ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES IN WASHINGTON CO. AFFECTED BY COVID-19

  

Small businesses in Brenham and Washington County who have been hurt by the economic hardship of the COVID-19 crisis have several options for grant money.

As of last Friday, the Brenham/Washington County COVID-19 Response Fund began taking applications from businesses with less than 20 employees.  The Fund, created by the Brenham/Washington County Economic Development and community partners, is being 100% funded by donations.  Amounts between $500 and $3,000 will be awarded to qualifying businesses as funds become available.  Its primary goal is to help bridge the gap for small businesses before federal stimulus money is received.

The link for both donating to the fund or applying for a grant is: https://brenhamed.com/covidresponsefund.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation is also offering grants to small businesses with 20 or fewer employees.  The application website opens today (Monday) with $5,000 grants being awarded to businesses in the bottom 80% of economically distressed zip codes across the U.S.  Washington County qualifies as an economically vulnerable area.

The link for filling out the ten minute application for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation grants, once it “goes live”, is: https://savesmallbusiness.com.

Congress is debating additional funding for the SBA’s “Payroll Protection Program” grants, which ran out of money last week.  Businesses with less than 500 employees are eligible to apply for those grants, and are encouraged to complete the process to be ready when money is available.