Hair Care Businesses Who Suffered Under COVID Have New PA Relief Money Available

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — “You can’t give a drive-through haircut.”

These were words uttered by State Sen. Vince Hughes, D-7, during a recent news conference announcing $20 million in relief funding available to eligible salons who were negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Hughes, whose district includes Upper Dublin and Whitemarsh Townships in Montgomery County, spoke about the need to help these types of businesses since, unlike restaurants and other businesses, there were no regulatory workarounds or socially distanced options for image and hair care businesses during the height of COVID-19.

Hughes, along with legislative colleagues and other state officials, held a press event outside of a West Philadelphia hair salon on Thursday to speak about the funding availability for affected businesses.

“As the pandemic spread last year, these small businesses did what we asked them to do and were among the hardest hit,” Hughes said in a statement. “For some, this will mean survival.”

According to the senator’s office, the new relief money will be made available to businesses who applied for funding last year under the newly created Small Business Grant Program, but who did not receive any funds after the program exhausted its nearly $225 million budget.

Hughes’ office said the state House and Senate were able to work with Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration to refund the program as the hair salon industry continued to struggle because of the pandemic.

“Since the start of the pandemic, we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic support to thousands of people with tangible, meaningful effects, but we knew more support was still critically needed,” Neil Weaver, deputy secretary at the state Department of Community and Economic Development, who attendED the press briefing, said in a statement. “We thank our small business owners who stayed strong and got creative during the pandemic, and we thank the customers who continued to show their support even during the most trying of times.”

Ann Turner, president of the Pennsylvania Professional Image Alliance, an industry group, said that hair and image businesses still need help as the pandemic rages on.

“The reality of it is the need is still there,” she said in a statement. “We are still fighting. We are still working together.”

Hughes said the image and hair care industries are still a vital part of the local economy as well as an “important path to employment for disadvantaged workers who are willing to work hard but are unable to afford college.

“As we were listening to the folks in the industry over the past year, we were struck by the number of veterans, people in recovery and formerly incarcerated [who] have found new purpose and new success inside these small businesses,” Hughes said in his statement. “They’re a lifeline and we can’t let these success stories end.”

Sen. Art Haywood, a fellow Democrat whose 4th District includes Abington and other eastern Montgomery County municipalities, said the relief money now available is “essential to help our hard-working hair stylists and barbers bounce back from the pandemic.

“Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, these funds will create a just recovery from the suffering caused by COVID-19,” Haywood said in a statement.