Lehigh Valley
COVID-19
Relief Grant
Current Status Update
As of Monday, April 3rd, 2023
The finalists for awards are with the approvals team and awards will be made as those applicants qualify.
If any finalists do not ultimately qualify, the approvals team will continue through the queue until all funds are exhausted. All applicants have been contacted by email with an update as of today.
If any finalists do not ultimately qualify, the approvals team will continue through the queue until all funds are exhausted. All applicants have been contacted by email with an update as of today.
Once funds are completely exhausted, the approvals team will send another communication to any remaining applicants confirming that no additional awards are available.
Please keep checking this page for additional information. Any status updates will be made here. The team is diligently going through the applications and it is not possible to respond to each status request individually.
As of today, no grants have been awarded and no applicants have been denied. This will be updated as we begin making awards.
Welcome!
Thank you for your interest in the Lehigh Valley COVID-19 Relief Grant for small businesses!
Applications for this program have closed and all submitted applications are under review.
About the Grant
Why?
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the PA Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the PA Department of Community and Economic Development determined there was still a need for additional funding for our small businesses to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Governor Tom Wolf announced $1.5 million in Community Development Block Grant-CARES Act (CDBG-CV) funding, through the Partnership for Regional Economic Performance (Lehigh and Northampton counties) to support communities and their residents in the Lehigh Valley.
What?
This will be a reimbursable cash grant program for expenses or losses incurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amounts: from $10,000 - $100,000
Amount received will be determined by demonstrated need
Job Creation / Retention: Recipients must create or retain at least one low-to-moderate-income (LMI), full-time equivalent (FTE) job per $85,000 received.
Who?
The Lehigh University Small Business Development Center (SBDC) will administer this program.
Eligible businesses will, at a minimum:
Be located in Lehigh or Northampton Counties
Have less than 100 employees OR
Earn less than $1 million in annual revenue
Be impacted by the coronavirus pandemic
To ensure funds are distributed to those most in need, we will award grants in blocks until all funds are exhausted:
Block 1: Eligible businesses that opened on or after February 1, 2020.
Block 2: Eligible businesses owned by historically underserved people
Block 3: All other eligible businesses
For more details, visit our guidelines/FAQ
When?
Applications accepted beginning on or about November 2, 2022. This is not a first-come, first-served program. All applications submitted by November 30th will be evaluated equally and awarded based on the criteria above.
If funds remain available after that application window, awards will be made on a rolling basis.
Applications will close once all funds have been committed, or on December 31, 2022, whichever comes first.
How?