250 Seattle Businesses Receive Coronavirus Relief Grants

SEATTLE, WA—Seattle officials announced Monday they've selected the first 250 small businesses to receive $10,000 relief grants. Many of the grant recipients included restaurants and hair salons.

Nearly 9,000 small businesses applied for the first round of funding, including Jose Perez, the owner of Villa Escondida.

“Villa Escondida is a family-owned restaurant, and we are proud to support our local community and economy here in Belltown,” Perez, said. “Our small business was hit hard when many downtown workers began to work from home. This grant from the city will help us keep our staff on payroll and will help us increase our marketing to get more takeout and delivery orders.”

The grants are part of the city's $2.5 million Small Business Stabilization Fund, which is designed to help small businesses financially impacted by COVID-19.

“At the city, we’re doing everything we can locally to support our small businesses and workers during this unprecedented moment in history," Mayor Jenny Durkan said in a news release.

The $2.5 million expanded Small Business Stabilization Fund is funded by federal Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). The federal government requires eligible CDBG small business awardees to have five employees or less and for the business owner to be at or below 80 percent of the area median income. In addition, the mayor has directed the city's office of economic development (EOD) to focus outreach on historically underserved small businesses. Nearly 80 percent of the 250 grantees identify as small business owners of color.

After screening for eligibility, businesses are categorized as being from high or low-displacement areas of the city, and then awardees from each displacement category are selected by lottery. Weighting the investments towards high-displacement risk areas allow the city to target businesses that are more likely to experience economic shocks, the mayor said.

The city received around 80 applications when the department launched the first Stabilization Fund back in January 2020. The city has plans to offer additional grants at a later date. Interested individuals and organizations can donate to the Stabilization Fund by emailing covidpledge@seattle.gov.

"I urge all those who are able to support future rounds of this fund, and also support our small businesses by ordering pickup, delivery, or shopping online during this unprecedented time," the mayor said.

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