With much of the $275 million set aside from the CARES Act by the Louisiana Legislature for a small business grant program remaining unspent, state and local officials are encouraging eligible business owners to apply for the Louisiana Main Street Recovery Program. And the application process was recently eased to make it more accessible.
Grants of up to $15,000 may be awarded to small businesses such as landlords, barber shops, restaurants and bars to cover COVID-19 related expenses.
The Louisiana Main Street Recovery Program has set Sept. 25, as its target date to have awarded $40 million to minority-, women- or veteran-owned business applicants. To help facilitate that effort, the program recently expanded its “QuickRelief Option,” which minimizes the process by allowing applicants to submit a 2018 or 2019 tax return instead of an itemized list of all expenses. This option is now available to all businesses.
Meanwhile, the City of New Orleans, through the New Orleans Business Alliance, is providing financial support to technical assistance providers to help small businesses in the application process. Small business owners are urged to reach out to these organizations, which include:
- Coastal Communities Consulting (serving the Vietnamese business community) ccc-nola.org
- El Centro (serving the Latinx business community) elcentrola.org
- Good Work Network goodworknetwork.org
- LaunchNOLA launchnola.org
- LiftFund liftfund.com
- Louisiana Small Business Development Center lsbdc.org
- Urban League of Louisiana’s Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center urbanleaguela.org
