Sept. 21. Cabarrus County is dedicating up to $5 million in American Rescue Plan Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to help small businesses deal with COVID-19.

Small business owners in the county have until Oct. 15 to apply for one-time funding through the Cabarrus Recovery Grant – Small Business Support Program.

Qualifying expenses include:

Payroll and benefit costs
Mortgage/rent
Utilities
Operating costs
COVID-19 prevention/mitigation (e.g., physical barriers, cleaning, testing, etc.)

Eligible businesses must:

Have a location within Cabarrus County that opened before January 1, 2020
Operate as a for-profit agency
Have an independent owner/operator
Employ 50 or fewer workers
Demonstrate loss of revenue due to COVID-19
Be in good standing with all federal, state and local governments (taxes, etc.)
Provide 2019 and 2020 Federal Tax Returns with their application
Meet County vendor onboarding requirements
The County will review applications and allocate funding after the October 15 deadline.

How to apply

To learn more and apply, visit cabarruscounty.us/BizGrant21.

Applicants are required to answer a few qualifying questions, including how the business impacts Cabarrus County’s economy.

To complete the process, applicants will need to submit the business’ 2019 and 2020 Federal Tax Returns with the application. Online applicants will need to upload an electronic copy.

Paper applications are available at Cabarrus County’s libraries, Human Services Center, Veteran Services Office, Board of Elections Office, Senior Center in Concord and the Government Center (County Manager’s Office).

Previous COVID-19 assistance

Businesses that received COVID-19-related financial assistance (i.e., PPP) are eligible to apply for the grant; however, priority may be given to businesses that have not received such assistance.

Ineligible business categories

The federal government has outlined which businesses are ineligible for funding. These include, but are not limited to, non-profit businesses, financial businesses primarily engaged in lending, pyramid sale distribution plans and political organizations.

Steps toward recovery

The $5 million small business support initiative falls in line with other County efforts to support recovery.