City To Provide ‘Small Business Grant’ Opportunities To Small Businesses Financially Impacted By Coronavirus

Press release from the City of West Hollywood:

February 9, 2021

*Note: the date for the informational webinar has been corrected to Thursday, February 11, 2021.

The City of West Hollywood is launching its COVID-19 Small Business Grant Program, aimed at assisting small businesses financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The City of West Hollywood has allocated $250,000 in general funds to create the Small Business Grant Program, which will assist eligible and qualified small businesses with $5,000 in funding to meet operating expenses and retain or hire staff.

On Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 8 a.m. the City of West Hollywood will open its COVID-19 Small Business Grant Program to begin the process of administering up to $250,000 in $5,000 grants to eligible businesses on a first-come, first-served basis. The online application will be available at www.weho.org/business starting at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, February 10, 2021; the application period will close at 5 p.m. on Thursday, February 25, 2021. Applicants will be notified of their grant status by the week of March 8, 2021.

Eligibility criteria for the Small Business Grant Program includes:

• Business must be located in the City of West Hollywood, commenced operations prior to March 16, 2020, and be in good standing;

• Business must be a brick-and-mortar business that has at least one physical location within the City of West Hollywood that a customer can visit;

• Business has been impacted by COVID-19, via Los Angeles County Public Health Orders or otherwise;

• Business must not have received any COVID-19 funding from Federal, State, and County through December 31, 2020;

• Business must have 50 or fewer full-time employees;

• Business must have $2.5 million or less in gross revenues over the previous four quarters based on available data at the time of application;

• Business has not received any OUT Zone infrastructure; and

• Proof that business applied for Federal, State, or County COVID-19 relief funding after January 1, 2021.

Applicants must upload their current City of West Hollywood Business License; IRS Form 941 documenting number of employees or other documentation showing employees as of December 2020; and most recent tax return filed. Awardees of the Small Business Grant must also complete the City of West Hollywood’s Grant Agreement.

The City will present an informational webinar about the Small Business Grant Program application process on Thursday, February 11, 2021 at 10 a.m. for those needing technical assistance. Register online at: https://app.livestorm.co/city-of-west-hollywood/west-hollywood-small-business-grant-program.

For more information, please contact City of West Hollywood Management Specialist Paolo Kespradit at pkespradit@weho.org or (323) 848-6556. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.

The City of West Hollywood has developed a wide range of relief and recovery initiatives to support businesses in responding to hardships from the COVID-19 pandemic including expanded operations outdoors through the OUT Zone program, protecting commercial tenants from eviction through a Commercial Eviction Moratorium, and more. For more information, please visit www.weho.org/business. Business community members may subscribe to the City of West Hollywood’s COVID-19 Business & Workforce weekly email newsletter by clicking here.

The City of West Hollywood has declared a local emergency in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Individuals are advised to stay at home as much as possible and limit close interactions to those in your household. When in public, community members should maintain your space with social (physical) distancing of at least six feet, and cover your face. Public Health officials recommend that everyone, even those who are vaccinated, to continue to follow physical distancing and infection control directives and wear a clean face covering that securely covers both your nose and mouth when in in public.

West Hollywood City Hall is currently closed to the public and has suspended all in-person transactions. Most public City buildings and facilities remain closed. City Hall remains accessible for business and essential services with transactions to be conducted by phone (323) 848-6400 and via the City’s website at www.weho.org.

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