Gov. Tom Wolf and state Senate Democrats announced Monday that about 5,000 small businesses in Pennsylvania will receive over $96 million in grants through the first round of funding from a COVID-19 relief program.
Officials said 4,933 small businesses from all 67 counties would receive an average grant of about $20,000 from the COVID-19 Relief Pennsylvania Statewide Small Business Assistance fund, which was created with $225 million of the state’s $2.6 billion in federal stimulus money. The information came from The Bucks County Courier Times.
“As we continue to address this public health crisis, it’s critical that we also focus on our state’s economic recovery and supporting our small businesses across the state, which continue to be impacted by our necessary mitigation efforts,” Wolf said in a statement.
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Recipients were limited to businesses with $1 million or less in revenue per year and less than 25 employees.
The grants can be used for operating expenses during the COVID-19 shutdown, the transition to reopening and other expenses.
Daniel Betancourt, the president and CEO of Community First Fund and chairman of the grants administrator, the Pennsylvania Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI), said there were more than 50,000 applications requesting $865 million in assistance.
More than 68 percent of businesses receiving grants are owned by women while 16 percent are in rural areas. Eighty percent of businesses are owned by low- or moderate-income residents.
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