FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Amber Hamilton
Roosevelt County Supporting Small Businesses Through Grant Program
Portales, NM – Roosevelt County has awarded six local businesses through the Roosevelt County Small Business Grant Program. Roosevelt County received federal CARES ACT funding through the State of New Mexico to assist local small businesses that have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Total grant funds available were $239,625,and one-time grant awards up to $10,000 will continue to be made based upon funds availability and business/nonprofit eligibility.
“We are thrilled to release the first wave of our small business grant assistance today,” stated County Manager Amber Hamilton. “I want to encourage any small business in Roosevelt County to explore this opportunity. We’ve begun processing the second group of applicants and hope to have the majority of the awards made by the end of the month.”
The State has expanded some of the eligibility requirements to include expanding employee limits to 100 full time equivalent or less and annual revenues to not exceed $5 million. Funds can only be used to reimburse the costs of business interruption caused by required closures provided those costs are not paid by insurance or by another federal, state, or local program. These grants can be utilized to reimburse the following State approved list of eligible expenses:
Business Continuity:
Non-owner employee payroll
Rent or Scheduled mortgage payments
Insurance
Utilities
Marketing
Business Redesign:
Reconfiguring physical space
Installing plexiglass barriers
PPE for employees
Purchasing web-conferencing or other technology to facilitate work-at-home
Temporary structures to mitigate the spread of Covid-19
Eligibility Overview
· Business must have experienced business disruption due to COVID-19 pandemic;
· Business must have a physical location within Roosevelt County;
· Business must have 100 employees or fewer (full-time equivalent);
· Business must have annual revenues of no more than $5 million;
· Business must have been in operation for 12 months prior to March 1, 2020;*
· Business must submit a complete application;
· Business owners must be willing to sign apublic participation agreement with Roosevelt County if selected to receive funding.
*Businesses may request an exemption byattaching a detailed request explaining whythey believe this requirement should bewaived. The County will review eachrequest and make a determination basedupon the merits of the reasons given.
“Karl Terry with the Chamber and Jim Lucero with RCCDC have been instrumental in assisting businesses with their applications,” added Hamilton. “We’ve all met with numerous businesses throughout the County to encourage applications and answer questions and will continue to seek out more opportunities to assist our local businesses.”
The application process opened Sept. 30, and remain open until funds are exhausted (awards will be based on first come basis). Applications can be completed online at https://www.rooseveltcounty.com/?page_id=9468. For more information, please contact the Roosevelt County Chamber of Commerce or the Roosevelt County Community Development Corp. at 575.356.8541 or Roosevelt County Administration at 575.356.5307 or email covidhelp@rooseveltcounty.com.
