Lane County is offering $3.6 million in grant funding to help support small businesses with 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees affected by COVID-19. Grant amounts will range from $7,500 for a sole proprietor to $25,000 for businesses with 16-25 full-time equivalent employees. The grant funding came to Lane County from the State of Oregon.
Eligibility Requirements
In order to be eligible, businesses must meet the following requirements:
- The business was adversely affected in either one of the following two ways:
- The business was prohibited from operating as directed by Executive Orders 20-12 or 20-65; or
- The business can demonstrate a one-month decline in sales of 25% or more due to the COVID-19 pandemic, between March 1, 2020 and November 30, 2020, as compared against the same period of time in 2019
- Be located within Lane County, is headquartered in Oregon and has its principal operations in Oregon
- If required by Oregon law to be registered with the Oregon Secretary of State to do business in Oregon, the business is so registered and holds any other required licenses to do business
- Businesses that have received federal dollars, through the Paycheck Protection Program or the Economic Injury Disaster Loan, are able to apply for and receive these grant funds
- 501(c)(3) nonprofits are eligible
- 501(c)(6) entities are NOT eligible
- The business had 25 full-time employees (FTE) or fewer as of December 31, 2019
Grant recipients will be selected via lottery in two rounds after the application window closes.
Two Lottery Rounds
Round 1 (for 75% of the funding) will include businesses that meet the general eligibility requirements AND any of the following criteria:
- Are in the tourism, hospitality, and event sectors including (defined as restaurants, bars, wineries, breweries, lodging, caterers, and event rental companies)
- Had to close due to either of the Governor’s ordered Freezes (gyms/fitness, indoor recreation, museums, indoor/outdoor entertainment, indoor/outdoor pools, sports courts, event venues, zoos, gardens, aquariums)
- Identify as minority-owned, women-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned with control of 51 percent or more
- Are rural businesses (outside of the Eugene and Springfield city limits)
Round 2 (for 25% of the funding) will include businesses that meet only the general eligibility requirements. Any businesses not selected in Round 1 will also be included in the Round 2 lottery.
The application will be available starting at 5 p.m. on Thursday, December 3, and remain open through Sunday, December 13. The application will be available through Community LendingWorks.
Community LendingWorks anticipates that businesses will receive grant funds during the last week of December through mid-January.