$10,000 grant opportunities for small businesses in New Jersey
Starting Tuesday the New Jersey Economic Development Authority has applications available in both English and Spanish for the Expanded Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program.
It's the second round of the $45 million grant program, which uses funding Gov. Phil Murphy allocated from the Federal Cares Act Relief Bill passed earlier this year.
It provides a $10,000 grant opportunity for small businesses with up to 25 employees in New Jersey.
CEO Tim Sullivan said businesses in virtually all industries are eligible, including sole proprietorships and home-based businesses.
"We've also reserved one third of the money in this new program to support small businesses that are located in opportunity-zoned eligible census tracks," Sullivan said. Those are high-poverty, high unemployment census tracks in all 21 counties across the Garden State.
The NJEDA also announced it will pursue approval from its board to allow all types of 501(c) non-profit organizations to apply for funding under this second phase, including veterans organizations and business and industry groups.
Rep. Andy Kim (NJ-03) said he's proud to work with Sullivan and his team and veteran leaders in the community to help provide support to veteran service organizations.
Sullivan said during Phase 1, the NJEDA has provided more than $8 million in grants to nearly 2,500 businesses across New Jersey. Federal programs have distributed tens, if not hundreds of billions of dollars across the state, he added.
The questions on the applications can be found at cv.business.nj.gov.
Sullivan said he worries the applications will be oversubscribed, just as in the first round of the grant program, when 34,000 applications were submitted for a program that could only fund 2000. But he said he hopes the excess demand won't be as severe as last time..
The NJEDA will process the applications on a first-come, first served basis. There is no application fee.
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