Mayor Durkan and Councilmembers Mosqueda, Herbold, and Morales announced that the City will be adding $2 million to the Office of Economic Development (OED) Small Business Stabilization Fund (SBSF) to support small businesses and organizations impacted by the new vaccination verification requirement in King County. Up to 2,000 eligible small businesses and organizations that are required to enforce this policy will receive additional funding of up to $1,000 to help offset the economic impacts of this requirement.
The Small Business Stabilization Fund will provide $5,000, $10,000 and $20,000 grants to be used on operational expenses such as rent, wages, equipment and more.
Eligible sectors for this additional funding include restaurants, performing arts and cultural institutions, nightlife spaces, and extracurricular/recreational indoor activity spaces (such as bowling alleys, gyms, gaming facilities, etc.). Eligible applicants will not be required to submit a separate application to access this additional funding. The more than 500 businesses in these sectors that have already applied for this round of SBSF will be eligible automatically, and do not need to reapply.
All small businesses and nonprofits such as performing arts, cultural institutions or business technical assistance nonprofit organizations are encouraged to apply to the Small Business Stabilization Fund by November 14, 2021. All applicants in the eligible sections mentioned above that are required to enforce the vaccination verification policy may be eligible to receive this additional funding of up to $1,000 even if they are not selected for a Stabilization Fund during the random selection process. To apply for the Fund or learn more about eligibility requirements and the application process, visit Small Business Stabilization Fund (SBSF) .