California added $500 million in small business grants. Here’s how you can apply.
Stanislaus County small businesses can take advantage of a new statewide COVID-19 relief grant program that will pay out $500 million to businesses and nonprofits across California.
The first round of applications for the program, which is administered by California’s Office of the Small Business Advocate, part of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, is now open and has been extended to Jan. 13, according to a news release. Businesses and nonprofits should expect to start receiving approval notifications for grants on Jan. 15.
Grants will not be issued on a first-come, first-served basis, according to the news release, and will be awarded after the close of each application round. Dates for a second round of funding have not yet been announced.
To apply for a grant, business owners should visit careliefgrant.com and submit an application for either an independently owned business or a registered nonprofit. Applicants are required to select a county partner before filling out the online form in order to have a local resource to reach out to in case of questions, said Katy Winders, director of the Valley Sierra Small Business Development Center, which serves as one of five partners in Stanislaus County.
“They’re trying to point people that need assistance to some organization that can answer (questions),” Winders said. “They let us (operate as) their intermediary.”
The application itself consists of two parts: filling out information about the business and uploading documents. Winders said the site is not accepting documents until Wednesday, Jan. 6 at the earliest due to technical difficulties, but business owners are still able to fill out the first part of the application.
Grants will be awarded in three tiers based on annual revenue: $5,000 for businesses making between $1,000 and $100,000; $15,000 for those earning more than $100,000 and up to $1 million; and $25,000 for businesses with revenues greater than $1 million and up to $2.5 million.
The grant money must be used to cover losses due to the pandemic, as well as the resulting restrictions — including payroll, health care costs, overhead expenses or costs of reopening businesses during the pandemic.
Valley Sierra SBDC a local partner
Businesses are eligible for the grant if they have been operating since at least June 1, 2019 and have a physical location in California. More information about eligibility criteria is available on the application website. Additionally, the Valley Sierra SBDC and other local partners are offering webinars and other materials to help applicants navigate the process.
Distribution of the funds will be prioritized based on a number of factors, according to the news release. These factors include geographic distribution — based on the state’s COVID-19 health and safety restrictions, as well as the regional stay-at-home orders —industry sectors that have been most impacted by the pandemic, as well as under-served small business groups, such as those owned and run by women, minority groups and people of color, veterans and businesses located in lower-income and rural communities.
“Inclusive, equitable relief is fundamental to the small business support developed by this administration,” said CalOSBA Director Isabel Guzman in the news release.
Despite a second round of funding on the horizon, Winders said she encourages businesses to apply for Round 1 if possible. If they do not receive a first-round grant, their applications will automatically be considered for the second round of funding, she said, which is likely to see more applicants than round one as the grant gets publicized more.
Winders said right now, her organization’s main goal is to reassure people to “have patience through this process.”
“We’re a big state, and everyone is doing what they can to get people through this,” she said.
This story was produced with financial support from the Stanislaus Community Foundation, along with the GroundTruth Project’s Report for America initiative. The Modesto Bee maintains full editorial control of this work.
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This story was originally published January 5, 2021 at 6:19 AM.
