The City of Dallas has launched a Small Business Continuity Fund and applications are open as of Monday, May 4, 2020.
Here are the basics:
- $5M is available, $2.5M for grants ($1.25M available LMI tracts and $1.25M city-wide) and $2.5M for loans
- Grant program: $10,000 maximum award, depends on payroll
- Loan program: $50,000 maximum award, depends on payroll and other operating expenses, repayment over 5 years
Eligibility
Eligible business types:
- Low-to-moderate income (LMI) micro-business owners (those with 5 or fewer employees, including themselves) or
- Small businesses (fewer than 50 employees) that employ (or previously employed and would rehire) at least 51% LMI workers.
Other requirements include:
- Physical office location in the City of Dallas (does not matter where the owners live)
- Have been open and continuously operating in the City of Dallas since September 1, 2019
- Can demonstrate a 25% or greater financial loss related to the emergency regulations
Funding Process
- Applications will be accepted from May 4 to May 11, 2020
- Eligible applications will be placed in a lottery
- Separate lotteries for loan and grant funding
- There will be two grant funding lotteries: one for the LMI areas and one city-wide
- Lottery will produce list of businesses selected for funding
- Third party administrator will work with businesses to verify financial information, underwrite application, and if criteria are met, provide funding
- Funding estimated to be available in June
Documentation Needed
- W-9
- Documents supporting number of employees and payroll (like an IRS 941 form)
- Documentation demonstrating a 25% loss or greater of income since March 2020
- Registration with Secretary of State
- Profit and loss statement from previous year
- Tax statements from previous year including sales and use tax
For more information, visit dallasecodev.org or email [email protected].
FAQs Answered
- You can only apply for loan or grant, not both
- Have to demonstrate loss of business from March 2019 to March 2020
- They will take the average of your January, February, and March 2020 payrolls
- This is strictly only for businesses headquartered in City of Dallas
- If there are multiple owners, they will take the information of the primary business owner
- Need to have all documents before you apply
- Tax returns for business are required, personal tax returns also may be required for the loans
- City of Dallas will check credit scores for loans
- If you haven't heard back from SBA loans, you can still apply for these
- After you submit the application online, you will receive confirmation 24-48 hours later
