$10K Available for Small Business Recovery
Grants of up to $10,000 are available from Alameda County to help a small business recover from pandemic losses, with an application deadline of October 31.
Businesses must be brick-and-mortar, employ no more than 25 people, and not have received any previous reimbursement from the county government or insurance for the same costs. Home-based businesses are eligible for up to $5,000 in grants.
Not eligible are mobile businesses, chain stores owned by corporations, or corporate-owned franchises. Independently owned franchises are eligible, however.
There is a total of $3.1 million available for each of Alameda County’s five supervisorial districts. The county got the money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, passed during the pandemic by Congress to distribute federal recovery aid to local communities.
While recovery aid has been announced before, small business owners often complained that they were still wading through a cumbersome application process while larger businesses were quickly snapping up all the av
The Castro Valley/Eden Area Chamber of Commerce welcomed the small business grants.
Chamber Executive Director Gary Slate said, “We are thrilled to see these $5,000-$10,000 grants available shortly to all those small businesses who have been impacted by the pandemic and are still trying to recover or survive.”
He continued, “We are working diligently as a Chamber to get the word out to all our local businesses who may qualify to apply for this grant by October 31, as we know it can have a substantial impact to their immediate needs. The reaction of businesses learning about this powerful grant opportunity has been outstanding with some commenting that this will keep their business afloat.”
About half of all available funds are being set aside for businesses located in Alameda County Community Resiliency Priority Zip Codes and Qualified Census Tracts (QCT), that is, lower-income areas. One of those census tracts takes in much of downtown Castro Valley, from the north side of Castro Valley Boulevard between Stanton Avenue and Redwood Road, and north to Somerset Avenue. Several census tracts in San Leandro and the unincorporated areas also qualify.
The ZIP codes getting priority cover Ashland, Cherryland, Fairview, San Lorenzo, and parts of San Leandro, Castro Valley, and Hayward. Those ZIP codes are 94541, 94544, 94545, 94578, and 94580.
You can get information about the ARPA grants at https://eastbayeda.org/grants, the website of the East Bay Economic Development Alliance.