On the first day of the June special session, the MN Legislature passed the Minnesota Small Business Relief Grants Program which was signed by Gov. Tim Walz shortly after.  The program sets aside more than $60M in funding to give $10,000 grants to small businesses in Minnesota that have been impacted by the pandemic.

Applications began today at 10 AM with instructions located on the MN DEED website below.  The grants will be awarded on a lottery system with first draws being allocated to businesses required to operate at 50% or less capacity on May 18.   There are several requirements, but the main ones are that the applying business must:

• Be majority owned by a permanent resident of Minnesota.
• Employ 50 or fewer full-time workers
• Be able to demonstrate financial hardship related to COVID-19
• Be a private for-profit business

The grants can be used for working capital to support payroll, rent, mortgage, utilities and similar expenses occurred in the regular course of business.  Recipients of SBA EIDL and PPP loans are eligible for this program.  However, recipients of the MN Small Business Emergency Loans are not eligible for these grants.

Further explanation of this program and the grant application can be found at the MN Employment and Economic Development website.

For more guidance and information, please contact any our Leadership Team.