Businesses Awarded $234 Million More In Working Washington Grants

OLYMPIA, WA — The Washington State Department of Commerce is wrapping up its fourth round of Working Washington small business relief and recovery grants.

The agency says their latest round of funding paid out grants to 11,697 small Washington businesses impacted by the pandemic, 20 percent of which say they'll be using the money to reopen.

“While we are through the worst of the pandemic, small businesses have been hit hard, especially in rural and ethnic communities, and in several industries such as hospitality and entertainment,” said Commerce Director Lisa Brown. “We continue to focus our grant programs on sectors most disproportionately impacted or businesses most likely to be left out of federal aid programs, hoping to minimize the risk of a ’k-shaped recovery’ where some succeed more easily while others are left behind.”

The round four grants ranged from $12,000 to $30,000, and could only be used to help cover expenses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. That's one reason the bulk of applications came from hospitality businesses like restaurants.

Applicants can be broken down by industry as:

• Accommodation and food services: 42 percent.
• Repair and maintenance: 18 percent.
• Car dealerships, furniture, appliance and grocery stories: 9 percent.
• Arts, entertainment, and recreation: 7 percent.
• Sporting goods, department stores and general merchandise: 5 percent
• Other industries: 19 percent.

The Department of Commerce is also highlighting how much spending went to minority and women-owned businesses. According to their data, 40 percent of applicants were women-owned businesses, 30 percent were Asian American and more than 7 percent were Hispanic/Latinx.

In total, all four rounds of Working Washington grants have given $526 million to small businesses across the state. Now that the fourth round has wrapped, the Department of Commerce is working on a new Small Business Flex Fund, which will give loans to small businesses struggling to recover. The state has also approved a fifth round of Working Washington grants in the state budget.

>> Learn more about the first three rounds of Working Washington grants.