COVID-19 PANDEMIC SMALL BUSINESS RECOVERY GRANT PROGRAM REPORT 2
INTRODUCTION
The $800 million COVID-19 Pandemic Small Business Recovery Grant Program (the Program) was
created as part of the Fiscal Year 2022 Budget, in partnership of the Executive and the Legislature,
to assist COVID-19 impacted small businesses. Empire State Development (ESD), the State of New
York State’s chief economic development entity, oversees the Program.
The mission of the Program is simple – to support the small businesses
1
that typically have the least
access to resources. To that end, the Program strategically encourages participation from micro-
businesses
2
, socially and economically disadvantaged business owners
3
, minority and/or women
owned businesses, and small businesses that did not receive adequate federal COVID-19 support
4
.
As of September 29, 2021, ESD has awarded $190 million to 11,995 small businesses. The Program
provides flexible grants of $5,000 to $50,000, with the average award being $15,879. As per the
Program’s mission, 99.4% of awards have gone to micro-businesses, 48.9% of awards have gone
to socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses, and 88.6% have gone to minority
and/or women owned small businesses
5
.
Program grants generally represent a significant proportion of an awarded small business’ operating
expenses, and the investment has helped small businesses recover from the devastating impacts of
the COVID-19 pandemic. Grant awards from the Program are allowing small businesses across the
State to cover costs such as payroll, rent or mortgage payments, personal protective equipment
(PPE) expenses, utility bills, and any costs associated with compliance with COVID-19 health and
safety protocols (a full list of eligible expenses is available in the Appendix).
The small businesses targeted by this Program, by definition, do not have access to the same
resources that larger businesses do. Therefore, to ensure the Program’s success, New York State
deployed a suite of services to let small businesses know about the Program, and to help them
submit complete applications. These services include: funding a network of 69 Technical Assistance
(TA) partners to provide one-on-one assistance to over 11,000 applicants; delivering nearly 550
informational webinars to small businesses through trusted community voices; and establishing a
call center, which has logged over 146,000 calls with potential applicants to-date. Additionally, ESD
1
Per 16-ff (a) of the Urban Development Corporation Act, "small business" means a business which is resident in this
state, independently owned and operated, not dominant in its field, and employs one hundred or less persons.
2
Per 16-ff (b) of the Urban Development Corporation Act "micro-business" means a business which is a resident in this
state, independently owned and operated, not dominant in its field, and employs ten or less persons.
3
Socially and economically disadvantaged business are those owned by service-disabled veterans, and/or small
businesses located in economically distressed geographies.
4
For context, preliminary data from the U.S. Small Business Administration suggests that New York State businesses
received tens of billions of dollars across all SBA business assistance programs, including through the Paycheck
Protection Program, Economic Injury Disaster Loans & Grants, Restaurant Revitalization Fund grants, and the Shuttered
Venue Operator Grant Program. This data further suggests that in-state businesses secured assistance at rates higher
than the State’s relative share of the U.S. population.
5
Note that businesses can be classified as more-than-one category (“category” referring to micro, socially and
economically distressed, and minority and/or women owned small businesses).