Roseville has $500,000 in grants available for small business owners. How can you apply?

The city of Roseville has quite a bit of money to give to small business owners affected by the COVID-19 lockdown, and not very much time to give it out.

In a presentation to the City Council on Wednesday, City Manager Dominick Casey said the city has $500,000 available for small business owners. The grants provide up to $20,000 per business to support job retention for low- to moderate-income individuals.

“So you should hurry up and get your applications in,” Casey said in the meeting. “And as a reminder for those who are eligible, you must be a locally owned restaurant, retail or service business with a physical storefront or office location in the city of Roseville.”

To qualify, businesses also must have been in operation since at least March 2019, employ at least one full-time job and have no more than 25 employees.

“Applications will be accepted until funding is exhausted,” said Amy Wyatt in an email, a consultant for the city’s Economic Development Department.

Grants are also available through Placer County’s program Placer Shares, which is awarding $5,000 to $10,000 to eligible businesses. Applications are being accepted through Oct. 23.

The grants are funded through the federal CARES Act, which provides coronavirus aid to counties affected by the pandemic. The grants are aimed at helping small businesses that have been adversely affected by California’s mandated lockdown.

Placer County is beginning to reopen sooner than many other counties, as it comes to the end of its second week in the state’s orange COVID-19 tier, the second-lowest of four levels.

Placer was downgraded to the state’s “moderate” tier last week when the county reported a 2% positivity rate that remained stable for two weeks. The county’s current test positivity rates is 2.3%.

The shift to the orange tier meant more businesses and places of worship were cleared for reopening with modifications.

In response, Roseville officials have increased the capacity at the Roseville Sports Center from 15 to 20 people per one-hour time slot and visits to the Maidu Museum have been extended from 30 minutes to 45 minutes.

This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 3:27 PM.