Just days after opening the application period for its small business relief program, City of Santa Clara officials say the program will quickly run out of funds.
The $500,000 grant program, which the City Council approved on April 8, began accepting applications on Friday, April 17. The two levels of grants – $10,000 and $5,000 – were available to non-essential and essential businesses respectively.
Santa Clara got help from the Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce in promoting the application period.
“As the local chamber, we want to ensure small business owners in our area understand the aid available to them and how they can apply to access those funds now,” Nick Kaspar, chamber President and CEO, said last week.
However, with so much demand, the funds are running out quickly. Officials announced Monday afternoon that, due to a “high volume of applications,” “the City expects that the $500,000 currently available in grant funding will be exhausted.”
City officials will notify grant award winners beginning on April 22. Applications are being reviewed in the order received, according to the city announcement.
What comes next for struggling businesses remains to be seen, though the City hopes for another round of funding.
“Since there’s not enough grant funding available to meet the small business need, the City hopes to announce a future round of small business assistance grants which will be dependent on funding from the private sector,” the city’s press release stated.
To see details on the grant program, click here.