From WBEZ Chicago:
Ms. B’s Kitchen and Catering in the North Lawndale neighborhood sells Chicago-style favorites like pizza puffs. On other days of the week, owner Tawanda Stange cooks comfort food, everything from pot roast to oxtails to gumbo. Her Sunday Soul Food menu includes baked chicken, smothered pork chops and candied yams.
Stange, who learned how to cook at her grandmother’s house, started the business in 2017. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, she had to let go of two employees.
“It’s been really rough,” Stange said. “What has saved my business is catering. If it were not for that additional stream of revenue, I would have closed in April.”
The Chicago Housing Authority is giving a boost, too. Stange, a resident of the Henry Horner Homes, is one of seven CHA residents awarded a $5,000 grant for their businesses to mitigate losses from the pandemic.
Read WBEZ Chicago's article "CHA Grants Boost Resident-Owned Businesses During The Pandemic," featuring the Chicago Housing Authority.