Rising Tide Capital said it provided $100,000 in grants to New Jersey-based entrepreneurs that have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
The Jersey City-based nonprofit said it partnered with #GiveTogetherNow, a program created by Stand Together and the Family Independence Initiative, to provide financial assistance to 200 businesses in their network. The program gives $500 in cash to eligible households impacted by the coronavirus.
Less than one hour after the program launched, RTC said it had more than 350 applications.
Gillian Sarjeant-Allen, executive director of RTC, said the influx of applications illustrates the economic crisis of the pandemic.
“Many of the entrepreneurs we work with at Rising Tide Capital live in communities that have been systematically disinvested for generations. Families in these communities often have a low financial margin of error,” Sarjeant-Allen said. “While $500 might not seem like a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, for someone whose source of income has essentially disappeared, this money can go towards groceries, rent, even paying utilities. If you are an entrepreneur in a cash crunch, the ability to get this cash quickly could make a real difference if you need to pay a bill or purchase supplies. We’re so grateful to our #GiveTogetherNow partners for their generosity towards our community of entrepreneurs.”
The qualify, applicants must be an alumni of RTC’s Community Business Academy and be experiencing increased financial hardship, such as needing to care for a sick family member or having a loss of income due to work or project cancellations. Applications must also have a household income under 80% of the median for their community, according to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development standards.
“Thank you so very much for the assistance,” Linda Kolodziej, owner and founder of LCK Consulting, said. “It will be an enormous help during this time when all my options for making money are closed. I will get a good night’s sleep tonight for the first time in a long time. I am immediately feeling more optimistic about the future.”
Altogether, RTC received 398 applications. The first 200 applications that qualified received funds and the remaining were added to a waitlist in case the program gets more funding.
