The page canât turn quickly enough on 2020! To say the pandemic put a wrench in the plans of the Pikes Peak small business community is the understatement of the year. Our small business owners were in the fight of their fiscal life and several didnât make it; for others every day is crucial. In fact, if you need to make a purchase before you finish this article, please shop, dine and hire services locally. For the folks in back, let me say that louder: SHOP, DINE AND HIRE SERVICES LOCALLY!
Beyond the extraordinary challenges of running a small business in good times, 2020 started as a recession. The pandemic quickly brought small business owners new challenges as they were forced to stay ahead of the latest business rules related to COVID-19 â and new rules kept coming, mostly in the form of unplanned expenses and limits on customer capacity. Our business owners were in survival mode: Whereâs the next hit coming from? How do we survive? Who do we call for help?
Like many people this year, Latrina Ollie has had to dig deep for what many would call âgrit.â When I hear âgrit,â I just think of overcoming everything, she says. You know, you gotta have that grit to overcome any circumstance, any situation. It s definitely a mental thing; it s really a mindset to overcome anything.
The owner of a small business, Quar Notary, in Southeast Colorado Springs says an online training she recently completed, called GRIT (Greater Resilience Information Toolkit), has helped her cope with the mental health challenges brought on and enhanced by the COVID-19 pandemic. It s really helped with my kids and my everyday conversations I have with my family members and friends, she says. âIt helped me so that I could access more of those questions that I wouldn t normally ask like now I m always asking people and myself, How did you sleep? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you eating right? Were you able to get out and go walki
Sarah Fields Photography
The board of Great Outdoors Colorado, a program that uses Colorado Lottery funds to support parks, trails and wild areas, committed $1 million to the city of Colorado Springs and its Generation Wild of the Pikes Peak Region (GWPPR) coalition, which âserves residents of Southeast Colorado Springs and engages youth and families in enriching, culturally relevant outdoor experiences,â according to a news release.
The funding is part of GOCOâs Generation Wild program, which supports locally based coalitions that work to break down barriers to the outdoors. This funding will allow the coalition to offer new programming, in addition to âproviding additional training for partners in topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion so they can better connect with community members,â the release says.