CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Small businesses on Cleveland’s southeast side are receiving financial support from city leaders through a recharged grant program.

Twenty-nine businesses, property owners, and organizations are receiving grants totaling nearly $2 million in federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act.

For Wayne Whitmore, owner of Mt Pleasant Bar-B-Q on East 128th Street and Kinsman Road, the grant represents a lifeline for his family business.

“Well, we’ve been doing it ourselves for a long time. But it would really do a lot of good, new sign, new makeover, it would really be appreciated,” Whitmore said.

Whitmore, 62, has already invested a lifetime into the family BBQ shop, spending nearly every day there.

He started working at the restaurant when he was just a kid,

See Full Page