ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Small businesses in St. Louis County eager for financial help due to the COVID-19 pandemic will begin getting the news they've waited for on Wednesday.
Emails will begin going out to the first round of small businesses that asked for coronavirus relief funds, St. Louis County Executive Sam Page announced.
Businesses that successfully completed the application and vetting process will begin getting notifications Wednesday. The first round of checks will be in the mail by Friday.
There were 1,696 applicants who made it through the screening process, Page said. They requested a total of $19,285,000. The county had set aside $17,500,000 for the small business relief fund, but Page said he’s working to make sure every business gets the full amount they requested.
“Because of the amount of funds requested only exceeding the budgeted amount by less than $2 million, I’ve asked our county to rework the budget to make sure that all eligible applicants can receive funding,” Page said Wednesday.
The county will continue to notify businesses throughout the coming weeks about being approved for funding.
St. Louis County also has an additional $5 million in CARES Act funding to use.
“We will be working with our economic rescue team to come up with ideas on how to make sure this is distributed in an equitable and fair way to support our small businesses,” Page explained. “The six person economic rescue team, all volunteers, will not be making policies, but they will help determine the best way to assist businesses during this recovery.”
The economic rescue team is focusing on four areas to help county businesses recover: minority- and immigrant-owned, small business and industry, community development and workforce development.
“The team is ultimately design designed to ensure that the voices of small businesses and the workers were heard in this recovery process,” Page said.
More St. Louis County news:
- St. Louis County libraries offering free reusable face masks
- Here are the guidelines St. Louis County schools should follow this fall
- Why pediatricians support children returning to school and what should be on your back-to-school checklist
- Missouri reports record number of new COVID-19 cases, number of hospitalized patients in St. Louis area increases slightly
