CITY OF STANTON - COVID-19 SMALL BUSINESS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 

The City of Stanton is providing business assistance to address the adverse repercussion of the novel coronavirus to the economy and to jobs. The City's Small Business Assistance Program will provide grants for the payment of commercial rent and/or commercial utilities (gas, electric and water) to qualified Stanton businesses experiencing financial hardship as a direct result of COVID-19.  To qualify for assistance a business must be: (1) located in a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defined low- and moderate-income area, (2) owned by a low- and moderate-income person; or (3) employer of persons holding low- and moderate-income jobs.  

Microenterprise Business - Funding is available for microenterprise businesses. A microenterprise is defined as a commercial enterprise that has five or fewer full-time or "full-time equivalent" permanent employees, one or more of whom owns the enterprise.  "Full-time equivalent" permanent employee means part-time permanent employees can counted as one full-time permanent employee when the combined weekly work hours of the part-time permanent employees are at least 40 hours.  Example: Joe works 10 hours per week, Martha works 10 hours per week and Helen works 20 hours per week.  Combined they work 40 hours per week, so they count as one full-time permanent employee.  

GRANT ASSISTANCE OVERVIEW

Each qualified business is qualified for a grant of $7,500.  Grant assistance may be used for the payment of the business' commercial rent and/or utilities for the months of April 2020 through November 2020.  Grant funds will be disbursed using one or more of the following methods:

• Reimbursement directly to the business for payment of commercial rent and/or utilities.  Proof of payment will be required such as bank statements and/or cancelled checks, etc.  
• Payment of the business rent directly to the landlord if the rent has not been paid.  
• Payment of the business utilities directly to the utility provider if the utilities have not been paid.

Mandatory Requirements - All businesses assisted under the Program must meet ALL of the following requirements:

• Be located in the City of Stanton and have a physical location (bricks/mortar building). Home-based businesses are not qualified;
• Have been operational since March 1, 2020;
• Have a valid and current City of Stanton business license or purchase a license prior to grant funding;
• Have no outstanding code violations with federal, state or local governments; 
• Meet one of HUD’s criteria of a low- and moderate-income benefit;
• Have a verifiable loss of revenue/income due to COVID-19 that justifies the need for assistance;
• Has not received from other sources for the payment of the same commercial rent/utilities, including federal, state or county governments, the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Chamber of Commerce, etc. which would be considered a duplication benefits provided by the City;  
• Business is a microenterprise as defined above; and
• Submit completed application and ALL supporting documentation online, or by mail.
• Applications will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis.  Incomplete applications will not be accepted.

NATIONAL OBJECTIVE REQUIREMENT

Under Federal Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) regulations, use of CDBG funds for business activities must meet the National Objective of low- and moderate-income benefit.  Therefore, businesses qualifying for assistance through the City's Small Business Assistance Program must meet ONE of the following three HUD low- and moderate-income criteria:  

1. Low- and Moderate-Income Area (LMA) - The entire City of Stanton is located within a HUD-defined low- and moderate-income area. To qualify under this criteria the business must provide a service to the surrounding residential area. Businesses that QUALIFY under this criterion include, but are not limited to, non-franchised restaurants/food/drink establishments, retail stores, grocery stores/markets, convenience stores, hair/nail/beauty salons, florists, etc. Businesses that DO NOT qualify under this criterion, include but are not limited, construction/design-related industries, print shops, shipping or travel agencies, professional service businesses (doctor's offices, real estate brokers/agents, financial planners, insurance brokers, attorneys, paralegals, accountants, etc.).

2. Low- and Moderate-Income Clientele (LMC) - The business owner’s current household income is at or below 80% of the Orange County median income, adjusted for household size.  The business owner(s) will be required to provide documentation related to their household income REFER TO INCOME CHART BELOW.

3. Low- and Moderate-Income Jobs (LMJ) – The business intends to create or retain at least one "full-time equivalent", permanent low- and moderate-income job and the business can show that 51% of its employees on payroll are low- and moderate-income, full-time or "full-time equivalent" permanent employees.  A low- and moderate-income job pays no more than $71,750* yearly to the employee. "Full-time equivalent" permanent employee means part-time permanent employees can counted as one full-time when the combined weekly work hours of the part-time employees are at least 40 hours. Example: Joe works 15 hours per week, Martha works 15 hours per week and Helen works 20 hours per week.  Combined they work 55 hours per week so they count as one full-time employee.  

*  In accordance with FR-6218-N-01 issued by HUD in response to the nationwide economic impacts of COVID-19, the City of Stanton will consider the employee income-qualified for the purpose of the retention and/or creation of a low- and moderate income job if the annual wages or salary of the job is equal to or less than the Section 8 low-income limit established by HUD for a one-person family. 

Maximum Gross Employee Salary/Earnings Paid by the Business if Applying Under LMJ 

 Maximum Annual Household Income for Business Owner if Applying Under LMC

 QUESTIONS ON HOW TO CHOOSE THE NATIONAL OBJECTIVE THAT APPLIES TO YOU CAN BE DIRECTED TO (714) 758-5062.

You will need to upload documents to support your application.

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR UPLOAD

ALL APPLICANTS:

1. Valid City of Stanton business license.
2. Evidence that the business has a D-U-N-S or certify that the business will be willing to obtain a D-U-N-S number if award a grant. (Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. provides this number at no charge and can be obtained by clicking here to access the D-U-N-S website).
3. Valid California driver’s license or identification card for each business owner.
4. 2019 business federal income tax return:
   • IRS Form 1040 if business income is reported on a Schedule C
   • IRS Form 1065 (Partnership)
   • IRS Form 1120 (Corporate)
   • IRS Form 1120S (S Corporation)
5. Monthly profit and loss statement for October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020. Click here for a Sample Profit & Loss Statement.
6. Business bank statements (all account and all pages/October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020)
7. Commercial rent/lease agreement.
8. COMMERICAL RENT - If requesting reimbursement/payment of commercial rent provide evidence of payment for months that you are requesting reimbursement/payment for (on or after April 1, 2020)
9. COMMERCIAL UTILITIES - If requesting reimbursement/payment of electric, gas, water utilities, provide a copy of the commercial utilities bill(s) that you are requesting reimbursement/payment for (on or after April 1, 2020).
10. If you received any Small Business Administration (SBA) or any government financial assistance related to COVID-19, provide grant/loan documents such as the application, funding agreement, promissory note, grant agreement showing the amount awarded and the use of the funds.

YOU MUST CHOOSE ONE (1) OF THE FOLLOWING THREE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA & UPLOAD THE ASSOCIATED DOCUMENT(S). 

If you meet these program requirements and your documents are ready for uploading please:

CLICK HERE TO BEGIN THE APPLICATION