A million dollars in rental help is coming available to some Montgomery County, Maryland, small businesses.
The Small Business Rental Assistance Program is geared towards businesses that made $500,000 or less a year before the pandemic, have lost revenue because of it and have a small number of employees.
“This is a large part of our community,” said Montgomery County Council Member Will Jawando. ”Upwards of 60% of our small business have less than ten people.”
Jawando introduced the special appropriation that made the million dollar funding for the program available. He says the current times have hit minority-owned businesses especially hard.
“Nationally, 40% of Black-owned businesses have disappeared. Many Latino-owned and women-owned businesses have had to close their doors and those that rely on foot traffic and have to pay retail space have struggled to keep their leases in effect,” Jawando said.
The program will be administered by the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC) with the aid of Montgomery County’s Business Advancement Team.
The LEDC will host a pair of information sessions on Friday, May 14.
Applications will begin being accepted on Monday, May 17, and applications must be in by Monday, May 24.
Not all small businesses will qualify for the rental assistance, according to the LEDC information page. Restaurants, food service businesses, medical practices, professional services, religious organizations and daycare businesses are ineligible, per county guidelines.
Business owners can see a full list of qualifying businesses on LEDC’s website.
