Critical support is being made available to small businesses and nonprofits in the Greater Lehigh Valley thanks to an emergency grant fund put together by a group of business leaders.

The LVB Small Business Activity Index is a quarterly measure of conditions and expectations in the greater Lehigh Valley’s small business industry. Responses for the first quarter were collected between Jan. 29 and March 16 from representatives of 50 companies.

With restaurants and other hospitality businesses facing some of the earliest and largest financial losses from COVID-19, one local company established an online resource to help raise more than $200 million for them.

Now, there is one place where Lehigh Valley consumers can find restaurants still serving up meals and how they can get them, as well as information about small business goods and services still available.

Gov. Tom Wolf has not asked non-essential businesses in the Lehigh and Northampton counties to close to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 like in some other counties, however, many are taking it upon themselves to do so.

For the first time in Pennsylvania’s history, 11% of state spending on goods, services and construction went to small diverse businesses, according to a report by the Bureau of Diversity, Inclusion and Small Businesses Opportunities within the state Department of General Services.

After working in the corporate world for many years, one Easton resident is banking on his love barbering to carry him in his new role as the owner of The Keystone Barbershop. Nathan Storck is planning to open his new business in mid-March in downtown Easton.

Vintage Barbershop, which will offer an upscale environment for men’s hair and grooming services, will open its first location in the Lehigh Valley in Whitehall Township.

SAGE Design-Build Inc. of Upper Macungie Township is completing a construction project for Express Business Center, which would create a new space for the company.

A local couple is capitalizing on the big growth area for consumers looking for shipping and 3D printing services with the purchase of their second UPS Store in the area.