The Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) was created to help business owners with funding to help cover expenses such as rent and utilities, payroll, debt, loan payments and other business operation expenses. The current window to file for assistance is ending on February 18, 2021.

The grants are open to any business from Carbon, Emery, Grand and San Juan counties that experienced a hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic from April 1, 2020 to the filing date. Another eligibility requirement is that the business must meet one of the following criteria: The owner is low to moderate income, the business is located in an area that is considered low to moderate income or more than 51% of the employees are considered  low to moderate income. The staff at the Southeastern Utah Association of Local Governments (SEUALG) can help you determine if you qualify. 

CDBG COVID Coordinator, Brandon McCandless, explained what items you may want to bring with you. He stated that, ”A profit and loss statement as well as a W-9, and bringing in receipts that show you were paying your bills even though you were operating at a loss are very helpful”. He went on to add,” Make sure you are not using these funds to pay items that you used Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) funding to cover during the same time period”.  For example, if a business used Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds  to pay utilities and rent for the month of August, 2020, and also applied for a CDBG to cover those same expenses for the same time period, that would be considered a “duplication of efforts” and could lead to prosecution. 

To apply you can go online to: seualg.utah.gov and click on the Small Business Recovery Grant Program link. Fill out the application and submit all the forms required. To speed up the process after you submit the application, you can also send your documents to: bmccandless@seualg.utah.gov to double check your application information.