Denton County offers $20M in grants for businesses

The Denton County Commissioners Court is launching the second phase of a small business grant program to help local businesses negatively financially impacted during the coronavirus pandemic.

In Phase II of Denton County OPEN, for-profit businesses headquartered and located in Denton County with 100 or fewer employees are eligible to apply. The amount a business can receive will be based on the documented negative financial impact of COVID-19 between March 1 and June 20, according to a news release from the county. Phase II launches at noon Monday, June 22, through noon on July 6.

“The Denton County Commissioners Court continues to be committed to helping our local businesses recover from the financial losses suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Denton County Judge Andy Eads. “As we have said earlier, this Phase II continues our efforts to help in the recovery of our local economy.”

The most a business can receive is $50,000. The county has identified $20 million for the grant program from the stimulus money the county received from the federal CARES Act.

“Our Chambers of Commerce and Economic Development Corporations across Denton County will again help to promote this program and answer questions, regardless of whether businesses are members or not,” Eads said. “We appreciate their willingness to help us get the word out on this second phase of Denton County OPEN.”

Michael Talley, Director of Economic Development for Denton County, worked with the Commissioners Court to implement a Chapter 381 Economic Development Agreement to allow the county to administer and develop a program to make grants of public money stimulate, encourage and develop commercial activity in the county.

“The COVID-19 pandemic hit all of our business community hard, especially, our small businesses,” Talley said. “This second phase will continue our efforts to assist local businesses who are coping with financial losses even after reopening.”

For more information about the Denton County OPEN grant program, go to https://dentoncounty.gov/open. If you have questions not answered on that website, you can email questions to [email protected] or call 940-349-4280 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.