CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- As businesses fight to stay open during the coronavirus pandemic, many are afraid they won’t be able to open once the doors are allowed to re-open.

Small businesses across Charlotte are coming together to form a new coalition to help each other during these uncertain times.

Clifton Castelloe owns Moxie Mercantile in Plaza Midwood and says he’s having to adjust to the new normal of owning a business during a pandemic.

“We’ve been focusing a lot on online sales and actually putting together our online store,” Castelloe said.

Castelloe says when he started going through the process of applying for loans, he noticed small businesses in Charlotte were left to figure things out on their own.

“Who's being the squeaky wheel for small business? And the answer to that question, I was surprised to find out, there isn’t one big group that’s representing small business,” Castelloe said.

Chad Turner, the president of the LGBT Chamber of Commerce also noticed that problem and worked to create the Charlotte Small Business Coalition.

“We are a collective voice and we are the largest employer, and at the end of the day, our individual needs do not usurp the needs of small businesses to survive and thrive within the community,” Turner said.

The coalition has a website with resources and a Charlotte-area hotline, so owners can get guidance from people in the community.

Turner also hopes the coalition can make a difference at the local level in terms of funding.

“The city only passed a $1 million package for corridor businesses and the county did a $5 million, and then also a corridor business package,” he says. “What we’re looking at is this is only hitting less than one percent of the 28,700 businesses that exist in the small isles sector for Charlotte.”

It’s a business package city council member Tariq Bokhari says he struggled with but ultimately supported.

“While there are definite elements of certain corridors in town that are distressed, that are in need of opportunity, right now, all small businesses across Charlotte are in need of opportunity,” Bokhari said.

Bokhari says while the block grant may be a band-aid for now, he’s hoping the newly-formed small business task force within city council can work with groups like the Charlotte Small Business Coalition to get owners the help they need.

“Sometimes it doesn’t always feel like it but we’re on the same team,” Bokhari said. “Every day we lose, every day we aren’t as fast as we could be, everyday that we don’t wake up on fire for this, is another small business that’s just going to go away.”

“Small business is what makes these communities what they are, and we need to have everyone sticking up for these small business and small business owners,” added Castelloe.

If you would like to learn more about the small business coalition, click here for more information. For local resources click here.