May 7, 2020 – Denton County Commissioners Court is launching a small business grant program at noon on Wednesday, May 13, 2020, through noon on Wednesday, May 20, 2020, to provide up to $10,000 grants to Denton County businesses who closed the longest and have been the most negatively impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This program has been more than a month in the development process,” said Denton County Judge Andy Eads. “The Denton County Commissioners Court has been and continues to be committed to supporting our local businesses.
“We know this has been a difficult period for many and we hope this is just the beginning of our efforts to help in the recovery of our local economy,” he said. In Phase 1 of Denton County OPEN, for profit businesses headquartered and located in Denton County with 50 or fewer employees (excluding ineligible entities listed below) are eligible to apply.
The amount a business can receive will be based on the percentage of closure the business experienced during the COVID-19 Stay-at-Home order. • Business operations completely closed can get 100% of eligible grant • Business operations partially closed can get 75% of eligible grant
Individual grants will be awarded based on such factors as need, eligibility, number of employees, loss due to full/partial shutdown, being deemed non-essential during the COVID-19 pandemic and availability of funds.
The $2.2. million identified for the Denton County OPEN grant was accumulated by Denton County from CoServ Capital Credit funds over a 20-year period and set aside. Denton County is re-investing these non-taxpayer funds into the Denton County OPEN program to benefit Denton County businesses impacted by COVID-19.
“We have asked our Chambers of Commerce and Economic Development Corporations across Denton County to help promote this program and answer questions, regardless of whether businesses are members or not,” Judge Eads said. “We appreciate their willingness to help us get the word out on Denton County OPEN.”
Michael Talley, Director of Economic Development for Denton County, worked with the Commissioners Court to implement a Chapter 381 Economic Development Agreement to allow the county to administer and develop a program to make grants of public money stimulate, encourage and develop commercial activity in the county.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has been a difficult time for all of our business community and, especially, our small businesses,” Michael Talley said. “We believe this program will assist our local businesses as they begin to reopen.” Specific information about the Denton County OPEN grant program is available to read at https://dentoncounty.gov/open.
Individuals with questions after reading the information can email questions to OPENgrants@dentoncounty.gov or call 940-349-4280 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Download Denton County OPEN guidelines here.
