21 | 2024 IMPACT REPORT Reviving Pajaro: How Local Grants Helped Businesses Rebuild After the Flood In the spring of 2023, a series of powerful storms pounded the Monterey Bay Area and led to a 120-foot-wide breach of the Pajaro River Levee. The levee breach flooded the unincorporated community of Pajaro, resulting in 3,000 residents being evacuated and businesses being shuttered due to flooding. Due to the scale of the immense damage, federal, state and local governments mobilized to help Pajaro residents and businesses. As part of that overall relief effort, the Monterey County Workforce Development Board (MCWDB) partnered with the Department of Emergency Management to administer the Pajaro Small Business Assistance Program. This program assisted businesses with grants to replace lost or damaged inventory, equipment, and loss of revenue with funding up to $85,000 per business. Pajaro businesses were also able to apply for beatification grants for painting, landscaping and other projects to enhance the interior and exterior appearances of their businesses, with funding up to $15,000 per business. A total of $4,000,000 was set aside for businesses out of the $10,000,000 for both residents and business from California Assembly Bill 102. A total of 92 businesses applied for assistance, with 90 businesses requesting assistance through Phase 1 and 60 businesses through Phase 2. By the end of 2024, 38 businesses had received $1,505,713 for Phase 1, and 42 businesses had received $662,658 for Phase 2. What began as an opportunity for the MCWDB to help businesses eventually turned into witnessing a community being rebuilt first-hand. These grants have made a difference as Pajaro has recovered from the flood: first, by helping businesses mitigate their losses, fix flood damage, purchase new equipment, restock their inventories, and generate new revenue; and second, by making beautification investments in the community with freshly painted and landscaped commercial properties bearing new signage. Now, when residents drive through Pajaro every day, they see the re-emergence of vibrant and revitalized local businesses with proud business owners in a thriving community. While no amount of money can replace all the precious memories and belongings, the financial assistance reaffirms that the community of Pajaro is seen and heard, and that they are not alone.
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