Fifteen thousand applications were submitted In just three hours on the day the window opened for receiving applications for the first round of COVID-19 Relief Pennsylvania Statewide Small Business Assistance grants.
That overwhelming response for a share of the $200 million in grant aid to help businesses impacted by the pandemic took the network of Pennsylvania Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), which administered the program, by surprise.
“We did not expect the damage from COVID would have been so great and the need would have been so great. I don’t know anyone could have predicted how many applications it would draw,” said Dan Betancourt, president and CEO of Lancaster-based Community First Fund and chairman of the Pennsylvania’s network of CDFIs.
Receiving close to 50,000 applications during the two-week application period requesting $860 million made the CDFIs realize businesses’ need for help was so great that they decided to distribute all $200 million more quickly in two rounds instead of the original plan to dole it out over four rounds.
On Monday, Gov. Tom Wolf announced the first round would reach nearly 5,000 businesses scattered across all 67 counties. Combined, those businesses would receive $96 million in grants that range from $5,000 to $50,000. Funding for the grant program comes from federal stimulus money provided to the state through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Businesses that were successful in landing a grant will be notified over the coming days following a second review to verify information included in their application, Betancourt said. A full listing of all the businesses that received grants will be available in two to three weeks, he said. Read more here
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