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Dr. Kenneth Scott, President and CEO of Beech Companies, says their community development arm — Beech Capital — is one of the financial institutions responsible for handing out $200 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds.
“People who applied for PPP, there’s a lot of people upset, there’s a lot of inside baseball as we would call it, the first ones through the door with their paperwork. So, this is specifically geared for small businesses. It’s not first-come, first-serve,” said Scott.
The grants range from $5,000 to $50,000. Scott says business owners will be given a scorecard based on their needs and eligibility.
“$100 million is going to historically disadvantaged businesses — Black, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander,” he indicated.
Scott said women-owned businesses will also be given extra points.
“So once you apply it’s not first-come, first-served. You will be given a scorecard and it will be based on priority. How long was your business shut down? Are you in a special designated zone? Those are kind of issues that we're looking for on the scoring,” he explained.
There are some requirements business owners must meet in addition to proving a loss from COVID-19.
“In general, this is money for small businesses that have less than a million dollars in gross revenue. Also, those businesses that have less than 25 full-time equivalent employees. So if you have a part-timer that would count as half. So technically, you could have up to 50 part-time employees,” Scott detailed.
Additionally, the majority of your revenue must be made in Pennsylvania.
“You can be incorporated in New Jersey and Delaware,” he added, “but the majority of your business must be in Pennsylvania.”
Scott said there will be four rounds of funding. The second round of funding will open up in the upcoming weeks and close two weeks later. You can subscribe to the Beech Companies mailing list to get priority notice of that date. More information on requirements and how to apply can be found on their website.