Disadvantaged businesses awarded majority of funds from $100 million PETS program

From left, Bob Potts, Deputy Director at the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development; Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak; Tabu's of Reno Barber Lounge co-owners Tabu and Ebony McKnight; and Erik Jimenez, Chief Policy Deputy for the Nevada Treasurer's Office pose at Tabu's business location in downtown Reno on July 27. Tabu's was the final $10,000 recipient of the Nevada PETS program.

From left, Bob Potts, Deputy Director at the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development; Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak; Tabu's of Reno Barber Lounge co-owners Tabu and Ebony McKnight; and Erik Jimenez, Chief Policy Deputy for the Nevada Treasurer's Office pose at Tabu's business location in downtown Reno on July 27. Tabu's was the final $10,000 recipient of the Nevada PETS program. Courtesy Photo

Sean Golonka | The Nevada Independent

Wednesday, August 4, 2021


From a Black-owned barbershop in Reno to a plant-based Mexican eatery in Las Vegas, thousands of Nevada small businesses and nonprofits have benefited from a state-run, pandemic-related small business grant program that has allocated more than $100 million to thousands of businesses over the last 10 months.

Equipped with oversized checks and photographers in tow, prominent state officials including Gov. Steve Sisolak and Treasurer Zach Conine have been more than eager to tout the benefits of the federally funded Pandemic Emergency Technical Support (PETS) grant program, which distributed a final $10,000 check last Tuesday.

But which businesses received grants, and did they go to the most needy?

Data obtained through a records request by The Nevada Independent from the state treasurer’s office revealed more information about the grants awarded as the $101 million program neared completion.


DIVE DEEPER: Go here to view the full story and data compilation from The Nevada Independent to take a closer look at how $92.2 million in PETS program funds were distributed throughout the state and which organizations were given grants.


The data include the names and ZIP codes of 8,969 businesses and organizations across the state that received awards of either $10,000 or $20,000 from the program, totaling $92.2 million. (The records were received in mid-July when the treasurer’s office was still awaiting final compliance paperwork from some applicants, so approximately 400 organizations that were given grants are excluded from the data.)

The state launched the CARES Act-funded PETS program on Oct. 19 to aid small businesses struggling amidst the economic recession, after an earlier state effort to administer commercial rent assistance awarded less than half of its approved funds. The PETS program offered broader eligibility, and in the four days the program was open for applications, the state received more than 13,500 submissions, which was about 10 times the amount the rent program received.

In early February, state lawmakers rushed to allocate more funds for small businesses by fast-tracking and unanimously passing a bill that poured an additional $50 million in state general funds into the program — making it the largest state-managed small business assistance program in Nevada history.

The data show that roughly 52 percent (4,700) of those 8,969 organizations given awards — $10,000 for businesses and nonprofits, $20,000 for arts and culture organizations and either $10,000 or $20,000 for chambers of commerce — were considered “disadvantaged business enterprises,” defined as businesses primarily owned by women, minorities, veterans or people with disabilities.

Of the remaining 4,269 organizations, recipients included 668 bars, pubs, taverns, breweries and wineries, 625 nonprofits, 269 arts and culture organizations, 30 chambers of commerce and roughly 2,700 entities classified as “other businesses.”

To qualify for the program, businesses must have held a business license with the state, had less than 50 employees and had a gross annual revenue of less than $4 million.

The vast majority of grants were awarded to recipients in Clark County, which continues to bear the brunt of the state’s economic devastation — in June, Clark County had the highest unemployment rate in the state at 9.6 percent, while Nye County had the second highest at 7.1 percent. Although Clark County is home to around 74 percent of the state’s population, organizations in the county received 85 percent of the nearly 9,000 grants.

Organizations within the 89102 ZIP code, which occupies the space from Spring Mountain Road to Charleston Boulevard between Interstate 15 and Decatur Boulevard in Las Vegas, received the highest number of awards of any ZIP code, with 353 grants awarded including 199 for disadvantaged businesses.

The 89101 ZIP code in Las Vegas, where the city’s arts district is located, saw the most awards go to arts and culture organizations (11) of anywhere in the state, as The Neon Museum and Nevada School of the Arts both received awards of $20,000.

Outside of Clark County, businesses in the 89502 ZIP code in Reno, which contains the city’s international airport and several of its largest casinos and resorts, received the most PETS grants (188), including the most awards for bars and eateries (27) and for nonprofits (32) of any postal code in the state.

Sean Golonka is an intern with The Nevada Independent, a 501(c)3 nonprofit news organization. The following people or entities mentioned in this article are financial supporters of The Indy: Steve Sisolak - $3,200. This story was first published Aug. 3 and is republished here with permission. For more Nevada news, visit The Nevada Independent.

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