Supervisor Vega Asks That Any Future Grants Be More Indexed to Pre-Pandemic Job Creation

On June 15th, the Board of County Supervisors, at the request of the County’s Office of Economic Development, amended the criteria for the COVID-19 Small Business Micro Grant Relief Program.

In 2020, the Board transferred $13 million of federal CARES ACT funding to the Office of Economic Development to distribute grants to small businesses in the county who had experienced a substantial and demonstrated hit to their business following the start of the pandemic.

The amended criteria increased the amount given to 129 home-based and non-profits in the county from $2,500 to $7,500, which totaled $645,000 of the $767,000 in remaining available funds.

The move to bump non-profits and home-based businesses to a total threshold of $7,500 from the micro-grant program placed them on par with other businesses who employed between 3-20 employees prior to COVID.

The other threshold amounts and criteria, which have been amended several times since the beginning of the grant programs, include:

$10,000 for businesses with between 21-50 employees, with gross receipts of less than $1,000,000.

$25,000 for businesses with between 51-100 employees, with gross receipts of less than $5,000,000.

$50,000 for businesses with between 101-250 employees, with gross receipts of less than $5,000,000.

While she voted for the amended criteria, Supervisor Vega requested that any future grants that may be given through the most recent federal infusion of cash to the county be better indexed to job creation and wealth creation from the job for the business, employee, and county.

– Coles District Staff