Protect the Fort, a combined effort by the City of Fort Worth’s Economic Development Department, the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce and Visit Fort Worth, will launch its Small Business Grant Program with the support of Facebook, the organizations said in a May 6 news release.
Applications will open on May 13.
“We appreciate the opportunity to support small businesses as they represent the heart of the Fort Worth economic engine,” said Matt Sexton, Community Development Regional Manager for Facebook.
“Since we broke ground on our data center in 2015, we’ve called Fort Worth home, and we are now seeing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our neighborhoods. We are proud to partner with Protect the Fort who is working around the clock to assist small businesses to weather this storm and continue to serve our one-of-a-kind community,” Sexton said.
The grant recipient, Fort Worth Chamber Foundation, will disburse the funds among eligible small businesses.
The review committee will include one representative from each of the following: The City of Fort Worth, the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Fort Worth Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce, Visit Fort Worth, and the Fort Worth Chamber Foundation.
Eligible small businesses in Fort Worth will qualify to receive up to $5,000 for rent, mortgage, inventory, working capital, payroll, IT or innovation, and/or marketing efforts.
“This has been a tremendously difficult time for many of our small businesses as they try to pivot their operations amidst coronavirus concerns,” said Brandom Gengelbach, president of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, “We hope that these funds will help our businesses to keep their doors open and get back on their feet.”
Applicants will provide a brief narrative on their needs in each category requested. Protect the Fort encourages all small businesses with less than 25 employees to apply with priority given to minority owned businesses.
Applicants may not have received any of the CARES Act funds, the news release said.
All eligible businesses in Fort Worth will be able to submit their application on May 13 here: https://protectthefort.com
– FWBP Staff