500 Small Business Owners Applied For Hillsboro Emergency Grants In Round 2

Press release from the City of Hillsboro:

April 8, 2020

Hillsboro Small Business Owners Requested a Total of $1.3 Million

Grant applications will be reviewed by a panel of community partners, including the Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce, Centro de Prosperidad, and the City of Hillsboro. Post Date:04/08/2020

The City of Hillsboro received approximately 500 applications during round two of the City’s Small Business Emergency Grants program on Tuesday, April 7.

City employees from the Hillsboro Economic Development Department assisted dozens of small business owners who requested help by phone in English or Spanish to fill out the grant application.

The funding requested by business owners totaled more than $1.3 million — more than 2.5 times the amount of emergency grant funding available, $552,000.

An early review of the roughly 500 emergency grant applications from Hillsboro small businesses found:

• 53% of are women-owned
• 40% are minority-owned
• 4% are veteran-owned

Next Steps: Reviewing 500 applications

City staff are now working to verify the businesses’ eligibility and validity. In order to receive emergency grant funding, the businesses are required to be located in the City of Hillsboro and have an active business license from the City of Hillsboro. The review process could be complete as early as next week, with notifications to businesses to follow.

Grant applications will be reviewed by a panel of community partners, including the Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce, Centro de Prosperidad, and the City of Hillsboro.

“The COVID-19 crisis highlights the importance of having a diverse economic base consisting of businesses of all sizes and from a variety of market sectors and industries,” said Economic and Community Development Director Dan Dias in March. “Hillsboro has been able to build a strong economic base throughout the community’s history. It is a strong reminder of why Hillsboro continues to prioritize economic development policies and programs in order to benefit the entire community.”

A total of 177 Hillsboro small businesses that applied for COVID-19 relief in the first round of applications on March 23, have already been selected to receive emergency grants of up to $3,000 per business, totaling $448,000.

For additional business support, see the City’s COVID-19 Business Resources webpage.

This press release was produced by the City of Casper. The views expressed here are the author’s own.