New City, NY, – County Executive Ed Day and Community Development Assistant Director Maria Frank announce that applications are now available for Community Development Block Grant CARES Act funding. Rockland County received $3,550,162 to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the spread of COVID-19.
“We know Rockland is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and this funding is just one of the ways we in county government are working to support local businesses, nonprofits and residents. We are here to help these groups navigate the application process and federal requirements of this program,” said County Executive Ed Day.
The County of Rockland is funding three separate programs from this grant and due to federal requirements only certain areas of the county are eligible:
Small Business Grant Relief Program – Maximum of $45,000 per business, based upon need. Minimum request is $5,000:
The goal of this program is to keep businesses open and retain jobs in those that are at-risk of closing or laying off employees due to social distancing policies and other orders and policies related to COVID-19.
Financing under this program is available to eligible for-profit businesses registered and located within municipalities that are a part of the 2019 HUD Action Plan Urban Consortium: Towns of Clarkstown, Haverstraw and Stony Point and Villages of Airmont, Chestnut Ridge, Grand View, Haverstraw, Hillburn, Kaser, Montebello, New Hempstead, Nyack, Piermont, Pomona, Sloatsburg, South Nyack, Spring Valley, Suffern, and West Haverstraw.
Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Public Services Program:
Rockland County is allocating funds to qualified non-profit 501(c)(3) agencies serving Rockland County to support a variety of activities that prevent, prepare for, and/or respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Activities are required to provide new or quantifiably increased public services that assist and/or benefit the low- and moderate-income population affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Financing under this program is available to eligible non-profit agencies serving county residents located within municipalities that are a part of the 2019 HUD Action Plan Urban Consortium: Towns of Clarkstown, Haverstraw, and Stony Point and Villages of Airmont, Chestnut Ridge, Grand View, Haverstraw, Hillburn, Kaser, Montebello, New Hempstead, Nyack, Piermont, Pomona, Sloatsburg, South Nyack, Spring Valley, Suffern, and West Haverstraw.
COVID-19 Rent Relief Grant Program:
This program is designed to fund up to 6 months past due rent not to exceed the CDBG/HOME published Fair Market Rents based upon family and bedroom size and also up to 6 months past due utility bills if funding allows.
Basic eligibility: the renter must document at least a 30% reduction of income since March 1, 2020, related to COVID-19; or renter must have become unemployed after March 1, 2020, due to COVID-19 and renter’s income may not exceed 80% of the Area Median Income for Rockland County as defined by HUD:
Financing under this program is available to eligible households located within municipalities that are a part of the 2019 HUD Action Plan Urban Consortium: Towns of Clarkstown, Haverstraw, and Stony Point and Villages of Airmont, Chestnut Ridge, Grand View, Haverstraw, Hillburn, Kaser, Montebello, New Hempstead, Nyack, Piermont, Pomona, Sloatsburg, South Nyack, Spring Valley, Suffern, and West Haverstraw.
Households must have a lease with an unrelated landlord and may not be residents of public housing buildings or receive Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher assistance.
The applications for each program and federal eligibility requirements are available to download here: https://rocklandgov.com/departments/community-development/cdbg-cv-cares-act/