Chatsworth Chamber of Commerce Receives Mayor's Fund Grant

CHATSWORTH, CA — The Chatsworth/Porter Ranch Chamber of Commerce was one of 22 small chambers to receive grant to rebuild from the pandemic.

The grant comes from the Mayor's Fund for Los Angeles, recognizing the work that small chambers of commerce do to support local businesses. The Mayor's Fund noted that as chambers of commerce have suffered during the pandemic with staffing and programming, so have local businesses.

"Small businesses are key to our economic recovery. They are the heart of our communities and are responsible for almost 50 percent of our jobs in Los Angeles," Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement. "Through our chambers of commerce, they have found the support needed to stay afloat. These grants will ensure our chambers of commerce are able to continue supporting small businesses and uplifting our workforce."

The pandemic hit Chatsworth businesses hard, said Nick Montaño, President of the Chatsworth/Porter Ranch Chamber of Commerce.

"The pandemic was pretty catastrophic to the chamber, because it limited all of our fundraising abilities and some of the projects taht we had planned for hte betterment of the community. People didn’t want to go out, they were stuck inside — and you can only do so much Zoom — so it was pretty bad," Montaño said.

The pandemic meant the chamber lost employees and had to cancel many of the events they had planned for the community.

"It was a big sigh of relief because we didn't have that much pressure now to be able to function and to be able to put on some of these events that are pretty meaningful to the community," Montaño said.

The chamber applied in May for the grant and was notified just this week of its award. Montaño said the timeline was a bit frustrating, as the long process made it difficult for chambers to prepare for the grant.

In its absence, the chamber and Chatsworth businesses persevered.

"Luckily for a lot of restaurants and a lot of businesses, those of us that did survive this thing, it was only because of our tenacity and wanting to adapt to the situation — which is very eye opening for a lot of folks," Montaño said.

The chamber will use the funds to cover general monthly costs to run its business so that it can better focus on programming for the community, like its upcoming State of the Community Luncheon.

City News Service and Emily Rahhal contributed to this story.