for recovery and support programs to help businesses in Cypress.
On Monday, council members unanimously approved the second phase of their programs – allocating about half a million dollars to extend their development waiver fee program till the end of the year and fund two educational programs to help small businesses.
Alicia Velasco, the city’s planning director, said phase two programs are aimed at growing and retaining businesses in the city and moving past the pandemic.
“The goal is to maintain and grow Cypress’s competitive edge as a business friendly city and ideally generate tax and other indirect revenues,” she said at Monday’s meeting.
Officials thanked staff for their creativity to come up with programs to help businesses in the city who have struggled during the pandemic.
“I’m very interested in tracking the results from the Cypress university program. I can’t wait to see what the long term impact is going to be and am very supportive of the extension of the fee waivers,” said Councilwoman Anne Hertz Mallari.
So far, Velasco said, the development fee waiver program has helped over 300 businesses.
“Anecdotally, I have heard from businesses that that program is what made them choose the City of Cypress over other cities when they were looking to relocate,” she told council members.
The program was one of the city’s early recovery initiatives bolstered by $500,000 in funding and was designed to waive up to $20,000 in fees for any business that requires a city permit – all stemming from the COVID federal bailout.
The additional $180,000 in funding approved by council members Monday is expected to keep the program going till the end of 2024.
Cypress University
A majority of the cost of the second phase of business aid programs, $325,000, is going towards what city staff are calling the Cypress University program to help over 50 small businesses in the city .
It entails two educational programs, developed in partnership with the Small Business Development Center at Cal State Fullerton, that business owners can apply to participate in.
In order to qualify, businesses will have to have operated for at least a year, have a physical store location, have between 2-100 employees and be in good standing with the city and the state.
The first program dubbed – Level Up! Digital Marketing program – is aimed at helping people advertise their business online.
It includes 4 classes, a consultation with the Small Business Development Center to come up with a marketing plan as well as a $2,000 grant to put that plan into action.
“This is a very popular program for the SBDC. They’re currently running similar programs for the city of San Clemente and Tustin and typically have 35 participants in the class,” Velasco said.
The second program is called the Next Up! Business Growth Program is aimed at helping businesses grow and teaches entrepreneurs how to improve their finance, advertising and workforce management skills.
The program is 6 classes, a consultation with the center to create a business growth plan, and those that graduate get a $10,000 grant.
Velasco said typically businesses with 25 employees or least gravitate toward the program, that it has a 100% graduation rate and that it is currently being run in Anaheim.
Phase I
Last year, city officials approved the first phase of support programs which included about $150,000 towards a development fee refund program where qualifying business owners who made improvements to their stores could get up to $7,000 in permit refunds.
Refund program is similar to the fee waiver program that was extended but was designed to retroactively refunded the development fees that were paid by some entrepreneurs during a four month window in 2022.
[Read: Cypress Looks to Bolster Businesses Who Lost Foot Traffic During Pandemic]
The first phase also included $190,000 in funding for a Business Park Local Catering program in which $500 gift cards were given out to businesses in the business park to be given out to employees as a token of appreciation.
The cards are geo-fenced to only work in Cypress.
Phase one also included $25,000 in funding to help business owners looking to expand their business navigate building, safety and fire code through the help of technical consultants.
Velasco said the refund program has come to an end but the other two programs are still running.
“These economic development programs have been very successful and gave businesses in the city an incentive to invest during the pandemic,” she said.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
•••
Since you’ve made it this far,
You obviously care about local news and value good journalism. Help us become 100% reader funded with a tax deductible donation. For as little as $5 a month you can help us reach that goal.
