On Tuesday of this week, Governor Murphy announced CARES Act funding to support New Jersey businesses and residents affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bulk of the money, or $70 million will be distributed to restaurants, microbusinesses, and other small businesses through Phase 3 of the NJ Economic Development (EDA) Small Business Assistance Grant Program.
The rest of the allocation includes an additional $10 million to help small businesses purchase PPE through the NJEDA Small Business and Micro Business PPE Access Program.
$15 million will go to support renters through the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program
And, $5 million will support food banks and other hunger relief efforts.
Small Business Grants:
Businesses with 50 or fewer full-time equivalent employees will be eligible for the grants. $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 money is coming out of the state’s $2.3 billion federal COVID-19 relief aid. It is questionable why more CARES Act funding has not been dedicated to small businesses as NJ still has not spent approximately $1.4 billion of the federal allocation. Please visit the EDA website for more information on the grant program: https://www.njeda.com/
