Central New York Small Businesses will soon have a chance to get their share of $800 million in assistance with the State’s COVID-19 Pandemic Small Businesses Recovery Grant Program. Assemblymember Al Stirpe of Cicero announced the program Thursday at the Syracuse Tech Garden with Centerstate CEO President Rob Simpson.
Stirpe says the amount of grant awards to individual businesses will be based on their gross receipts between $25,000 to $500,000 annually.
“That’s a very specific group of businesses and I think those are the ones that haven’t really benefitted for any of the programs that have taken place so far.” - Al Stirpe
“Just do the quick math. So, $800 million… 4 to 5 percent. There’s a possibility of $40 million dollars flowing into Central New York as a result of this program. I think the success or failure of it is going to depend on 2 things: our ability to get the word out and our ability of the technical assistance providers like Centerstate CEO and our partners here to reach those businesses that have been left behind at this point.” – Rob Simpson, Centerstate CEO
Roughly more than 330,000 small and micro businesses of less than ten employees are eligible to apply for the grants. The funds can only be used toward paying qualified operational expenses and property taxes. Assemblymember Stirpe also credits the work of Assembly-members Bill Magnarelli, Pam Hunter and Senator Rachel May in convincing the state to allocate the funding. Online applications for the program opens June 10th. More information is available at the Empire State Development website.
