The Foundations for the Carolinas and the City of Charlotte recently announced the Open for Business Access to Capital program, a small business recovery program in which the City will distribute $30 million in federal CARES Act funding to eligible organizations.
The program was created in part by the City Council and Small Business Recovery Task Force in response to Charlotte’s overall small business recovery strategy. The City understands that access to capital is a priority for small business owners, so with the help of the Foundations for the Carolinas, they are looking to distribute funding as quickly as possible. Nonprofit organizations, liquor stores, check cashing agencies, gun shops, pawn shops, and adult entertainment organizations do not qualify for application.
Applications will open on June 22 and will be randomly chosen each day for review as opposed to a first-come-first-served basis. Applicants must provide business status verification documentation and should start preparing the relevant documents now in order to be ready when the program officially opens.
Each day, these program applications will be reviewed at random by geography from the pool of applicants to ensure money is being distributed throughout the city and all have an opportunity to be awarded funding. This review system was decided on in order to get money into the hands of struggling business owners as quickly and equitably as possible. “COVID-19’s impact to Charlotte’s small businesses has been devastating. Providing financial assistance to our small businesses in a way that directly meets their most urgent needs is now more critical than ever,” stated the City’s Assistant Economic Development Director, Holly Eskridge.
As part of the City of Charlotte’s Open for Business Initiative, the program will administer grants of $10,000 and $25,000 based on the number of employees within a given organization. Applicants in need of language assistance can contact cltcitygrant@fftc.org for additional support.
Requirements for eligibility include businesses that are headquartered within Charlotte city limits, must have been established prior to January 1, 2020, and must employ 25 or fewer employees, including both part-time and full-time employees. Other eligibility criteria include 2019 gross sales between $30,000 and $2 million and are either industries named in Governor Cooper’s March 26 Executive Order or who can describe how the business was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizations that are currently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings are not eligible.
The funding will be distributed in two phases: the first will be distributed the week of June 30 through July 6 and the second phase will be awarded the week of August 3. Although all applicants are not guaranteed to receive a grant, businesses only need to apply once to the program. Priority will be given to those who have not received financial support from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or Golden Leaf grants.
Eligible organizations can submit their applications from noon on Monday, June 22 until 5 PM on Friday, July 31.
Beyond this specific program, there are two phases of the overall Small Business Recovery Strategy, the initial phase entitled the Survive phase and the second being the Thrive phase. The City is currently in the “Survive” phase, during which time Open for Business has served as the information center for re-opening best practices, small business promotion and recovery support through the Open for Business Dashboard and #31DaysofBiz social campaigns, PPE connections, Small Business Partner Support Grants, and the B2C Small Business Accelerator program, as well as intensive career cohorts and workforce partner support. The Small Business Access to Capital program also falls within the Survive phase.
During the second phase, Thrive, the City is looking into offering workforce readiness programs and resources such as the CLT Career Pivot Bootcamp and help to coordinate job placement. They are also considering the introduction of a Resilient Restart Program, Innovate Business Grant, and Thrive Hiring Grant during that stage. Thrive program specifics will be announced this summer.
For more information regarding the Access to Capital program or to apply, visit fftc.org/cltcitygrant or email cltcitygrant@FFTC.org. For COVID-19 Small Business resources or other information, visit charlottebusinessresources.com.
Photo credited to Tim Mossholder via Unsplash.
