COVID19 Business & Employee Assistance Programs

As we weather the storm of COVID19 effects together as a community, there are many programs and options being developed to provide assistance to businesses/small businesses to manage the economic effects.

As they become available we will continue to add them to this page dedicated to business options and employee assistance programs now and in the future. This is page is not all-inclusive of government and programmatic assistance available to businesses but we will do our best to provide all services we become aware of.

Town of Yarmouth Offers CDBG Grant Program to Help Small Businesses

The Town of Yarmouth is offering a new round of funding to assist small businesses impacted by COVID-19. The program offers short-term working capital to cover expenses such as commercial rent and mortgage, payroll, and qualifying debt service when a business does not have the resources to cover these costs.

Program applications can be obtained online at https://www.yarmouth.ma.us/269/Community-Development-Block-Grant-Progra or by contacting Mary Waygan, CDBG Program Administrator, at MWaygan@yarmouth.ma.us or 774-212-1668. This program is funded through the CARES ACT and the Town’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) provided annually to the Town of Yarmouth by US HUD. Income limits and other requirements apply.

Massachusetts Announces Tax Relief Measures for Businesses Impacted by COVID-19 (Sept 15)

Governor Baker announced additional administrative tax relief measures for local businesses that have been impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, especially in the restaurant and hospitality sectors.
https://www.mass.gov/news/massachusetts-announces-additional-administrative-tax-relief-measures-for-businesses-across
Governor Baker announced the extension of this program through April 2021

Massachusetts announces two programs to assist businesses with safety training

o The Safety Training Grant offers up to $25K in Safety Training for employees of Massachusetts businesses.

o The OSHA Consultation Program provides FREE service to employers to assist with complying with the OSHA standards.

o The Massachusetts Office of Business Development will host a webinar on these programs on Wednesday, August 5, 2020 at 11:00am.

On July 21^st Governor Charlie Baker extended the pause on eviction and foreclosures (including for small businesses) for 60 days until October 17, 2020. https://www.mass.gov/news/baker-polito-administration-extends-moratorium-on-evictions-and-foreclosures-to-october-17

Small Business Resources

Mass Growth Capital Corporation offers application and translation assistance for the program https://www.empoweringsmallbusiness.org/resources/covid-19-small-business-resources

Agricultural Businesses Impacted by COVID-19

Agricultural businesses are now eligible for SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and EIDL Advance programs. **At this time, only agricultural business applications will be accepted due to limitations in funding availability and the unprecedented submission of applications already received.
https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba-newsroom/press-releases-media-advisories/sba-make-economic-injury-disaster-loans-available-us-agricultural-businesses-impacted-covid-19

March 2020

Small Business Administration’s Administrator, Jovita Carranza, announced automatic deferments through December 31, 2020 for borrowers still paying back SBA loans from previous disasters. View the full press release on the SBA Newsroom page here.

SBA will be hosting virtual sessions to support small businesses

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USSBA/bulletins/288362f

SBA Offers Disaster Assistance to Massachusetts Small Businesses Economically Impacted by the Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Please view the following Press Releases and information provided by the SBA to assist businesses during this crisis.
March 18 SBA News Release 278- English
March 18 SBA News Release 279- Spanish
SBA Fact Sheet - Economic Injury Disaster Loans

Other Funding

Love Live Local recently established the Cape Cod Resilience Fund. This fund will issue one-time grants of $500 to $2,000 to eligible Cape Cod small businesses with 1-20 full-time year-round employees to supplement day-to-day operational expenses such as rent, staff, supplies, inventory, marketing and training. Preference will be given to year-round, community minded, brick and mortar businesses located in a downtown area. The initial round of applications are expected to open in early June 2020. https://lovelivelocal.com/resilience/

Facebook is offering $100M in cash grants and ad credits to small businesses to help during this challenging time. For more info, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/business/boost/grants

The Save Small Business Fund is a grant-making initiative offering short-term relief for small employers in the United States and its territories. This program is offered by the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation and provides $5,000 grants to businesses that employ between 3 and 20 people. For more info, please visit: https://www.savesmallbusiness.com/

Essential vs Non-Essential Businesses

Please visit this link on Mass.Gov to understand the definitions of essential vs non-essential businesses during this time.

Always visit Mass.Gov directly for the latest information and programs.

On May 18 the Baker-Polito Administration announced a comprehensive plan to safely reopen the Massachusetts economy, get people back to work, and ease social restrictions while minimizing the health impacts of COVID-19.

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/reopening-massachusetts

Additional Resources

Coronavirus Tax Relief for Businesses and Tax-Exempt Entities

https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/coronavirus-tax-relief-for-businesses-and-tax-exempt-entities

US Chamber COVID-19 Small Business Guide

https://www.uschamber.com/co/small-business-coronavirus

Commonwealth Kitchen Restaurant COVID-19 Resource Guide:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MdnM-bnlbAOGX5FiD0rnoeLiCbkimNRz5u9rTxuAc78/edit

View & Print: SCORE Business Reopening Toolkit

Yarmouth Building Department is continuing to issue permits and conduct inspections on a limited basis. For more info, visit: https://www.yarmouth.ma.us/123/Building

Mass Growth Community Capital

is accepting applications for their FY2021 Small Business Technical Assistance Grant Program. Visit this link for more info. https://www.empoweringsmallbusiness.org/about-us/requests-proposals-quotes