Microenterprise Business Grant Program

As part of the federal CARES Act, the City of Chino has received and allocated $285,471 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to provide grants for low to moderate-income businesses.

Eligible businesses can receive up to $10,000, or up to 3 months of rental/lease payment assistance, to ease the financial hardship due to a loss or reduction in revenue directly related to COVID-19.

Chino's Mayor and City Council will provide short-term working capital assistance to microenterprise businesses that meet the National Objective - income eligibility requirements in the form of rent assistance.

Requirements

As a requirement, applicants must be a microenterprise business. A microenterprise is defined as a commercial enterprise that has five or fewer employees, one or more of whom owns the enterprise. Businesses may include part-time employees in their full-time equivalent count if one of the three following statements is true:

  1. The business has an owner who is low - moderate-income (LMI)
  2. The business provides employment support services where at least 51% of the persons benefiting from the service are low - moderate-income (LMI)
  3. The business employs or retains employees where 51% of the total employees are low - moderate-income (LMJ)

All businesses assisted with a Microenterprise Business Grant must meet all the following requirements:

  • Must be a microenterprise business
  • Business must be located and operating within the City of Chino
  • Business must be in good standing in the city, i.e. current business license
  • Have no outstanding code violations with federal, state or local governments
  • Meet Housing and Urban Development's criteria of a low-moderate income benefit
  • Have a verifiable loss of revenue/income due to COVID-19 that justifies the need for assistance
  • Have not received other Business Assistance from other sources, including federal, state or county governments, the Small Business Administration (SBA)

For additional guidelines, please view the CDBG-CV Microenterprise Business Grant Program Guidelines (PDF).

Application Details

Applications may be submitted via email or hand-delivered to City Hall. All applications will be date and time-stamped as they are submitted. Applications will be evaluated for completeness. Incomplete applications will not be accepted and will be returned.

For more information, please contact Chris Kennedy, Economic Development Manager, (Program Administrator) by email or by calling 909-334-3335.

Application

Before applying, please watch this brief presentation by the City's Economic Development Manager, Chris Kennedy. Chris will review program guidelines and requirements that will be helpful for the application process. For information on how to qualify, please view our Microenterprise Qualifications (PDF).

There are three options for completing an application for the Microenterprise Business Grant Program: