Two local businesses each received a $25,000 grant prize as part of the L.O.C.A.L. Small Business Grants program through the Long Island Association and Optimum Business.
Freeport Ninja Academy in Freeport and Little Feet Big Steps in North Babylon were announced as the winners of the funding on Wednesday, Sept. 10. The two businesses will also receive a $5,000 television advertising campaign from Optimum Media.
Businesses applied for grants on the LIA website. Eligible applicants for the $5,000 grant needed to have 10 or fewer full-time employees, a brick-and-mortar storefront, or spend most of their time in the community and the application needed to show how funding would support the growth of the business and the community where it operates.
Additionally, one small business from each county that had faced hardship was eligible for the $25,000 grant.
The two businesses that received the $25,000 award had also previously received the $5,000 grant.
Little Feet Big Steps is a licensed day care center, and according to Optimum Business, it used the $5,000 grant it received as part of the program was for a greenhouse program.
The business said it intends to invest the grand prize money into replacing its broken, 25-year-old furnace and covering essential operational costs. This will enable more children currently on the daycare’s waitlist to enroll, expanding opportunities for local families.
Freeport Ninja Academy was selected to receive a $5,000 grant in 2024 and used that funding for marketing purposes to increase brand awareness. Optimum said the business will use the additional $25,000 to make enhancements to the facility and replace wear and tear, which the academy has not been able to do since opening in January 2020.
Representatives from the program surprised each winner before Wednesday’s announcement with a check.
Twenty small businesses on Long Island, 20 in Nassau and 20 in Suffolk, were awarded $5,000 grants at the 2025 Small Business Summit in June.
Each business received $5,000.
Matt Cohen, the president and CEO of the LIA, said the program has given over 90 grants to small businesses over the past two years.
“Small businesses fuel our local economies, and they are run by and employ our families, friends, and neighbors,” he said
According to U.S. Census data, roughly 90% of businesses on Long Island are classified as small businesses.
