2021 City of Pasadena Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program

To be eligible to apply for the Small-Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program, a business must meet all of the following criteria at time of application submission:

• Business must operate out of street-level store front in the City of Pasadena and is legally operating under all local, state and federal laws and current on any and all taxes/fees/license owed to the City of Pasadena and does not have a current lawsuit pending against the City of Pasadena.;
• Have experienced an economic hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic and can demonstrate at least 25% decline in revenues due to COVID-19 between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020;
• Have a current Pasadena business license;
• Must be a for-profit micro-enterprise with 5 or fewer employees including the owner(s);
• Applicant must own 51%+ majority owner of business;
• Must not have received past City grant program funds and must disclose receipt federal PPP or EIDL. Prior federal funding does not automatically disqualify, however, priority given to those who did not receive funding.
• Demonstrate a stable track record of business operations under current ownership; and
• Provide the dedication and wherewithal to remain open for a period of 12 months after receipt of the relief funds.

Ineligible Applicants

• Do not meet the eligibility criteria listed above;
• Non-profit organizations are not eligible businesses, and will not be considered for funding;
• Other ineligible businesses include payday loan businesses, liquor and tobacco stores, pawn shops, firearm or other weapons dealers, life insurance companies, adult entertainment, passive real estate investments, home-based businesses, national or regional chains; and/or
• Businesses currently in bankruptcy.

Eligible Use of Funds

Grant funds will be issued on a reimbursable basis to cover the following costs:

• Utility Payments: gas, electricity, and/or water business expenses.  An eligible business will need to show proof of payment of its utility bill(s).

AND/OR

• Personal Protective Equipment (“PPE”): PPE to comply with State and/or County guidelines to protect staff and members of the public.

AND/OR

• Rent: place-of-business rent payments

The grant can also be used for reimbursement of other day to day operating expenses such as payroll, mortgage payments, inventory and other similar expenses. Once all documentation has been verified and small business owner submit proof of payments for eligible expenses, PCF will issue checks.

Ineligible Use of Funds

Funds may not be used to:

• Reimburse expenses incurred prior to application grant award
• Pay-off non-business debts such as personal credit cards for purchases not associated with the business
• Personal expenses, or support other businesses in which owner may have interest

Direct financing to political activities or paying of taxes and fines.

The following documents must be submitted for consideration of a grant request:

• Complete grant application;
• Owner’s 2019 personal tax return
• Proof of income for all other adults living in the business owner’s household
• Business federal tax return for 2019
• Business payroll reports for the past 3 months of 2020
• Monthly income statements for 2020 or 2020 Profit and Loss Statement
• Copy of business owner’s government-issued photo identification.
• A DUNS number (To get or look up your business here: https://www.dnb.com/duns-number.html)

The following documents will be required as a part of the grant agreement before official approval that the owner is accepted into the grant program.

• Program grant agreement
• IRS W-9 form
• Verification of business license

Please note, that even a business that meets these criteria is not guaranteed to receive a grant due to funding constraints of this program.

The scoring system will be designed to encourage reliable scoring of applications. Each application will receive points for each of the following:

• Continuous business in the city of Pasadena for min. 5 years – 10 points
• Business owner’s annual household income does not exceed 80% Average Median Income (AMI) – 8 points
• Business located in a CDBG-eligible census tract block group – 5 points
• Each full-time employee including owner – 1 point each
• Each employee who lives in Pasadena including owner – 1 point each
  • 1st Tier Tie-Breaker – Business owners with the lowest total household income
  • 2nd Tier Tie-Breaker- Determined by lottery, with first round limited to applicants who have not received federal funding.

Top scoring applications will be recommended for approval. Each applicant will be notified in writing whether their application has been selected for a grant award or denied, pending verification of documents. Decisions will be made within 10 days of closing of application.