Habitat for Humanity, Republic Services Provide $150,000 in Grants to Help Small Businesses

Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity is providing grants to eight local businesses in North Minneapolis affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with support from the Republic Services Charitable Foundation.

The grants are unique for Habitat, which focuses on creating, preserving, and promoting affordable homeownership.

Teto Wilson, owner of Wilson’s Image Barbers & Stylists and creator of Black Love Rocks and Up Your Image fashion brands is a recipient of the Habitat for Humanity Republic Services grant. Photo from Teto Wilson’s Facebook page.

“Ensuring more families have access to the transformational power of homeownership will always be our primary focus,” said Chris Coleman, president & CEO at Twin Cities Habitat. “But to live our organizational values of being rooted in community and committed to anti-racism requires us to take a more holistic approach to our work. We know that everyone’s quality of life improves when community businesses can flourish and become sustainable, especially in neighborhoods that have historically not been invested in. That takes dedicated partners willing to provide support.”

Republic Services helps small businesses with its Committed to Serve initiative, which was launched last spring to help support the company’s employees, customers and communities through the pandemic. To help communities, the Republic Services Charitable Foundation provided charitable contributions to nonprofits to support small business revitalization projects across the country.

And the help came at just the right time for small business owners like Sammy McDowell, who runs Sammy’s Avenue Eatery on Broadway Ave. in North Minneapolis and opened Sammy’s Avenue Eatery 2 in Northeast Minneapolis in 2020 just before COVID-19 hit.

“The pandemic has taught us a lot,” said McDowell. “We had to think about how to do everything different. Now we’re a host kitchen when we’re not open. Caterers come in on Sundays, when we’re normally closed, and rent the space so they can keep their overhead low.”

McDowell said the grant made a big difference. “We kept people on our staff, and we even hired people. We upgraded our online ordering system and put equipment in our new space.”

He emphasized that business development must be sustainable. “We shouldn’t have to be doing food drives on an everyday basis,” he said. “The handout isn’t success. Can we build a community that can sustain itself?”

Republic Services Charitable Foundation has contributed to Habitat’s neighborhood revitalization projects in North Minneapolis, but direct support for local businesses is new.

“We want to be long-term partners with community businesses,” said Tyler Kraft, general manager for Republic Services in the Twin Cities. “If they don’t have a business, we don’t have a business.”

Meanwhile, McDowell, who received a $19,500 grant, has opened a new food truck that operates at Sociable Cider Werks in Northeast Minneapolis. And he’s working on a new food hall concept that will be on the first floor of the Penn Avenue Union building at 2200 Golden Valley Rd. There will be food stalls so entrepreneurs can share overhead costs and some of the labor.

One of the stalls will be operated by North High students who wanted to start a pizza business and reached out to McDowell. “The kids are going to learn what it takes to run a business and we needed a pizza place, of course,” he said.

McDowell has met with Steve Grove, Commissioner of Minnesota’s Department of Economic Development, and with Minneapolis city officials, to discuss his vision of building small businesses.

“We need to do things differently than we’ve done in the past,” he said. “We need to hit the refresh button and help more entrepreneurs succeed.”

In addition to Sammy’s Avenue Eatery, other grant recipients include:

Wilson’s Image Barbers & Stylists is a barbershop on Broadway Avenue in North Minneapolis.

Appetite for Change, Inc. is a non-profit focused on providing access to healthy food throughout North Minneapolis.

LBR Partners LLC is a general contractor that has been repairing and remodeling homes throughout the metro since 2000.

theNEWmpls is a health and fitness business.

Cookie Cart is a nonprofit that bakes delicious cookies and builds work skills for young people in North Minneapolis.

K's Revolutionary Catering offers healthy foods inspired by its owners’ African ancestries.

New Rules is a co-working space, business incubator, and community retail location on Lowry Avenue in North Minneapolis.