On Friday, February 5, 2021, Governor Tom Wolf signed into law legislation that set aside $145 million in funds to aid hospitality industry businesses adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Each county has applied to receive a portion of the $145 million prorated based on each county’s population estimates. Dauphin County’s portion is $3.1 million and will be used to provide grant money to selected eligible hospitality businesses and pay allowable administrative costs.
BUSINESS ELIGIBILITY
An Eligible Applicant is a business that:
- – Has an operating location in Dauphin County
- – Is for-profit.
- – Is NOT publicly traded.
- – Has primary business activities as of 2/15/2020 that align with the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes for Accommodation and Food Services (subsector codes beginning with 721 or 722). For a complete list, please click here.
- – Opened for business and began operations on or before 2/15/2020.
- – Remains in operation as of the date of application and does not intend to permanently cease operations within one year of applying.
- – Has fewer than 300 full-time equivalent employees (FTE’s) across all locations as of 2/15/2020.*
- – Has a tangible net worth not more than $15 million as of 2/15/2020.*
- – Demonstrates an adverse economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic in the form of a 25% reduction in gross receipts.*
* Those points above marked with an asterisk will be calculated by the grant administrator according to the exact legislated definition to determine eligibility. For the applicant’s use, please use your best and most honest characterization of these points before applying.
If any one of the above criteria is not true for the business that wishes to apply, that business is not an eligible applicant and should not complete the application process. Applications and forms submitted for ineligible applicants will not be processed. You will receive notification if any point of your application form and supporting documentation shows that the business is not an eligible applicant.
Grants awarded will be in $5,000 increments with a maximum of $50,000 to pay for eligible costs incurred between 3/1/2020 and the application date.
Eligible costs are operating expenses, payroll and nonpayroll, which are ordinary and necessary for your industry, business and trade and have not been funded by any other form of COVID-19 relief assistance.
If your business has locations in different counties, you can apply once to each county where you operate. Be prepared to provide both companywide financial information as well as separated financial data for each county’s operations. There can be no more than one grant awarded per business entity per county.
Application Details
The application window will open at 9 a.m. on March 15, 2021. PLEASE NOTE, we expect this program to be quickly oversubscribed, and therefore the application window can be closed at the County’s discretion at any time. The application form will soon be ready for preview and is to be used to help each applicant thoroughly prepare.
The process for applying will consist of completing an online electronic application form and attaching required supporting documents. The online application system requires that you start and complete the process in one session. The system will not save your application to return to later, so please prepare your information and your documents for electronic upload before starting the process.
The application form will soon be ready for preview and is to be used to help each applicant thoroughly prepare.
Documentation
In addition to completing this online application form, the following documents must be uploaded and attached to the application before submitting. Below is the list of required supporting documentation.
- CHIRP Application (Preview Only) – This application will need to be completed via the online application system. No paper applications will be accepted.
- – W-9 (DOWNLOAD HERE)
- – Detail Sheet for all other COVID-19 funding assistance (DOWNLOAD HERE)
- – Company prepared Income Statement for the dates of 3/1/2020 through 12/31/2020 – Applicants that have operating locations outside of Dauphin County should provide this Income Statement for operations in Dauphin County only
- – Company prepared Income Statement for the dates of 1/1/2021 to the application date – Applicants that have operating locations outside of Dauphin County should provide this Income Statement for operations in Dauphin County only
- – Company prepared balance sheet for the entire company dated precisely on 2/15/2020
- – A copy of the rental or mortgage agreement for each of the applicant’s operating spaces Dauphin County that was in place and effective as of 2/15/2020
- A copy of new or changes made to the rental or mortgage agreement for each operating space in Dauphin County after 2/15/2020.
- – For those businesses filing taxes on a calendar year basis:
- • 2019 business tax return or Schedule C
- • 2020 business tax return or Schedule C IF completed and filed as of this application date
- – For those business filing taxes on a fiscal year basis:
- • 2018 business tax return (the tax return starting in 2018 and ending in 2019)
- • 2019 business tax return IF completed and filed as of application date (the tax return starting in 2019 and ending in 2020)
- • 2020 business tax return IF completed and filed as of application date (the tax return starting in 2020 and ending in 2021)
County Details
Dauphin County has selected CREDC to administer this program. CREDC will be processing each application, communicating at key points to each applicant (whether eligible or ineligible, awarded or not awarded), prioritizing the list of eligible applicants for the County’s review based on the program’s legislated priority definitions, contracting with each awardee, and distributing funds when all compliance points are satisfied.
If you have questions about the program, eligibility points, or if you are not able to accommodate the electronic format of applying, please contact CREDC for further assistance at credc@hbgrc.org.
Application Accommodations
- – Computer users will be required to wear masks at all times inside the building.
- – Computers will be cleaned between each usage
- – Computer assistance will be available through chat.
- – Applicants are encouraged to call your local library to reserve a computer to ensure availability.
- – View Library Locations
- – View Library Computer Policies
Are you ready to start your application?
- Have you reviewed the eligible applicant criteria on this page?
- Do you meet each of those requirements to be eligible?
- Have you reviewed the application form and prepared all your answers to fill in on the electronic form?
- Have you downloaded and completed the Certifications document, W-9 and Detail Sheet for Other Assistance so you are ready to electronically attach them to the application?
- Have you compiled all other supporting documentation as listed above so that you can electronically attach those to the application?
- Is it 9:00AM March 15th, 2021 or later?
If you answered YES to all these questions, then you should be ready to apply.
