Jackson Co. Chamber Offering Facade Grants to Improve Small Businesses
Delorise Nettles, owner of DeLo’s Heavenly House of Coffee, has been in business now for almost ten years. She received a grant from the Chamber of Commerce last year when she decided the outside of her coffee shop needed a little facelift. Nettles says, "Growing up in Jackson County and going to the Gulf Coast Community College, I knew the coffee need was here, so my thought was coffee, and I like coffee, I like people. What else would I want to do in life, right?"
This year, the chamber is offering façade grants to three local businesses that need a boost. Nettles also says, "This building is probably 30 plus years old so the windows needed to be replaced and the door needed to be replaced."
DeLo’s store front looked rough before she received the façade grant, and with worries of not being easily seen from Gautier-Vancleave Road, and thanks to the $2,500 grant, she can now tell people to just look for the orange door. Nettles says, "Any time you get a change, you’re going to glance and that’s what’s happening. They see a change, so they’re wondering what’s over here now? What is that orange door? So yes, it’s made a difference in the business."
The façade grants work, because sometimes we all judge books by their covers. After all, it’s usually what a business looks like from the outside that brings people in, and that’s good news for the community. Carla Todd, President and C.E.O. of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, says, "I mean, if you have a nice looking community, then you have new businesses who want to move in and it really helps with the economic development of the community."
You must be a Chamber of Commerce member to receive the grant. The deadline to apply is March 31st.
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