Round 2 Small Business Assistance Grant window now open; Round 1 funding details released today
Today, the second and final round for the COVID-19 Relief Pennsylvania Statewide Small Business Assistance program opened at 9 a.m.
In addition, state officials announced 5,000 small businesses would be awarded grants from the first round of the program and that every county of the Commonwealth was represented in the allocations. A total of $96 million from the $225 million allocated to the program is being disbursed in the first round, with the average grant award being just over $19,500.
The first round saw 50,000 grant applications submitted and more than $860 million in total requests. Counties in the Pennsylvania Wilds region were awarded 111 total grants in the first round. (See the breakdown by county here. A list of business recipients will be released at a later date.)
The second round grant application window will only remain open for 15 business days, closing at 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 28.
If you applied during the first application window you should receive notification of your application today. You do not need to reapply in the second round. Qualified applications will be automatically rolled over into the next funding round for consideration.
If you have not yet applied, now is the time to get your application in. Eligibility requirements: business must be physically located, certified to do business, and generate at least 51% of your revenues in Pennsylvania; have annual revenue of $1 million or less prior to the impact of COVID-19; and have 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees prior to February 15, 2020.
The PA Wilds region was identified as a priority investment area under the $225 million statewide program, which provides grants ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 to small businesses that have been economically impacted by COVID-19. The program is geared toward Main Street type businesses with 25 or fewer employees and annual gross revenue of $1M or less.
LEARN MORE & APPLY
The second round of this grant program will close at 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 28.
The grant program is being administered through Pennsylvania’s network of Community Development Financial Institutions, or CDFIs. The Progress Fund is the CDFI serving the PA Wilds. A link to their application portal is available at https://www.progressfund.org/grants-for-small-businesses/.
