CARES Funding
Help is available! Our Office of Community Development recently started accepting applications for $3.5 million in Federal CARES Act grant funding for small businesses, non-profits, and rental relief. These funds must be used to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the spread of COVID-19.
We know Rockland is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and this funding is just one of the ways we in county government are working to support local businesses, non-profits, and residents. It has been a tough couple of years on a number of levels and we have sought out assistance from many different sources to support Rocklanders. We are funding three separate programs from this grant:
Small Business Grant Relief Program – Maximum of $45,000 per business, based upon need. Minimum request is $5,000: The goal of this program is to keep businesses open and retain jobs in those that are at-risk of closing or laying off employees due to social distancing policies and other orders and policies related to COVID-19.
Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Public Services Program: Rockland County is allocating funds to qualified non-profit 501(c)(3) agencies serving Rockland County to support a variety of activities that prevent, prepare for, and/or respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Activities are required to provide new or quantifiably increased public services that assist and/or benefit the low- and moderate-income population affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
COVID-19 Rent Relief Grant Program: This program is designed to fund up to 6 months past due rent not to exceed the CDBG/HOME published Fair Market Rents based upon family and bedroom size and also up to 6 months past due utility bills if funding allows. Households must have a lease with an unrelated landlord and may not be residents of public housing buildings or receive Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher assistance.
Due to Federal requirements, funding under all of these programs is only available to businesses registered and located within the following municipalities, non-profit agencies serving county residents located within the following municipalities or households located within the following municipalities: Towns of Clarkstown, Haverstraw, and Stony Point and Villages of Airmont, Chestnut Ridge, Grand View, Haverstraw, Hillburn, Kaser, Montebello, New Hempstead, Nyack, Piermont, Pomona, Sloatsburg, South Nyack, Spring Valley, Suffern, and West Haverstraw.
The applications for each program and federal eligibility requirements are available to download here: https://rocklandgov.com/departments/community-development/cdbg-cv-cares-act/
And for anyone who needs assistance applying we are here to help you navigate the application process and federal requirements of this program. Navigating the Federal bureaucracy is not easy, but we want to get these dollars out into the community as soon as we can..
