ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The deadline for small businesses and individuals to apply for help under the current phase of the St. Petersburg Fighting Chance Fund is Tuesday.
The city program provides grants of $5,000 to impacted eligible businesses and $500 to impacted eligible individuals.
Current eligibility for small businesses:
- Local, independent business as defined by the following criteria:
- Business must be registered in the State of Florida, with the majority of the business' ownership being either held by private individuals or a privately held company (i.e., not publicly traded).
- Business must make independent decisions regarding its name signage, brand, appearance, purchasing, practices, hiring, and distribution, and must be solely responsible for paying its own rent, marketing, and other business expenses without assistance from a corporate headquarters outside of St. Petersburg.
- Business must have no more than three franchises or outlet (with the same name).
- Businesses must have been operational for at least six months (as determined by Sunbiz registration)
- Business must have had a TOTAL 25 employees or less, both full-time and part-time, including employees managed through PEO
- Business must occupy a commercial physical establishment (brick and mortar) located in the City of St. Petersburg (Check to see if your business address meets eligibility)
- Business must demonstrate a loss of income due to COVID-19
- Business must be able to demonstrate working capital for business operations as of February 29, 2020 (as demonstrated by #2 in Required Attachments)
- The business must be in one of the following industries (primary NAICS code)
- Restaurant(includes full-service, limited-service, and café establishments)
- Bar
- Retail(physical brick-and-mortar establishment selling merchandise)
- Individual businesses that operate within a co-working space and individual business owners leasing space from another business are now eligible to apply
- Personal Service (see links for full list of eligible uses)
- Hair, beauty, and other personal services(salons, barbers, day spas, saunas, tattoo)
- Laundry services(dry cleaning, laundromats, garment repairs and alterations)
- Cleaning services
- Pet care services
- Personal care services (child care services, disabled & elderly care services, and funeral services)
- Personal and household goods repairs & maintenance
- Fitness centers and gyms
- Event spaces & services
- Travel agenciesand tour operators
Current eligibility for individuals:
- Resident of the City of St. Petersburg
- Provide proof of termination, furlough or 50%+ salary reduction due to COVID-19
- Employer at time of affected date was located with the municipal boundaries of the City of St. Petersburg (Check to see if the business address meets eligibility)
- Employer at time of affected date is a business in one of the following categories:
- Restaurant(includes full-service, limited-service, and café establishments)
- Bar
- Retail(physical brick-and-mortar establishment selling merchandise)
- Personal Service (see links for full list of eligible uses)
- Hair, beauty, and other personal services(salons, barbers, day spas, saunas, tattoo)
- Laundry services(dry cleaning, laundromats, garment repairs and alterations)
- Cleaning services
- Pet care services
- Personal care services (child care services, disabled & elderly care services, and funeral services)
- Personal and household goods repairs & maintenance
- Fitness centers and gyms
- Event spaces & services
- Travel agenciesand tour operator
- Employer at time of affected date was a local, independent business as defined by the following criteria:
- Business must be registered in the State of Florida, with the majority of the business' ownership being either held by private individuals or a privately held company (i.e., not publicly traded).
- Business must make independent decisions regarding its name signage, brand, appearance, purchasing, practices, hiring, and distribution, and must be solely responsible for paying its own rent, marketing, and other business expenses without assistance from a corporate headquarters outside of St. Petersburg.
- Business must have no more than three franchises or outlets.
According to the city's website, applications with program changes and expanded eligibility are coming Tuesday, June 23. If you previously applied and your application was denied, you can reapply if you meet the new criteria.
Click here for more information on those changes.
