‘Cut off at the knees’: Anchorage nonprofit aimed to help small businesses loses federal grant funding

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - An Anchorage nonprofit that has spent the last two decades helping grow small businesses is losing its funding, according to a letter from the Cook Inlet Tribal Council to the Anchorage Community Land Trust (ACLT).

On April 18, ACLT received the letter stating that the Cook Inlet Tribal Council’s grants from the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency were effectively terminated on April 17.

Cook Inlet Tribal Council wrote in the letter that the termination was due to a change in the agency’s priorities and was not based on ACLT’s performance.

According to Anchorage Community Land Trust, the funding was terminated by the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a new organization headed up by billionaire Elon Musk.

“Essentially, what that termination does is cut off at the knees our support programs for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Folks who are working towards opening up their businesses of their dreams in their neighborhood,” Kirk Rose, ACLT’s CEO, said. “We’re worried about the impacts to the state because these are folks who are trying to launch the next generation of businesses in the community.”

Alaska’s News Source reached out to the Cook Inlet Tribal Council regarding the termination, but had not heard back as of the deadline.

According to Rose, the cuts jeopardize the ability ACLT has to deliver specialized training to businesses, one-on-one technical assistance, access to capital, real estate support, and assistance in getting a loan.

ACLT works with over 500 business clients in the community, Rose said.

One of the businesses that has gotten a grant from ACLT in the past is Eva’s CupCakery in Mountain View.

On Tuesday, the business celebrated 13 years of being open.

“The dream of having a business started probably 50 years ago,” Eva Perry, the owner of Eva’s CupCakery, said. “We took a step of faith. That’s how we got started in the business. It was the faith in each other. Our faith in our creator and the faith in each other.”

Perry began working towards creating her dream business with her late husband, Sylvester Perry, in 2012.

Later down the road, she said she started working with ACLT.

“When I was [wanting] to do an addition, [that] is when [ACLT] came in with some financial support and also just publicity,” Perry said.

But people who are looking for that kind of help in the future may not get it since the grants have been terminated, according to Rose.

Rose is concerned that the cut in funding will make it harder for small businesses to thrive and grow in Alaska.

“This cuts us off really at the knee, for not only support upstart businesses, but for folks who are already in business that are trying to navigate a trade war, tariff impacts on the cost of their products,” Rose said. “It’s a harder environment. It’s a harder road. It’s a harder road on every front. And I want our congressional delegation to know that. And I want them to hear loud and clear that these kinds of decisions are impacting small business owners every day.”'

Alaska’s News Source reached out to the state’s delegations regarding the cut in federal funding, but has not heard back as of publication.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that the grant’s funding was terminated by DOGE.

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