Aurora is set to consider grant applications from small businesses to continue trying to help them recover from the coronavirus pandemic shutdown.
The city will take applications through April 3 for the second round of both the Finish Line Grant and Re-Start Retention Grant programs, with as much as $700,000 to award.
While the Finish Line Grant program has been around for a while – it was once administered by Invest Aurora, but is now handled by the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development – the Re-Start Retention Grant program started during the coronavirus pandemic as a way of helping small businesses in the city.
In the first round of the Re-Start grants, the city awarded $408,053 to 58 businesses. They were 57% minority-owned businesses, 48% women-owned businesses and 3% veteran-owned businesses. Some 76% of the recipients had employees living in Aurora.
The fund was created out of the first city-sponsored program, the Coronavirus Emergency Relief Fund, or CERF, and money the city received from the federal American Rescue Plan.
The grants are one-time awards, so businesses are not eligible for the second round if they received a grant in the first round. The program is designed to assist small businesses in Aurora with business and operational expenses to prevent business closures, and the loss of jobs, as a result of the pandemic.
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Grants can be as much as 50% of eligible losses, with a maximum award of $10,000.
The city defines those losses as “cost of business interruption.” That means a decrease in revenue caused by closing or limiting access to the business to comply with COVID-19 prevention directives, or to otherwise stop the spread of COVID-19.
Those losses include product and merchandise costs, rent, non-owner employee payroll, scheduled mortgage payments, insurance, utilities, equipment losses, money owed suppliers and vendors, equipment for outdoor dining and other business interruption costs.
The applications are due by email to [email protected] by the end of the day April 3.
The Finish Line Grant program is to assist property owners and tenants in completing rehabilitation projects that will “enhance the viability of Aurora,” according to city officials.