Today is the first day that businesses in the hospitality field can apply for Covid-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Program, or CHIRP grants.
The Southwest Pennsylvania Commission will distribute the grants, which will range from $5,000 to $50,000. The county has $952,241 in grant money to distribute as part of $145 million that will be distributed across the state.
Byron Stauffer with the Office of Planning and Development said that while the grant application process is online, the SPC and others are ready to help business owners fill out the applications.
Hotels, bars and restaurants are able to apply for these grants, but there are some qualifications in place. The business needs to have less than 300 employees, had $15 million in business net worth per establishment, show at least a 25 percent reduction in gross receipts or revenues between 2019 and 2020, and were in business as of February 15th of 2020. Priority will be given to businesses that were subject to Governor Wolf’s state mandated shutdown, had a 50 percent or greater loss in revenue, and have not received any prior financial support from the Payroll Protection Loans or Economic Injury Disaster Loans.
The digital application is available now to download and fill out at www.spcregion.org/chirp along with instructions on how to digitally sign the application. Applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible for these grants as the money is expected to go quickly.
