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From Napa Valley Register: Grants available at the local assistance center

December 12, 2014  • 

If your business suffered physical damage or economic loss from the August earthquake, grants are available to help in your recovery. The Napa Valley Community Foundation and the Napa-Sonoma Small Business Development Center (SBDC) provide the assistance businesses need to access these disaster relief grants.

If you are a small business, and have applied for a SBA disaster loan, you are encouraged to apply for a Small Business Recovery grant.

Eligibility requirements for a grant from the Napa Valley Community Disaster Fund are simple. First, you need to apply for an SBA disaster loan either at disasterloan.sba.gov/ela or at the Local Assistance Center at 301 First St.

Should your disaster loan application be declined or if earthquake losses exceed the approved loan amount, you can proceed to the SBDC table to apply for a grant from the Napa Valley Community Disaster Relief Fund. An instructional flyer can be downloaded at napavalleycommunityfoundation.044bbbb.netsolhost.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Relief-Flyer-1118.pdf

What’s next? A business adviser from the Napa-Sonoma Small Business Development Center is on site to review the documentation required when seeking grant funds. These documents include:

1. Copy of W-9 (Request for Tax Identification Number and Certification)

2. Copies of disaster loan application documents submitted by business owner to SBA

3. Copy of the Loss Verification Report

4. Your approval or denial letter received from SBA about your disaster loan

5. Copies of 2013 (or most recent if 2013 is not available) tax returns for your business

If a business does not have a Loss Verification Report, documentation must verify physical and/or economic losses. This includes:

1. Physical losses to inventory, furniture, fixtures and equipment can be demonstrated with financial statements or other financial records from the business; receipts for the purchase of replacement property; and photographs.

2. Economic losses can be demonstrated by comparing gross receipts/revenues for August/September 2014 to August/September 2013 or otherwise demonstrating a significant decline in gross receipts.

“The Napa Valley College Small Business Development Center helped me realize there were options for the financial recovery of my business,” said Patricia Trimble, owner of The Roost Napa and a grant recipient. “The grant process was streamlined since I had gone through FEMA and the SBA Disaster Loan process.”

Even with the support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the SBA, the Napa Valley Community Foundation recognizes businesses still have needs related to important safety and rebuilding issues. The Napa Valley Community Disaster Relief Fund is managed by Napa Valley Community Foundation, and was created with a $10 million lead gift from Napa Valley Vintners after the earthquake on Aug. 24. Since the Fund was established, more than 425 additional individual, corporate and foundation donors have stepped up with gifts of nearly $500,000.

If you would like more information about grant eligibility, you may meet with a NVC business adviser at the Local Assistance Center, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., or you may contact the SBDC at 707-256-7250. Deadline for grant application is Jan. 16, 2015.

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