The COVID-19 pandemic created a multitude of challenges for small and local businesses throughout San Diego County, including the city of La Mesa.

With a lack of funding and resources, many existing businesses struggled to stay afloat while new entrepreneurs grappled with the scarcity of real estate and available opportunities.

As the economy now shifts from survival into recovery, the city of La Mesa, in partnership with the East County Economic Development Council (ECEDC), has launched the La Mesa Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (LEAP), which will run until Dec. 31, 2026. With this program in place, LEAP and the ECEDC are making an effort to address commercial vacancy rates, increase job opportunities and support local entrepreneurs.

Eligibility for LEAP is determined by four factors — participants must be at least 21 years of age, a U.S. citizen, a resident of San Diego and willing to open a business within the city of La Mesa. While LEAP is available to all San Diego residents, the initiative is marketed toward female and minority entrepreneurs.

President and CEO of the ECEDC James Sly explained why LEAP is specifically targeted toward marginalized communities.

“Statistically those demographics are always hardest hit by things like pandemics and for us we’ve been very fortunate that a lot of our founders and entrepreneurs make up a diverse space,” Sly said. “We’ve been very lucky across both cohorts; I think we’ve had close to 150 applicants, and they presented a number of diverse business ideas that correlate to their cultural backgrounds or their community experiences. It’s important to us to prioritize and support the businesses and entrepreneurs that make up the La Mesa community.”

Support for participants includes funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill signed by Joe Biden in 2021 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the program addresses two of the biggest barriers when starting a business: training and funding.

The plan directly provides a training program, individual advising sessions, an accountable case management system and up to $20,000 in grant funds to participants. Attendees are also assigned an advisor from the Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) based on their determined industry, strengths and weaknesses. After completing their training, the LEAP entrepreneurs then look for commercial retail space in La Mesa that best fits their business using the program’s web service.

Assistant to the City Manager Lyn Dedmon detailed this process further as well as his involvement in LEAP.

“We have a commercial availability search engine on our website that most of them are using to look for space in the city,” Dedmon said. “If there’s any building permits or if they need a fire inspection or a business license, I’ve been helping them depending on their business model. Other than administering the program on the city-side and processing their grants for funding and working with ECEDC to provide the space for training, I’m really kind of on the backend — helping businesses with any city permitting or requirements they may need. It’s gone smooth so far. We just processed our sixth business that’s signed a lease in the city.”

La Mesa resident and art teacher Peter Spiller (pictured above with his wife Perri) participated in LEAP and is now the owner of The Jackalope, a community-based small batch maker of canvas and leather bags and accessories. What started as a hobby in his garage in 2019 has become so much more with the help of LEAP.

“I never would have figured out how to open a business, how to write a business plan, negotiate a lease, set up the bookkeeping part of the business, even how to price items was a big piece of what I learned,” Spiller said.

Following LEAP’s training and the opening of The Jackalope, Spiller has maintained his dedication to craftsmanship. With the slogan “One of a kind, tough as nails,” Spiller’s mission is to help reduce needless consumption.

“‘One of a kind’ means that The Jackalope products are handmade,” Spiller said. “Each product is unique, and we use materials that are going to become more one-of-a-kind as you use them. Leather and waxed canvas get more beautiful with age and tell a story as you use them. ‘Tough as nails’ because we do everything possible to make our products last as possible. Our hope is that you use our bags for everything and then you don’t need plastic bags. As time goes by, you give it to your kids and it’s a lot less consumption. We want to get away from disposable products.”

Additionally, Spiller is just one of LEAP’s many success stories.

“Twenty-seven people have gone through the program, including the cohort that’s active right now,” Sly said. “We’ve already had seven sign leases and there’s another six entrepreneurs that are far along in that process — they’re active in negotiations now. I think that the entrepreneurs that we’ve been fortunate enough to partner with are very driven and very committed to moving their business ideas forward. The city has been a very exemplary partner in trying to support them and expedite entrepreneurs up like permitting, licenses and certifications.”

Additional information about The Jackalope’s products, services and history can be found on their website at: thejackalope.art/.

Further details about LEAP, application eligibility, deadlines and more is located at: eastcountyedc.org/leap-program/.