The city of San Antonio is accepting grant applications now through Sept. 1, offering up to $10,000 to help eligible local small businesses to enhance their outdoor spaces.

The impact

The San Antonio Outdoor Spaces Grant program is designed to improve outdoor dining and drinking spaces for small, independent and locally owned food and drinking establishments, according to city officials.

The city is partnering with The University of Texas at San Antonio’s Institute for Economic Development on the grant program.

Some improvements that the grant will finance include design costs for renovations, construction materials, construction labor, furnishing and other related services, local officials said.

Total funds awarded will be based in part on the project location’s combined equity score, a report card on racial and economic equity that’s based on data analysis.

Successful grant applicants will also have access to other city support and services, including single-point-of-contact aid with the city’s development services and historic preservation departments as well as city fee waivers for the approved project, said Isa Fernandez, the UT institute's mall business development adviser.

The conditions

The business must meet the Small Business Administration’s definition of small while also being a locally owned and independently operated food and drinking establishment.

Ineligible applicants include nonprofits, franchisors, gambling/gaming businesses, sexually oriented businesses, liquor stores and other related businesses, city officials said.

For an information session on the grant, to apply or for more general information, visit www.sanantonio.gov/edd/programs-grants/outdoor. The grant awardees will be announced in October.