TAMPA, Fla. — Downtown Tampa business owners are receiving some help for improvements.

A non-profit is giving away thousands of dollars in grants, so that business owners can enhance their look, which is a major boost since so many are still struggling to recover from a rough year.

Downtown Tampa has certainly changed a lot in recent years.

If you think about new additions like Sparkman Wharf and the Riverwalk, there’s more to see here than ever before.

The Tampa Downtown Partnership is hoping to continue that growth.

Right now, they’re offering businesses a free grant of up to $5,000.

It’s is called their sidewalk and store front grant.

The idea is to use this money to fix up the outdoor look of a shop.

So these are things like awnings, storefront facade repair, sidewalk furniture and other outside features.

They’re doing this especially for places that may have struggled over the past year and a half in the pandemic.

"This gives them an opportunity to make those improvements and enhance the experience of downtown overall,” said Lynda Remund with the Tampa Downtown Partnership. “Bring people in, get noticed, more patrons."

And that is the whole goal, to continue making downtown a destination for folks to visit.