Category: Important Announcements

To help small businesses deal with the impact of COVID-19, the City has launched the Employee Retention Grant Program to help retain employees as businesses face decreased revenue. This program is available to New York City businesses with one to four employees that can demonstrate at least a 25% decrease in revenue as a result of COVID-19. Eligible businesses will receive a grant covering up to 40% of their payroll for two months. Businesses can access up to $27,000.

Who Can Apply?

Businesses, including non-profits, must:

• Be located within the five boroughs of New York City
• Demonstrate that the COVID-19 outbreak caused at least a 25% decrease in revenue
• Employ 1-4 employees in total across all locations
• Have been in operation for at least 6 months
• Have no outstanding tax liens or legal judgements

Revenue Loss

To calculate the revenue impact of COVID-19, we will compare average revenue for two months in 2020 (after the COVID-19 impact) to both:

• average revenue for the same two month period in 2019, and
• average monthly revenue based on total 2019 revenue.

We will check to see if either calculation shows at least a 25% decrease in revenue

Supporting Documents

To verify the loss of revenue, you will need to upload:

• Financial documents for two months in 2020 demonstrating revenue decrease due to COVID-19
• Financial documents showing your revenue for the same two months in 2019 (unless you were not in business at that time)
• Financial documents showing your revenue for the full 2019 calendar year

Financial documents can include: point-of-sales reports, bank statements, quarterly sales tax filings, 2019 tax returns, or CPA-certified profit & loss statements.

To determine your grant amount, you will need to upload:

• Your most recent two months of payroll records

To process your grant, you will need to upload:

• A signed Participation Affidavit verifying that you are eligible for the program and that you are applying in order to retain your employees  
• Your bank account information

How to Apply

You can apply for the program by following the steps below:

1. Review our program guidelines and determine if your business is eligible.
2. Gather the appropriate documents.
3. Visit SBS Connect and log in to your account to begin your application.

What employers must do 

BEFORE YOU REOPEN 

Review ALL guidance specific 

☐Visit forward.ny.gov and read all of the New York State guidelines for your industry. 

to your industry on forward.ny.gov. 

_☐Fill out the affirmation form at 

forms.ny.gov/s3/ny-forward-affirmation 

The information in this document is not exhaustive – your _☐ 

Develop a safety plan (template available at forward.ny.gov) and post it at your worksite where workers can see it. 

business is subject to requirements that are not on this one-pager. 

What employers must do and workers should expect 

WHEN BUSINESS REOPENS 

Conduct an employee health screening every day. Workers should stay home if sick or go home if they become sick at work. 

Give workers free face coverings and provide replacements. Workers must stay at least 6 feet from others and wear a face covering or mask if they are less than 6 feet from others. 

Provide and maintain hand hygiene stations for personnel, including handwashing with 

EMPLOYERS soap, water, and paper towels, as well as an alcohol-based hand sanitizer containing 60% or more alcohol for areas where handwashing is not feasible. 

Regularly clean shared equipment and 

WORKERS frequently touched surfaces. 

Post signs and put tape or other markers to show people where to stand. 

These requirements are to protect everyone — employers, workers, customers — from COVID-19. 

For the latest updates, visit nyc.gov/coronavirus. 

For more information, call 888-SBS4NYC (727-4692) or visit nyc.gov/business. 

For more information, call 311 and ask for the Worker Protection Hotline or visit nyc.gov/workers.

During this extraordinarily challenging time, the Throggs Neck Bid wishes to thank those who continue to serve our community. Those who work in hospitals, members of the NYPD, the Fire Department, EMS, Sanitation, transportation staff, food services, and, of course, those we have contracted with to provide extra cleanups for the BID area, you are all heroes, and we salute you!

DURING THE COVID-19 EMERGENCY, THE BID REMAINS IN OPERATION, EVEN WHEN OUR PHYSICAL OFFICE IS CLOSED. PHONE US AT 347-281-8323. EMAIL US AT throggsneckbid@gmail.com

Is your restaurant or grocery store selling meals or food for take-out or delivery? Let us know and we’ll mention you on our Facebook page!

Application Open: Very Small Business Employee Retention Grant The Mayor’s Office announced assistance programs to support very small businesses impacted by COVID-19 including employee retention grants and no-interest loans.   This program is available to New York City businesses with one to four employees that can demonstrate at least a 25% decrease in revenue as a result of COVID-19. Eligible businesses will receive a grant covering up to 40% of their payroll for two months. Businesses can access up to $27,000.

APPLY HERE

(You will need to create an SBS Log In account to move forward with the application.)

NYC Small Business Continuity Fund

Zero-Interest Loan Information Businesses with fewer than 100 employees who are seeing a decrease in revenue of 25% or more will be eligible for zero-interest loans up to $75,000 to help mitigate losses in profit.   For more information on the NYC Small Business Continuity Fund, and to receive updates from NYC Department of Small Business Services, take the SBS COVID-19 Business Assistance Survey.   Sign up to receive updates from NYC SBS

COVID-19 and your business

From NYC SBS:  I am reaching out today to offer more information about financial assistance available to help businesses impacted by COVID-19. The agency is working quickly as we can to provide a zero-interest loan program and an employee retention grant. Last night every business who completed the survey on our website should have received more information about eligibility for the new programs.

As we get these programs live, it would be good for your businesses to begin gathering the materials for their applications so that they have everything they need to complete them. Please review the eligibility requirements below. The application for the grant is expected to be open early next week, with the loan application to follow.

The SBS Partner call on Tuesday, March 17^th at 11 AM will focus on these programs, and I recommend that you dial-in with any questions you might have about helping your businesses prepare and apply for these programs. An invite and dial-in will be sent by the agency on Monday. Please note this invite will not come from the BID team.

Eligibility Criteria for the NYC Employee Retention Grant Program 

Businesses, including non-profits, must:

•                Be located within the five boroughs of New York City 

•                    Demonstrate that the COVID-19 outbreak caused at least a 25% decrease in revenue

•                    Employ 1-4 employees in total across all locations 

•                Have been in operation for at least 6 months
•                Have no outstanding tax liens or legal judgements

Eligibility Criteria for the NYC Small Business Continuity Fund 

Businesses must:

•                Be located within the five boroughs of New York City 
•                Demonstrate that the COVID-19 outbreak caused at least a 25% decrease in revenue
•                Employ 99 employees or fewer in total across all locations
•                Demonstrate ability to repay the loan
•                Have no outstanding tax liens or legal judgements

We will be in touch as soon as possible about the application process and next steps. 

You can help your businesses begin to gather the documents they are likely to need in preparation

As part of the applications, businesses will be required to demonstrate a revenue decrease by providing documentation such as: point-of-sales reports, bank statements, quarterly sales tax filings, 2019 tax returns, or CPA-certified profit & loss statements.

The situation is quickly changing. We recommend visiting www.nyc.gov/coronavirus for the most up-to-date information from the NYC Department of Health. You can also visit www.nyc.gov/covid19biz for best business practices and updates regarding financial assistance.  

We will continue to send updates as soon as more information becomes available.

Please continue to reach out with any and all questions or concerns, and be well.

Roxanne Earley | Director
Business Improvement District Program

NYC Department of Small Business Services
1 Liberty Plaza, 11^th Floor
T 212.618.8956 | C 646.951.5910 | E rearley@sbs.nyc.gov

We will share special announcements here, check back soon!