Governor Phil Murphy, Lieutenant Governor Oliver, Senate President Steve Sweeney, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, and Congressman Tom Malinowski announced $70 million in additional Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to support New Jersey’s small businesses.
This funding will be distributed to restaurants, micro-businesses, and other small businesses through Phase 3 of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program. Phase 3 of the Grant Program will expand eligibility to any business with 50 or fewer full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) and increases the amount of funding businesses can receive. To ensure funds flow to businesses that need them most, Phase 3 includes set-asides for grants to restaurants and micro-businesses. $35 million will be dedicated to support businesses classified as “Food Services and Drinking Places” under NAICS code 722 and $15 million will be directed to support “micro-businesses” that have five or fewer employees. The remaining $20 million will be available to support any eligible business.
In line with Governor Murphy’s commitment to a stronger, fairer recovery, one third of each of these pools of will be directed to support entities that are located in census tracts that were eligible to be selected as a New Jersey Opportunity Zone. More detailed information regarding Phase 3 eligibility criteria and the application period will be provided shortly.
Information for Phase 2 of the NJEDA Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant
Applications for the expanded Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program Phase 2 [PDF] opened June 9, 2020, in both English and Spanish. NJEDA staff will process the applications on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no application fee. The application period is now closed.
Businesses can now check Phase 2 Grant Application Status online.
To assist businesses with application preparations, translated copies of the application are available now in the following languages: English, Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese, Gujarati, Hindi, Italian, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, and Tagalog. Because the live application will only be available in English and Spanish, please contact NJEDA at languagehelp@njeda.com should you require translation assistance.
Phase 2 Program Overview and Eligibility
NJEDA will award a total of $45 million in federal CARES Act funding to small businesses. To support the Governor’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, $15 million will be reserved for businesses in Opportunity Zone-eligible census tracts, $15 million of Phase 2 funding will be set aside to support qualified businesses located in one of the 715 census tracts that were eligible to be selected as a New Jersey Opportunity Zone.
read more at www.njsmallbusinesshelp.com
