The Wyoming Business Council will close applications for the COVID-19 Business Relief Program’s Relief and Mitigation funds at 5:00 pm on Tuesday, September 15th, six weeks after the program launched. All eligible businesses and nonprofits that have not applied should do so as soon as possible.
The Relief and Mitigation funds are two of three programs created by the Wyoming Legislature in May to distribute $325 million in federal CARES Act dollars to small businesses and nonprofits affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Interruption Fund closed on July 2nd.
“The demand for the Relief Fund is very close to exceeding available dollars while Mitigation Fund requests have slowed to a trickle, potentially leaving millions of unused dollars,” said Business Council CEO Josh Dorrell. “We have decided to close applications in order to reallocate leftover funds to best serve the ongoing needs of Wyoming businesses later in the year.”
This closure will allow the Business Council time to finish all application reviews, begin program reporting, and make sure any leftover money is spent appropriately and according to the intent of the Legislature and Governor. The Business Council will announce details about how these funds may be used later this fall.
“Governor Gordon and the legislators did a great job this spring in estimating the demand for these programs and allocated funds for them with great precision,” Dorrell added. “Now is the time to look hard at ongoing demands and develop new opportunities to put unused money to its best possible use within federal Treasury guidelines.”
As of 10:00 am on September 11th, 2,480 applicants have requested $182.7 million from the Relief Fund and 1,806 applicants have been paid $143.4 million. This fund has $185 million available to businesses and nonprofits to cover COVID-19 related revenue losses and expenses.
So far, 629 applicants have requested $28.3 million from the Mitigation Fund and 527 applicants have been paid $19.1 million. This fund has $40 million available to reimburse COVID-19 related expenses.
Although applications are open until September 15th, applicants are not guaranteed funding at this point, especially for the Relief Fund, and may be placed on waitlists. Eligible businesses and nonprofits can apply here.