Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone has announced that 67 small businesses located across the County have received a total of nearly $500,000 in grant funding through the County’s COVID-19 Small Business Assistance Program. Awardees include gyms, salons, restaurants, and bars.
The pre-application period for the second round of available funding opened on April 9, with the goal of providing over $500,000 in additional grants by the end of May.
“The success of our downtowns is reliant on the success of our small businesses,” said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. “Recovery doesn’t happen overnight, and while we have made progress, these grants provide our hard-hit businesses with a much needed financial life-line as we build towards the full reopening of our economy.”
The COVID-19 Small Business Assistance Grant Program, funded with $1 million available of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding, provides small businesses with a grant of up to $10,000, based on their number of full-time employees. Businesses with up to 10 employees will be eligible for a maximum grant of $5,000, while businesses with 11 to 50 employees will be eligible for a maximum of up to $10,000 in grant funding.
The program is designed to assist struggling small businesses that have been negatively impacted by the pandemic. Eligible businesses include gyms, hair salons and barber shops, nail salons, restaurants, bars and taverns.
This safety net program ensures that small businesses in Suffolk County have access to a financial lifeline at a time when many are adjusting or repurposing their operations as the State works towards the full reopening of the economy. Businesses must be located within one of the participating Consortium municipalities to be eligible for funding pursuant to federal requirements and can pre-apply to the grant program starting on April 9. Additional eligibility details can be found here.
Last year, Suffolk County Executive Bellone launched the Suffolk County Business Recovery Unit, which works to address the concerns and questions that businesses have amid the ongoing pandemic. Local businesses can call Suffolk 311 to be connected to the unit, email Business.Recovery@suffolkcountyny.gov, or visit the Business Recovery Unit webpage at www.suffolkcountyny.gov/bru.