Congratulations to all of the grantees!
In August, the 2026 grantees of the Commercial Façade Grant Program were announced, representing a mix of small businesses and organizations across the city. With this funding, grantees will be able to make “a variety of improvements, such as lighting, signage, windows, doors, brick pointing, sidewalk activation, and painting,” according to the press release from the city.
The list of awardees includes several of our own partners and clients: Jerry’s Pizzeria, LA Grocery, Dirty Birds Chicken, Freedom Unlimited, Three Sisters and Company LLC, and CommonXConnections.
We supported Jerry’s Pizzeria, Dirty Bird’s Chicken, and LA Grocery in cinching this façade grant through deep technical assistance, working directly with them to navigate the application process, reach out to URA staff for additional information and to get questions answered, make connections to and obtain quotes from contractors for proposed work, and even produce some basic concept renderings to help make their applications stronger.
We also want to recognize Freedom Unlimited, Rebecca Ronalo, and CommonXConnections, who are clients of our Centralized Real Estate Accelerator. While they obtained their façade grants independently, we otherwise have supported their businesses in their real estate endeavors through funding or additional technical assistance.
The ways we work with each small business or organization varies so much from project to project – and that is because we meet people where they are. We spend many hours delivering technical assistance and working collaboratively on fundraising efforts, awarding catalytic predevelopment dollars, and generally working to build strong, trust-based partnerships.
An example of such a partnership is our relationship with LA Grocery. You can read more about our years-long work with them here.
