Queen Anne’s last week announced that the County’s Small Business Assistance and Recovery Fund provided assistance to 228 local businesses to “re-open, re-employ, and re-main” in Queen Anne’s County amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
The program — which was funded by $2.5 million in federal CARES funds — ran from July through September and directly supported 2,265 employees at businesses across the County. The average grant to local businesses totaled $10,000.
“Queen Anne’s County Economic Development and Tourism Department made outreach to our local businesses a priority during the pandemic as they faced so many obstacles during the State of Emergency,” said Heather Tinelli, Queen Anne’s County Director of Economic Development and Tourism. “We worked quickly to get funding out to our businesses while working with our stakeholders and partners to disseminate information regarding other funding opportunities and ever-changing regulations.”
According to a Queen Anne’s County press release:
Tinelli states she is, “most proud of our local small businesses as they are the backbone of our economy and their owners are the hardest working, creative and driven people that I have ever met. Queen Anne’s County’s economy has fared much better than some of our neighbors during the pandemic, largely due to the perseverance of our small business owners.”
The categories of businesses served by these grants included:
Non-profit – 11 grants
Restaurant / Bar / Food Service – 38 grants
Salon / Barber – 16 grants
Retail – 17 grants
Maritime Related Business – 6 grants
Charter Fisherman / Waterman – 8 grants
Childcare – 9 grants
Medical – 15 grants
Construction / Trades – 21 grants
Service – 52 grants
Gym / Fitness – 10 grants
Other – 13 grants
