Wilmington - The Division of Small Business has announced that its DE Relief Grants portal will begin accepting new applications on Tuesday, Jan. 19 at 10 a.m. This means that small businesses and nonprofit organizations that have not applied in earlier rounds will have the opportunity to apply for this relief program presented by the State of Delaware and New Castle County using federal CARES Act funds. For those who have already applied for the DE Relief Grants program, the Division of Small Business is continuing to process applications as quickly as possible. Rather than rejecting applications that are incomplete, or otherwise don’t meet the rules for the program, Division of Small Business staff is working with applicants to get their applications to the point where they can be approved. The Division is starting with those applications that need the least help and will move on from there to those applications that need the most work. This process means some applications may not be processed within the usual two to three week timeline and we ask for your patience. If you submitted an application close to the original Dec. 4 deadline and have not yet heard a response from the Division, it is likely because your application needed additional follow up The Division may begin to issue notices to individuals who have not been contacted that they may need to submit with corrections after the portal reopens. One of the requirements has been that recipients needed to have experienced a revenue decline in 2020 compared to 2019. If they claimed the grant, but did not experience a revenue decline, they would have to pay back the grant with interest. The Division of Small Business is announcing that this interest penalty will be waived if a business returns grant funds prior to Feb. 15. If a business has experienced a revenue increase in 2020 compared to 2019, they can return the funds prior to Feb. 15 without facing an interest penalty. After Feb. 15, if a business is seen to have experienced a revenue increase in 2020 compared to 2019, they will be required to repay the grant with interest. If your business did experience a revenue decline in 2020 compared with 2019, you will not be required to repay the grant. Note: This forgiveness program applies only to DE Relief Grants, not to the State of Delaware HELP loan program. DE Relief Grant statistics (as of Jan. 4) As of Jan. 4, grants have been distributed or approved to 3,163 grantees. This represents more than $150 million in total funding, including $95.4 million in base funding. 73.6 percent of base funding ($70.2 million) went to hardest hit industries- retail, food, lodging, tourism, cosmetology, etc. 75.6 percent of grants (2,393) went to micro-enterprises (fewer than 10 FTE employees) 54.1 percent of grants (1,711) went to businesses with fewer than 5 FTE employee 35.4 percent of grant (1,122) went to women-owned businesses 27.3 percent of grants (862) went to minority-owned businesses Grant recipients come each of Delaware’s three counties

County	% of approved grant applicants	% of small businesses in state
New Castle	57%	62%
Kent	12%	14%
Sussex	29%	22%

For more information about the DE Relief Grants program visit delbiz.com/relief