Notice of Funding Availability: New Jersey Small and Micro Business PPE Access Program Phase 2

Applications targeted to become available beginning 2:00pm on Wednesday, October 28.

BACKGROUND ON SMALL AND MICRO BUSINESS PPE NEEDS
The NJ Small and Micro Business PPE Access Program was developed in response to consistent concerns emerging from the Governor’s Restart and Recovery Commission, the nine sector-based committees of the Governor’s Restart and Recovery Advisory Council and input from numerous small and micro businesses. Both the Commission and the Advisory Council highlighted the need for readily available, fairly priced PPE to accelerate economic recovery. As small and micro businesses and organizations in historically underserved communities are particularly vulnerable to being crowded out of essential goods when tight market conditions occur, a key consideration of the program has been the need to ensure equitable distribution and pricing of PPE.

More than one third of all New Jersey workers are employed by organizations of 100 employees or fewer. Many of these companies do not have the reach or the resources to obtain goods outside of their normal retail buying channels, particularly in times of significant supply/demand imbalances. PPE falls squarely into the category of a good that was not essential to many of these organizations before the COVID-19 outbreak but is critical today.

PROGRAM PURPOSE
Overall Program
The NJ Small and Micro Business PPE Access Program is designed to make fairly priced PPE more easily available to all the small and micro businesses and non-profit organizations in the State, to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 and reduce their burden of sourcing for the PPEs from the competitive markets. In addition to the above the program will:
 
  1. Facilitate the State’s economic recovery by ensuring that small and micro businesses and non-profit organizations – the customers – can access affordably priced PPE and other safeguarding equipment to protect their employees as they return to work and continue to operate in a COVID-19 environment;
  2. Ensure small and micro businesses and non-profit organizations have access to the information they need to select the appropriate PPE needed for their context;
  3. Ensure that businesses in historically underserved communities are particularly able to access affordable PPE; and
  4. Support the State’s manufacturing sector by providing an offsetting subsidy for purchases of PPE manufactured or assembled at a manufacturing facility in New Jersey.

Click here for full program description and eligibility.
Notice of Funding Availability: Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program – Phase 3
Applications will open for micro businesses at 9:00 am on Friday, October 30.
Applications will open for all other eligible businesses at 9:00 am on Monday, November 2. 
Applicants must pre-register prior to 5pm on Tuesday, October 27.

OVERVIEW
On March 9, 2020, Governor Phil Murphy issued Executive Order 103, declaring a State of Emergency and a Public Health Emergency to ramp up New Jersey’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19. Subsequent containment measures were implemented, including restrictions on public gatherings and mandated closure of non-essential businesses. While these measures are consistent with similar measures being taken nationally that are expected to limit the public’s exposure to COVID-19, there has been and will continue to be a significant adverse impact on our state’s economy.
 
On March 26, 2020, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) approved the creation of the Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program – an emergency grant funding program to provide funding as efficiently and quickly as possible to certain small and medium sized enterprises, i.e., businesses and non-profits (SMEs), that needed payroll and working capital support as a result of adverse economic impacts following the March 9, 2020 declaration of a State of Emergency and a Public Health Emergency.
 
The initial phase of the grant program focused on the smallest enterprises in targeted industries that were among the most adversely impacted by the containment measures. The NJEDA utilized $5 million from its own unrestricted monies, along with $2 million in funding contributed by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) in support of impacted entities in Atlantic County, to fund the original Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program. The second phase of the grant program utilized $45 million in funding from the Coronavirus Relief Fund, as established under the Federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, with less restrictive eligibility requirements to assist a larger number of SMEs.
 
Utilizing $70 million in additional funding from the Coronavirus Relief Fund, the NJEDA is now implementing a third phase of the Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program, with both less restrictive eligibility requirements and new dedicated pools of funding for restaurants and micro-businesses.

Eligible Uses
Under the Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program – Phase 3, funding may be used for reimbursement of lost revenue as a result of business interruption caused by COVID-19 and may not be used for capital expenses, including construction.

Click here for full program description and eligibility.
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