The County Commission is establishing a grant program using CARES Act funds for small businesses and non-profits in Broward County to help mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.
The Broward County CARES Act Small Business and Non-Profit Assistance Grant Program is designed to aid small businesses with 20 employees or less and non-profits with 25 employees or less. The program will be administered through the County’s Office of Economic and Small Business Development, while local partners will provide free technical assistance to applicants.
$25 million in federal CARES Act funding will be allocated to the small business grant and an additional $10 million for non-profits. These funds can be used to reimburse the costs of business interruption related expenditures caused by COVID-19’s required closures and/or operating restrictions. Funds are not a loan, and do not have to be paid back. The County is also assisting some cities with administering their CARES Act funding for small businesses, while other cities will administer their funds directly.
“Broward County Commissioners have always been huge supporters of small businesses. Every business in the County is important to us and we hope this one-time grant award in the amount of either $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 (these are the tiers of support for non-profit and for profit grants) will provide some help to companies navigating these challenging times. We truly do believe every little bit helps. For the profit businesses, priority will be given to small businesses located in six of the County’s most economically distressed zip codes and to businesses that have not previously received any federal COVID-19 related business assistance funding such as the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL), CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), or the State of Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan,” said Sandy-Michael McDonald, Director of Office of Economic and Small Business Development.
The application period is not open yet. However, businesses can visit the newly created website broward.org/cares to learn more about the Broward County CARES Small Business Grant and the Non-Profit Grant program including eligibility, application process, technical assistance, and much more.
