$7.5M in COVID-relief grants going to Lehigh Valley restaurants, other hospitality businesses
Updated Mar 18, 2021;
A loan program that previously helped fledging businesses will now help Lehigh Valley hotels and restaurants continue to survive the COVID-19 pandemic.
Applications can be found here.
Lehigh County Executive Phillips Armstrong said the grants will help “one of the industries that need the help probably the most in this last year the hospitality industry.”
“They have been hurt, as many businesses have, but now we have a chance to reach out and help them,” he said.
Pennsylvania received $145 million for CHIRP, and divided the pot among the counties based on population. Lehigh County received $4.1 million and Northampton County received $3.4 million from the state.
Today is the first day that businesses in the hospitality field can apply for Covid-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Program, or CHIRP grants.
The Southwest Pennsylvania Commission will distribute the grants, which will range from $5,000 to $50,000. The county has $952,241 in grant money to distribute as part of $145 million that will be distributed across the state.
Byron Stauffer with the Office of Planning and Development said that while the grant application process is online, the SPC and others are ready to help business owners fill out the applications.
Hotels, bars and restaurants are able to apply for these grants, but there are some qualifications in place. The business needs to have less than 300 employees, had $15 million in business net worth per establishment, show at least a 25 percent reduction in gross receipts or revenues between 2019 and 2020, and were in business as of February 15
Indiana County businesses in the hospitality field that were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic will be able to apply for grants on Monday.
In mid-February, the county applied for its portion of the Covid-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Program, or CHIRP grants. The Southwest Pennsylvania Commission will administer the funds and accept the applications for the grants, which are available to for-profit businesses in the food service or accommodations industries that employed fewer than 300 people and had less than $15 million in business net worth per establishment, and can show at least at 25 percent reduction in gross receipts or revenues between 2019 and 2020, and were in business as of February 15
Rising Tide, a community development financial institution, will administer the funds that have been allocated to Lehigh and Northampton counties through the state’s $145 million COVID-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Program that aims to inject capital into coronavirus-ravaged small businesses such as bars and restaurants.