Snohomish County businesses are invited to apply for more grant awards for the second round of the Relief Recovery and Resiliency (R3) grant program. The R3 grant program is part of the county’s plan to use federal CARES Act resources to support those businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our businesses and their workers need our support,” said Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers. “We will continue to look for opportunities to bolster our economic recovery and be strong advocates for more federal funding. We know how important these funds are for people’s livelihoods and that not everyone who needs a grant has gotten one. We are pushing to do even more to bridge the gaps in our community.”

“We are eager to get these federal funds into the hands of our small business owners and their employees,” said Snohomish County Council Chair Nate Nehring. “Too many people across Snohomish County are hurting, and we will continue to find ways to support them. We will do what we can until the pandemic is behind us.”

The R3 grant program is a key part of the relief and recovery action Snohomish County is taking to help small businesses impacted by the pandemic. Businesses applying for grants under this program must:

• Be licensed to do business in the State of Washington.
• Be a business physically located in Snohomish County.
• Have 20 or fewer FTE (including the business owner/worker).
• Be in operation for one or more years.
• Certify at least a 25% reduction in revenue attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Able to demonstrate that the business was a going concern before March 23, 2020.

Economic and unemployment data for Snohomish County provides insight about our hardest hit businesses. The focus of the R3 grant program is on small businesses that are critical to supporting our community’s broad-based recovery. Priority has been given to dining, retail, hospitality, arts and entertainment, and service sector establishments.

Snohomish County received 509 R3 applications totaling over $9 million in requests in the second round, and the selection committee had $7.087 million in grant funds to award. There were also 1,619 applications from round one that were considered in round two, representing a total request of nearly $30 million. Four hundred and thirty-seven (437) small businesses received awards in round two. A total of 744 small businesses have received awards in rounds one and two. The application period for R3 grants opened on June 12, 2020 and closed on June 26, 2020. After the deadline, all applications were reviewed and proposed awardees selected. Recipients will have to agree to a contract in order to receive funds. Workforce Snohomish will be managing the contracts and administering funds, once contracts are signed.

R3 grant applications that were not selected for an award in the first or second rounds will be retained for any additional rounds, if funding is identified.

This grant program was part of the package of COVID-19 responses proposed by Somers, approved by the county council, and funded by CARES Act resources. That package includes: $55 million for public health and emergency response activities, including PPE; $37 million for economic stabilization; $25 million for human/social services and housing; $6 million for essential government services; and $20 million for emergency contingencies.

The county anticipates announcing a relief program for Snohomish County private, non-profit organizations later this summer.