About 850 small businesses in central Ohio have received more than $8.3 million from the Columbus-Franklin County COVID-19 Small Business Response and Recovery Fund.
Officials launched the fund in June using CARES Act dollars to help businesses affected by the pandemic. Columbus Mayor Andy Ginther provided a breakdown of the recipients.
"84% of them have five or fewer employees," Ginther said. "80% are minority-owned businesses. 43% are women-owned businesses. The fund provided financial assistance to small businesses throughout the community, some in low or median income areas of the city or county, in three ways: recovery grants, small business return safely grants and pivot loans. All are to help sustain existing business operations and aid in job retention."
Officials are continuing to review the applications to distribute the roughly $2 million remaining in the fund.
