MEDFORD, Ore. —$250,000 in funding assistance is being made available to Medford small businesses on Friday.
“You know with these grants, it keeps my dream alive, it keeps me thinking that eventually I will be successful,” Natasha Hopkins, The Rogue Grape.
Hopkins, is one of the many small businesses hit hard from the pandemic.
The funding doesn’t come a moment too soon, Hopkins says that with a staff of only 5 & bills piling up, they decided to close their doors.
“Right now I’m just trying to stay a live, so the grant money for me, means that I can pay my bills to keep my space and to keep everything that I’ve built,” says Hopkins.
To date the city of Medford has provided $500,000 in financial assistance to small businesses impacted by COVID-19.
The Medford Chamber of Commerce says that $3,000 is the distribution amount, and it’s first come first serve.
“So when the money is gone, it’s gone and I have no doubt that it is going to go very quickly,” says Medford Jackson County Chamber of Commerce CEO and President Brad Hicks.
The chamber says while the money is not enough to completely get small businesses out of the dark, it is a start.
“600 dollars will not be enough, 2,000 dollars will not be enough, $3,000 will not be enough, if somebody’s lease payment is $2500, and that gets them through another month, until hopefully things lighten up, then that’s a blessing,” says Hicks.
To qualify for assistance a business must:
Be a bar, restaurant, brewery, winery, indoor gym or fitness establishment
Complete the online application and include a copy of your W9
Have had no more than 15 non-owner employees as of march 1, 2020
Have a city business license
Have had no outstanding city related liens, fees, or code enforcement cases
Not be affiliated with a franchise
The application goes live at 10 am on Friday.
You can find it at cityofmedford.org
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