The city of San Jose will receive a $1.17 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration to support the city’s pandemic-affected small businesses and manufacturers, the Commerce Department announced Thursday.
The grant will fund the city’s Small Business and Manufacturing Recovery Institute to provide technical assistance to businesses in underserved parts of the city like downtown, central and east San Jose.
“This investment will allow San Jose to provide businesses in underserved communities most devastated by the pandemic with the technical assistance they need to navigate a dramatically changed business environment,” EDA Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce Dennis Alvord said.
The funding comes from last March’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which allocated $1.5 billion to the EDA to support local economic recovery programs.
“After nearly a year of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our small businesses have been pushed to the limit,” U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla said, adding “this federal grant will help small businesses weather the hardships of the pandemic and prepare them to thrive for many years to come.”