Jung Wook Kwon owns Village Cleaners in Lancaster. She had some problems with applying for an Economic Opportunity Grant from Los Angeles County. What made this situation different was that there was a language barrier that made it difficult for her to get help with her business. Ricky Michel, BAP regional manager, had a similar experience when he was younger. He had to learn how to translate for his family and relatives. Because of this, Ricky was able to help Jung Wook Kwon and make sure her business had a chance to get the grant money. He asked the right questions and figured out what the problems were.

After looking into the situation, Ricky found two issues. First, the application had incorrect information about who owned the business. Second, there was another application that was accidentally submitted twice. Jung Wook Kwon was worried that she could not cancel the duplicate application and would not be considered for the grant. Ricky reassured her and connected her with Lendistry, a company that helps customers, to cancel the duplicate application and fix the official one.

Because of the help provided by LAEDC and the attention given to local business owners like Jung Wook Kwon, Ricky showed how hard they work to promote local businesses that often do not get enough support from the County. LAEDC also made sure to catch these problems with the application system and find solutions. Without LAEDC’s help, business owners might have given up.

To learn more about our Business Assistance Program, click here.