Suffolk Merchants Receive $500K In Grants, More Coming: Bellone

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — More than 65 small businesses in Suffolk County received a cut of nearly $500,000 in grant funding through the county's COVID-19 Small Business Assistance Grant Program, Executive Steve Bellone announced Friday. Restaurants, bars, gyms, barber shops and salons were included in the first wave of funding.

A pre-application period for the second round of funding was opened, and the goal is to provide more than $500,000 in grants by the end of May to help small businesses struggling due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"A lot of the bigger businesses, they're much more easily able to access some of those programs," Bellone said. "We wanted a program that targets specifically small businesses."

Small businesses can fill out a pre-application on the Suffolk County website.

"This program has really been focused on those small businesses that form the backbone of our economy," Bellone said.

The county has made progress in terms of vaccination numbers, though rates in hospitalizations and positive COVID-19 tests have plateaued. More than 500,000 Suffolk residents have been vaccinated, while 370 people remain hospitalized with COVID-19. The positivity rate sits around 4.5 percent, according to Bellone.

"We know we have more work to do, but we can see the light at end of the tunnel," he said. "We can see our way to getting past this virus and being able to declare that it's over."