HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Read Before Packet - 6/7/2022 - Memorandum From Seonah Kendall And Shannon Hein Re: Arpa Small Business Grants
Economic Health Office
222 LaPorte Avenue
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.221.6505
970.224.6107 - fax
fcgov.com
MEMORANDUM
DATE: June 6, 2022
TO:Mayor and City Councilmembers
THROUGH: Kelly DiMartino, Interim City Manager
Travis Storin, Chief Financial Officer
Tyler Marr, Interim Deputy City Manager
Jacqueline Kozak-Thiel, Chief Sustainability Officer
Josh Birks, Economic Health & Redevelopment Director
FROM: SeonAh Kendall, Senior Economic Manager
Shannon Hein, Small Business Program Manager
RE:ARPA Small Business Grants
The purpose of this memo is to provide Council an update on the status of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Small
Business Grants being developed by the Economic Health Office. Council has asked about the ability to use ARPA funds to
provide relief to businesses along Linden Street. Councilmembers and business owners have suggested that the 2022 ARPA
Business Impact Opportunity Fund and associated grants being offered by the City and County of Denver could be a
potential model.
BOTTOM LINE
which either impact
access to a business and/or the adjacent right-of-way (ROW). Denver has developed a suite of grants that includes an Anti-
Displacement Grant intended to provide relief to businesses impacted in a similar manner. Council will have the
opportunity to approve on Second Reading funding to hire a Capital Projects Business Liaison and associated program
funds. The use of these funds is still bein New
grants will be available to support businesses throughout the City this summer (2022).
BACKGROUND
As context, EHO met with to
understand their 2022 ARPA Business Impact Opportunity Fund. Some items of note about the business grants associated
with the Opportunity Fund:
Suite of grants offered:
o Stabilization Grants - related to negative COVID impacts such as supply chain issues, staffing challenges, cash
reserves and lost revenue.
o Activation Grant establish/renew leases in certain designated commercial corridors where blight has occurred
or is occurring. Eligible expenses are specific to security and equipment for safety purposes.
o Anti-Displacement Grants alleviate revenue loss or a portion of the cost associated with relocation resulting
from publicly-funded construction projects which occur across the city and where the businesses are in qualified
geographic areas.
o Technical Assistance guidance for grant application and navigation of business services, including lease
negotiation and eviction prevention, financial readiness, etc.
Eligibility businesses must be:
o Either within their Denver Recovery Index Map OR within specific
North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes.
o Annual gross revenue of $5M or less.
For the Stabilization Grant, businesses must have been operational prior to March 2020 and
demonstrate a 10% revenue decline.
Cap on total grants per business:
o Applicants may only apply for one of the grant categories.
o Businesses with annual gross revenue equal or less than $100,000 are eligible for $7,500.
o Businesses with annual gross revenue equal or greater than $100,001 is eligible for $15,000.
DEDO is partnering with United Way of Denver, who will provide technical assistance to businesses.
DEDO will have 3 rounds of grants June, July, and August awards.
Attachment 1 is the DEDO ARPA Business Impact Opportunity Grant Application.
PAST GRANTS
In 2020 and 2021, the City of Fort Collins, through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act,
supported small businesses earlier in the pandemic with the Small Business Assistance Program (SBAP) and the Accounting
Support Assistance Program (ASAP) for a combined $1.9M. EHO partnered with Larimer County and the State of Colorado
to distribute an additional $842,238 through the Small Business Relief (SBR) grant program (Attachment 2). Several Linden
Street businesses have received funds under these previous programs.
NEXT STEPS
The Economic Health Office is developing a suite of ARPA Small Business Grants, like suite (as well as others such
as Atlanta, Austin, and Boulder). As part of Ordinance 079-2021, EHO was awarded $1M for small business support and
recovery. To date, $180,000 of the $1M has been expended to offset the cost of third-party food delivery for local
restaurants between December 17, 2021 February 27, 2022 (during the Delta variant wave). The remaining $820,000 is
available for distribution to businesses through grants this summer (2022).
The suite of grants being explored include:
Business stabilization and activation Similar to those offered by Denver, Atlanta, Austin, and Boulder
Workforce and talent retention Anticipated to be direct to businesses for training existing or new workforce to
meet changing needs
Capital project impacts An additional, $140,000 of funds may become available depending on
on June 7th. The specific use of these funds is still being developed and the DEDO Anti-Displacement Grant provides
an interesting model. Funds will need to be available to businesses across the City and cannot be limited to Linden
Street to be ARPA eligible.
businesses for a specific project. The funds need to be all-encompassing of projects occurring within a determined
period for eligibility. Additional input is needed from the CAO and Finance about this specific use of ARPA funds.
Additional aspects of the grants under development:
One application/one reporting (compliance) reviewing best practices so that businesses can apply once for any
of the various suites of grants that make up the suite being offered.
Cap on total grants per business There will be a limit to the amount of assistance a business will be eligible to
receive. EHO is still evaluating the grant limit amount per business that would be meaningful. The grant fund
provided by DEDO is $5M. The City of Fort Collins small business grant is $1M in total.
Staff anticipates that applicants may be eligible for multiple grants to meet the proposed assistance cap.
Attachment 1: PDF DEDO 2022 ARPA Business Impact Opportunity Fund Application
Attachment 2: 2020 2021 CARES Business Grants
cc: Blaine Dunn, Accounting Director
Joanne Cech, Fiscal Recovery Manager