NYS: $160M in COVID-19 grants for businesses remain available

The state still has $160 million in grant funds to help small businesses and for-profit arts groups that were hit hard by the pandemic in 2020, officials said.

About $600 million has been distributed to 34,090 entities since the COVID-19 Pandemic Small Business Recovery Grant Program launched last summer. That’s 79% of the available funding.

Most of the grants have gone to businesses with 10 or fewer employees and that are owned by women or members of minority groups, according to Ray Salaberrios, who oversees the program as senior vice president of small-business capital access at Empire State Development, the state’s primary business-aid agency.

“We are actively trying to push this money out the door,” he told a meeting of the ESD board last week. “We are pursuing an aggressive campaign to continue to advise the public that funds are available.”

On Long Island, $51.4 million was awarded to 2,320 small businesses in Nassau County as of June 30, and $31 million to 1,197 in Suffolk County. The Island has won the second-most funding after New York City among the state’s 10 regions, according to ESD.

Salaberrios, responding to a question from ESD chairman Kevin Law, said there is no deadline to apply for a grant.

The grants are between $5,000 and $50,000 per applicant. The average award has been $17,599 so far.

To be eligible for help, a business or for-profit arts group must have yearly revenue of up to $2.5 million, 100 or fewer employees and show at least a 25% loss in gross receipts in 2020, compared with 2019.

Grant funds can be used for payroll, rent or mortgage payments, personal protection equipment and other expenses, said Salaberrios, adding the program “targets businesses that do not have access to the same resources that larger businesses do.”

To apply, go to nysmallbusinessrecovery.com.

ESD’s drive for more grant applications comes after Gov. Kathy Hochul rejected suggestions from state legislators that more money be allocated for the program in the 2022-23 state budget.

Instead, Hochul established the $200 million Seed Funding Program for businesses that opened in the past two years, and the $250 million COVID-19 Capital Costs Tax Credit Program for the reimbursement of purchases of masks, cleaning supplies, outdoor seating and other supplies in 2021 and this year.

By James T. Madore

james.madore@newsday.comJamesTMadore

James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.