CINCINNATI — Since opening in 1986, DNK Architects President and CEO David Kirk has worked on numerous projects across Cincinnati.

His company is currently working on a new project to expand Lincoln Heights Missionary Baptist Church. 

“I’m a member of this church so to do a project for the congregation in which I am part of is exciting,” Kirk said.

In addition to the church, Kirk has several other projects that he’s working on. But this year the workload hasn’t been the same due to COVID-19. They’ve experienced a 35% decrease in projects from the healthcare industry alone.

What You Need To Know

  • Fifth Third Bank recently launched The Greater Cincinnati COVID-19 Small Business Recovery

  • It's a program to help small businesses during the pandemic

  • The program offers loans, grants and technical support

 

“Many of them, because of the pandemic, had to change their business model which reduced the amount of work that we were doing because they could no longer do all of the electric surgeries that they do that makes them money,” he said.

DNK is one of 70,000 small businesses in Hamilton County. Ten thousand of these businesses are in low to moderate-income neighborhoods.

Fifth Third Bank recently launched The Greater Cincinnati COVID-19 Small Business Recovery and Response Initiative to focus on helping businesses like these. 

“We got to work and thinking about how we could bring together our resources, our tools, and partnerships to pool together what we feel like is a comprehensive strategy on how you provide support during these times of shift and change,” said Royce Sutton, Fifth Third Bank Ohio Community and Economic Development Market Manager.

Sutton and his team have been working on the recovery program, which offers technical support, loans and grants.

They’ve partnered with JPMorgan Chase and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation to invest over a million dollars into the program.

“All of these pieces in this strategy will allow not only for us to lift those businesses, but for them to even think about how they can begin to, beyond this disruption, how they can grow and develop and expand and all the things that they can dream of,” Sutton said.

This initiative is something that Kirk says businesses like his need. 

“Any type of loans, especially a grant, would help a business like ours to make it through another period of time,” Kirk said.