The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a lot of hardship for our business community, and it has been particularly difficult for small businesses to weather the economic effects of this crisis. This is why we fought to have the 2021-22 enacted budget include $800 million for a new COVID-19 Pandemic Small Business Recovery Grant program that will be administered by the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC). The grants can be used to cover various business costs including:

  • Payroll costs
  • Commercial rent or mortgage payments for NYS-based property
  • Payment of local property or school taxes
  • Insurance costs
  • Utility costs
  • Costs of personal protection equipment (PPE) necessary to protect worker and consumer health and safety
  • Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) costs
  • Other machinery or equipment costs
  • Supplies and materials necessary for compliance with COVID-19 health and safety protocols

Applications for the Small Business Recovery Grant Program will be available online on June 10th.

Grants will be for a minimum award of $5,000 and a maximum award of $50,000 and will be calculated based on a New York State business’ annual gross receipts for 2019.

This program gives priority to microbusinesses, minority and women-owned business enterprises (MWBE), service-disabled veteran-owned businesses, veteran-owned businesses, as well as small businesses that did not qualify for federal assistance or did not receive sufficient federal assistance, as well as socially and economically disadvantaged business owners and businesses located in communities that were economically distressed prior to March 1, 2020, as determined by the most recent census data.

For more updates be sure to check the Empire State Development site here: NYSBusinessRecovery.ny.gov