Washington County providing additional grant opportunity for small businesses

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, July 08, 2020

Applications for a second round of $3,000 grants for small businesses offered by Washington County will be accepted starting July 8. Up to 1,000 grants will be awarded using $3 million from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.  

“Washington County remains committed to supporting small businesses,” said Pam Treece, Washington County Commissioner, District 2. “Small businesses have been particularly hard hit by the economic impacts of COVID-19. We encourage all eligible businesses to apply for this second round of funding to help the County maintain its economic stability.”

“We’re continuing to support small businesses within the cities in Washington County as well,” said Jerry Willey, Washington County Commissioner, District 4. “Washington County is providing cities with funding to create their own small business recovery programs. Like the County program, the cities’ programs will have a focus on businesses run by historically disadvantaged members of our community and those most impacted by COVID-19.”

The Washington County applications will be available here starting at 8 a.m. Wednesday, July 8. The application period closes at either 5 p.m. Friday, July 10, or when 10,000 applications have been received, whichever comes first. 

Eligible businesses must:

• Be physically located in unincorporated Washington County (outside cities).
• Have been closed by the “Stay Home, Save Lives” executive order or have lost 30% or more in revenue in any one month since March 2020 (compared to the same month in 2019).
• Be individually owned, if a franchise.
• Been in operation since March 1, 2019.
• Be a for-profit business.
• Be registered with the state or be exempt from the registration requirement.
• Be current on all federal, state and local taxes as of Dec. 31, 2019.
• Be compliant with all federal, state and local laws and regulations.

Eligible businesses must not:

• Have had more than 25 full-time employees at any one time in the last 12 months.
• Have received a grant or loan from Washington County or the Washington County Visitors Association since March 1, 2020.
• Be a passive real estate holding company or other entity holding a passive investment in a small business without operational ties to that business
• Have had more than $5 million in 2019 gross revenue.
• Be an adult-oriented business or derive a majority of income from gambling activities.

All eligible businesses are encouraged to apply.  Business owners operating more than one business will be eligible for one grant for a single business.

The County is continuing its partnership with Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon (MESO) to assist the grant program administration. MESO has experience working with Washington County’s diverse community of small-business owners. The organization administered Washington County’s Small Business Economic Assistance Program grants to 102 small businesses awarded in April 2020.

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