HARRISBURG, Pa. — The City of Harrisburg has partnered with Impact Harrisburg to provide financial relief to small businesses in the city. Their partnership to offer this program is believed to be one of the first in the nation.
"There's so much need out there," said Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse, (D.)
Mayor Papenfuse says, he's heard from small business owners in the city. An application went live Friday. It allows businesses that make less than $1 million of gross revenue a year to apply for a grant of up to $10,000.
"Small businesses are the backbone of the city's economy," said Mayor Papenfuse. They're really hurting right now. We want to make sure they don't fold, can stay afloat, and we want to make sure these businesses will be ready to reopen and not unfortunately be crushed or devastated by this crisis."
The city and Impact Harrisburg are each offering 500,000 for a total of $1 million of grants to be handed out to small business in the city. The mayor says, there will be a preference for business owners who live in the city, as well as minorities and women. More than half of the grants will go to businesses that have a gross revenue of less than $500,000 a year.
"The objective is to reach out to the smaller small businesses," said Sheila Dow Ford, Impact Harrisburg Executive Director.
Nona Watson, Director of Economic Development
"We want to make sure we focus in on supporting our local neighborhood businesses," said Nona Watson, Economic Development Director.
The application will be available until May 6th. The city then hopes to distribute the grants shortly after.