Prince George’s County will offer up to $15 million in grants and loans to businesses impacted by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, as localities continue to plot out ways to respond to the public health crisis.
County Executive Angela Alsobrooks rolled out a new “COVID-19 Business Relief Fund” Wednesday, allowing companies to apply for loans of up to $100,000 and grants of up to $10,000. Alsobrooks said the county has already seen roughly 10,000 layoffs as a result of the pandemic, and she’s hoping the grant program can help keep more businesses alive and prevent additional cutbacks.
“We just have to have jobs for our residents to go back to,” Alsobrooks said during a press conference. “As a community, we’ve got to do this together. We’ve got to ride this storm out.”
Officials in D.C. and Montgomery County recently set up similarly structured programs, setting aside $25 million and $20 million respectively.
Alsobrooks said the county will primarily fund the new relief program using $10 million drawn from the Economic Development Incentive Fund, a loan program managed by the Prince George’s County Economic Development Corp. to incentivize business expansions and relocations. As of last year, the fund had about $24 million still available, though that amount fluctuates as businesses repay loans.