Two grant programs aim to assist Garrett County’s small businesses and their employees through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Garrett County COVID-19 Business Assistance Grant has been reworked to add self-employed individuals as eligible applicants and to remove a provision that requires businesses to apply for other COVID-19 assistance prior to application. The maximum award is $2,500 for native Garrett County businesses affected by the pandemic.
Approximately $18,000 remains for the purpose of providing one-time, short-term financial support to small businesses that meet the program’s eligibility requirements. As part of the application process, small businesses must demonstrate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and a plan to remain solvent and in business.
A new program, the Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) Grant, will help small businesses meet the Phase 3 requirements of the Maryland Strong Roadmap to Recovery.
The $200,000 fund is available for native Garrett County businesses to reimburse or cover the expected costs of purchasing plexiglass, signage, floor stickers, gloves, masks, sanitizer, and other items to keep staff and customers safe. Each eligible business may receive up to a $1,000 grant.
According to a County press release:
For both grants, the small business must be a for-profit restaurant or other food service business of any size, a for-profit small business with no more than 25 employees (as of March 1, 2020), or a self-employed individual. Home-based businesses, churches or religious institutions, banks and financial institutions, investment/real-estate entities, government agencies, and independent contractors are not eligible to apply.
“The Garrett County Economic Development Corporation is pleased to partner with Garrett County Economic Development to meet the needs of our local economy through these grant programs. As the area begins to reopen, this grant program will aid many local businesses,” said M. Elizabeth Georg, Chair Garrett County Development Corporation.
Business recipients of the Garrett County Kick-Start Grant are not eligible to apply for the COVID-19 Business Assistance Grant nor the PPE Grant. Recipients of the PPE grant are not eligible for the COVID-19 Business Assistance Grant.
The grant applications and complete eligibility details for the grants are available online on both the Department of Economic Development’s and the Garrett County Development Corporation’s websites. Also, the application for each of the grants can be found here.
Grant funds for both programs will be disbursed on a first-come, first-serve basis until the pool of funds has been depleted.
