California's $500 million dollar small business COVID-19 grant program website went live Wednesday morning. Grants range from $5,000 to $25,000 based on annual revenue documented in the business' latest tax return. Funds do not need to be repaid as long as they are used for approved purposes including salary, Isabel...
As Small Businesses Await New Aid, It’s Too Late for Some
NEW YORK — Sarah Trubnick is starting to make peace with a gut-wrenching reality: She may never reopen The Barrel Room, her beloved 5-year-old restaurant in San Francisco’s financial district. The sweeping $900 billion pandemic relief package that Congress has approved contains billions in aid directed specifically at struggling small...
Does Your Small Business Need Help? Get Connected Now.
There's still time to register for Friday's 1 p.m. small business town hall hosted by Assemblyman Adam Gray of Merced and featuring state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. They and other participants will offer tips on how to survive the COVID-19 pandemic and point to the financial resources available. The virtual...
Treasury Names 650K Small Businesses Receiving Govt Loans
WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department on Monday released the names of more than 650,000 small businesses that received funds from a government program intended to support the economy as states shut down in April to contain the viral outbreak. Treasury identified just a fraction of the total borrowers, naming only those companies...
Black-Owned Businesses See Sales Surge Amid Racism Reckoning
BOSTON — When Mahdi Hashemian was looking for a bicycle for his 7-year-old daughter Zeynab last week, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, resident decided to skip his local cycle shops in favor of a Black-owned one a few miles away in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. At Spokehouse, a bike shop with “Black Lives...
Devastated by COVID, Small Businesses Thankful for $5,000 County Grants
For vending machine owner William Jurkovich, a $5,000 small business grant from Fresno County was a lifeline. "Thank God!" Jurkovich said at a news conference Friday to introduce recipients in the $5 million Helping Underserved Business program. The county announced two HUB grantees on Friday. The remaining 998 will be identified...
Pandemic Shuttered Thousands of Local Businesses. Yet $1.5M in Relief Funds Go Unclaimed.
The clock is ticking. At last check, hundreds of $5,000 grants are still available for Fresno County businesses impacted by COVID-19. The deadline for submitting an online applications for the funds is Monday, June 1 at 11:59 p.m. Available Grants Fresno County Administrative Officer Jean Rousseau says as of this past Monday...
$5,000 Grants Available for Fresno County Small Businesses
Fresno County businesses left out of previous grants or loans have new hope. On Tuesday, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a small business grant program open to any Fresno County business with 10 or fewer full-time employees. The county set aside $5 million from its $82 million in...
Controversial Housing Grant Program Returns to Fresno Council
The Fresno City Council will vote on an amended aid program on Thursday that a civil rights group claimed was illegal in its prior form. Authored by councilmembers Esmeralda Soria, Luis Chavez, and Paul Caprioglio, the legislation creates a $1.5 million Housing Retention Grant Program. Also in Politics 101: Fresno County...
Gov’t Relief Loans to Restaurant Chains Draw Complaints
Some big restaurant chains have obtained loans from the government under a small-business relief program, leading business groups to call for changes to the program before Congress provides it with new funding. The Paycheck Protection Program exhausted its $350 billion in funding last week and many small businesses were unable...