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SALT LAKE CITY — Small businesses and artists in Salt Lake City that have been negatively impacted by the aftershock of the COVID-19 pandemic will breathe a collective sigh of relief as they will have the opportunity to apply for funds from a pool of $2 million as part of the American Rescue Plan Act.
The money comes from the $85 million the city received from the act in October, which was allocated to different programming and needs by Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall.
Cathie Rigby, Salt Lake City's American Rescue Plan Act program manager, said Mendenhall allocated $4 million to go into a community grant program fund, which was then further distributed in lumps of $2 million to the Salt Lake City Department of Economic Development and the Salt Lake City Department of Community and Neighborhoods Housing Stability Division, respectively.
Mendenhall plans to announce the details of how the $2 million that went to the Housing Stability Division will be used next week, according to Katie Matheson, marketing and research manager for the city's Department of Economic Development
"The process by which Salt Lake City determined the use for these funds included a community input process, utilizing surveys, public comments in meetings and suggestions from the community," Rigby said. "In addition, our department met with a number of community organizations who offered insight into the communities they serve and we used their feedback to develop this program."
Who is eligible to apply?
Small businesses, home-based businesses, food trucks, artists and musicians are eligible to apply for the $2 million in funds directed by the Salt Lake City Department of Economic Development starting on Sept. 1.
To be eligible for grants, applicants must meet all the following requirements outlined by the department:
- Business is physically located and licensed to do business* in Salt Lake City and was in operation before Jan. 1, 2020
- If you are a home-based business, artist or musician, a business license is not required
- Business has less than 50 full-time employees
- Business can show it was negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic or related shutdowns
- Business is not facing pending litigation or legal action
- Business is not suspended or restricted from the use of federal funds
- Business is not a franchise that is a subsidiary of a larger corporation
- Business is not a multinational or publicly traded business
- Business is not a chain (unless most locations are in Salt Lake City)
- Business is not owned by a city employee, elected or appointed official
Exceptions to these requirements can be found here.
How much can be applied for and how can funds be used?
Small businesses, artists, artisans and musicians can apply for grants of up to $50,000, while nonprofits offering arts or small business-specific COVID-19 recovery programming can apply for grants up to $100,000, the department said.
Eligible uses of the grant funding include:
- Wages (payroll and benefits)
- Costs to retain employees (bonuses and retention pay have additional requirements)
- Mortgage, rent or utility costs
- COVID-19 prevention procedures (enhanced cleaning, barriers/dividers, COVID-19 vaccinations/testing)
- One-on-one business counseling or other business planning services
- Other operating costs
Ineligible uses of grant funding as well as eligible uses that only apply to disproportionately impacted businesses can be found here.
Spreading the wealth
Rigby said that the funding was separated between two different departments so that it can cover all aspects of the community.
"There's no one department that serves the (whole) community," Rigby said.
Additionally, she said that the Department of Economic Development gathered feedback from historically underserved communities to decide the best way to roll out the money.
"Some of the things that concerned them was there's not enough lead time, so we announce things and don't typically leave enough time for these communities to hear about them or to pull things together, or to get the right assistance that they need to be able to apply, so they sort of miss the window," Rigby said.
In response, the department decided to create two time periods to apply for the funds so that those who may not have had the time or resources to apply in the first round, or weren't given a grant, would have another chance to receive funds.
The first window to apply for funds will open on Sept. 1 and stretch through Sept. 30.
Another thirty-day application period will follow in later months.
"We also wanted to get the communication and outreach started early, specifically to those communities to allow them whatever lead time they thought they needed to prepare," Rigby said.
Rigby also noted that this funding will, hopefully, have a different impact than early rounds of COVID-19 relief funding.
"All of that (previous funding) was sort of emergency, put a band-aid on the problem to kind of stop the bleeding because things were so drastic for our small business community following shutdowns and that kind of thing," Rigby said. "This recovery money is sort of meant to give small businesses the time to plan and sort of focus in on those areas that are still not all the way back to pre-pandemic levels."
Beginning Sept. 1, applicants can apply online here.
Applications will also be accepted via mail or in person by picking up a paper application from Salt Lake City-County Building.
