Seattle to award more $10,000 grants to hundreds of small businesses
The city of Seattle is accepting applications through the end of the month for $4 million in a new round of Small Business Stabilization Fund grants.
Demand is sure to be high. This spring, when the fund was launched to make $10,000 grants to small businesses hit hard by the pandemic, more than 9,000 businesses applied, and the Office of Economic Development awarded grants through drawings.
To date the city provided 469 small businesses with grants, and one recipient, Belltown art gallery Phylogeny Contemporary at 2718 Elliott Ave., has really benefited, said owner Lori Johns.
On Tuesday as she was preparing for the gallery's next exhibition, "The Land of Dissenting Boundaries," by La Vaughn Belle. Johns said she used the grant money to buy supplies for the show, which opens Nov. 28.
"This money is not only going into my business, it's going into other local businesses," Johns said.
Small businesses are the backbone of Seattle, Mayor Jenny Durkan said in a statement Monday when she announced the new round. The fund is "a critical way for the city to invest directly in small business owners during this unprecedented time," she added.
To be eligible for a grant, a small business or nonprofit must have 25 or fewer employees, be in the city limits and have an annual net revenue at or below $2 million. Nonprofits must provide economic opportunity supports through education programs and/or job training.
In an attempt to prioritize funding to businesses that are more likely to have experienced the greatest economic impacts, the city will ensure that at least two-thirds of grant recipients will be selected from applications from businesses with five or fewer employees and from areas that are identified as high risk of displacement or highly disadvantaged.
The city is using money from JumpStart Seattle, the corporate payroll tax on high salaries. While the tax does not not into effect until next year, the city has borrowed against it. Most of the tax money will go to developing publicly owned housing for low-income residents.
The newest round of the Small Business Stabilization Fund is funded by the joint Covid-19 relief bill that the mayor and City Council passed in August. It allocated $5.5 million for Small Business Stabilization Fund grants and committed to spend $2.5 million in 2020, and another $3 million in 2021.
After accounting for administrative costs, OED will be able to provide small businesses and economic opportunity nonprofits nearly $2.4 million for grants in 2020 and roughly $1.6 million for grants in 2021. Additionally, the city is committing $1.25 million in 2021 to work with community-based organizations to help improve prioritization of grants to the most vulnerable and traditionally underserved businesses.
