HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Restaurants, bars, day care centers, taxi operators, retail stores, law firms, travel agencies and gyms were among more than 200 local companies that applied on the first day of a new $20 million federally funded grant program to help pandemic-hit small businesses.
By the second day, the number of applications representing multiple industries climbed to 420. And more are expected to apply.
The Guam Economic Development Authority is administering the grant program, using American Rescue Plan Act funding that Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero recently allocated.
This is direct financial assistance to eligible small businesses, and the award is capped at $50,000, according to GEDA.
Within hours of the 8 a.m. Thursday opening of the Guam Small Business Pandemic Assistance Grant Program 2021, GEDA had received multiple applications online and in person.
GEDA Administrator Melanie Mendiola, on Friday, said the first batch of applications that meet all the eligibility criteria can expect approval “as early as Monday.”
Mendiola said GEDA’s goal is to push out the funds “as swiftly as possible.”
Applications will be accepted until 5 p.m. Dec. 9, GEDA stated.
The $20 million aid program is in addition to more than $20 million in small business pandemic assistance grants and small business rent relief grants that GEDA also administered in 2020, using Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, money.
Mendiola said the Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact not only on the public health, but also on the economic health of Guam.
Who’s eligible?
The pandemic assistance grant program provides direct financial assistance to Guam small businesses that meet all eligibility criteria and can demonstrate at least 25% business interruption during the Covid-19 pandemic.
This extends to small businesses that opened in both 2020 and 2021, as long as they meet all eligibility criteria, GEDA said.
“It is our goal to provide assistance to as many local small businesses as possible in order to help bolster Guam’s economic recovery,” Mendiola said in a statement.
It’s been 18 months since the governor’s first declaration of a public health emergency because of the pandemic, and hundreds of small businesses continue to report feeling the crunch.
Applications may be submitted to GEDA via the email address indicated on the application form, or via hand delivery to the drop box at the GEDA offices.
GEDA strongly recommends email submissions “for the health and safety of the public.”
Small businesses at the nearly empty Pleasure Island in the tourist district of Tumon are among the hundreds to apply on Day One of the application period of the Guam Economic Development Authority’s $20 million small business pandemic assistance grant.
