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COVID-19 Business Resources

Hello Brooklyn Park Businesses,

This is a stressful time for many as we all work to understand how to best protect ourselves, our families and our communities during the COVID-19 outbreak. Please know that the City of Brooklyn Park along with Hennepin County and the State of Minnesota is doing whatever we can to ensure you get the most up-to-date and accurate information about this ever-changing situation.

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and the City of Brooklyn Park is exploring several strategies to help businesses during this unprecedented time. Please continue to ask your customers to utilize your online services when possible.

Below is a list of federal, state, and local resources available to businesses dealing with the impacts of COVID-19. The COVID-19 webpage has the latest information as well as resources for residents and businesses.

Stay safe and healthy everyone and please do not hesitate to reach out to the City with any questions you may have.

Learn more about food safety for delivery and pickup services (PDF) >

Click here to view a brief guide on federal and state loan programs as well as tips for small businesses to begin applying for a loan.

Main Street COVID Relief Grants

This program is no longer accepting applications. By law the application window closed on September 29, 11:59 p.m. If you have submitted an application you can log into the application portal to check on the status of your application below:

COVID Relief Grant Application Status

You will receive email updates on any changes to the status of your application. The next update on the status of your application will be sent by October 20th, 2021.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) will oversee the Main Street Covid Relief Grants Program approved by the Minnesota State Legislature and signed by Gov. Tim Walz on June 30, 2021.

This program will make available $10,000 – $25,000 grants to Minnesotan owned and operated businesses that can demonstrate financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. A total $64,200,000 is available for grant applications selected for consideration through a computer-generated, randomized selection process.

Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF)

The RRF is designed to provide emergency assistance for eligible restaurants, bars, and other qualifying businesses. Registration for the RRF begins Friday, April 30 at 8 a.m. CST and SBA begins accepting applications via the application portal on Monday, May 3 at 11 a.m. CST. The application portal will remain open to any eligible establishment until all funds are exhausted. For help applying you can review the sample application, program guide and cross-program eligibility chart on SBA COVID-19 relief options.

Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG, or Save our Stages)

Among the hardest hit small businesses throughout the pandemic have been live venues, performing arts organizations, museums, and movie theaters. The SVOG is an SBA grant program that directly targets these businesses for relief. This program includes over $16 billion in grants to shuttered venues. Eligible applicants may qualify for grants equal to 45% of their gross earned revenue, with the maximum amount available for a single grant award of $10 million. $2 billion is reserved for eligible applications with up to 50 full-time employees. For help with the application process, refer to the applicant user guide and FAQ.

Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL)

The Small Business Administration (SBA) began the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program at the start of the pandemic. The SBA has raised the loan limit from 6-months of economic injury with a maximum loan amount of $150,000 to up to 24-months of economic injury with a maximum loan amount of $500,000.

If you’re a business that has received a loan at the current limits, the SBA will reach out to you via email to provide more details about how to request an increase. Any new loan applications submitted going forward will be automatically considered for the new loan parameters.

You can apply for the EIDL program here, and you can email your questions to DisasterCustomerService@sba.gov or call the the SBA at 1-800-659-2955. Also, effective immediately, applicants can send a request for reevaluation of a Targeted EIDL Advance application that was declined to the following email address: TargetedAdvanceReevaluation@sba.gov.

Applicants should follow these instructions when requesting a reevaluation:

Send an email to TargetedAdvanceReevaluation@sba.gov
Use the subject line “Reevaluation Request for [insert your 10-digit application number]”
In the body of the email, include identifying information for the application such as application number, business name, business address, business owner name(s) and phone number
Important: Include an explanation and any documentation that addresses the reason for the decline, if available. SBA will contact applicants if additional documentation is required to complete the review.

Paycheck Protection Program

The SBA has opened another round of the Paycheck Protection Program. To promote access for smaller lenders and their customers, SBA is currently only accepting loan applications from participating community financial institutions (CFIs).

Stay Safe Signs

Wear your mask so our business can stay open. Stay Safe MN

Free signs encouraging customers to wear masks when they enter your store are available to you! Attached is a printable copy of the State of Minnesota’s “Stay Safe” sign. We encourage all businesses to post these for customers to see when they enter your place of business.

Don’t have a printer? No worries! Request a sign for your business by emailing Malcolm Hicks at malcolm.hicks@brooklynpark.org.

Download Stay Safe Poster >

Vaccination Employer Toolkit

This is a one-stop-shop for you to get resources to share with your workers, and to let Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) know if you are interested in hosting a vaccine site for your employees. The team at MDH will update this regularly as more groups become eligible for the vaccine. View the resource here.

Design and marketing interns

Need help promoting your business and connecting to potential customers? Hire a Graphic Design or Business Marketing summer intern from North Hennepin Community College! Our talented Xperience Project students are ready to infuse new ideas and innovative directions into strategic marketing campaigns, print materials, and digital platforms. Find out more about North Hennepin Community College (NHCC)’s summer Graphic Design and Business Marketing intern programs through the new Workforce Innovation & Experiential Learning (WIEL) Center, a community resource with the mission of connecting local residents and businesses with talented, multi-cultural students to foster workforce inclusion and equitable development.

Elevate Business HC

Consulting, Events, Resources for Hennepin County Entrepreneurs

Elevate Business Brooklyn Park, a partnership with Hennepin County, draws together experts, tools and programs intentionally designed to help new and established businesses gain their footing, plan for their next steps, and take their success to a new level. With over 1,000 entrepreneurs participating in the Elevate Business community, the platform connects business owners and entrepreneurs to industry experts, capital, and resources during key points of their entrepreneurial journey.

Elevate Business offers free services for entrepreneurs, including:

25 hours of free business advising
Peer-to-peer roundtables
Topic-driven webinars and events
Regional resources, all in one place

Learn more and explore all of Elevate’s resources here >

Ready campaign for disaster preparedness

Launched in February 2003, Ready is a National public service campaign designed to promote preparedness through public involvement and to educate and empower the American people to prepare for, respond to and mitigate emergencies. The website includes several toolkits for businesses and information on COVID, other health hazards, and various natural disasters.

Technical Assistance

Technical assistance providers throughout Hennepin County can help your business with financial planning, legal support, marketing, networking, grants, preparing for a loan application and more.

ACER is a nonprofit organization that engages community members living in the north and northwest suburbs. If you need help with completing small business loans applications, technical assistance for businesses or mini emergency grants for micro businesses, call 612-217-0282 or visit www.acerinc.org.

Technical assistance organizations in Hennepin County (PDF)

Unemployment

The Unemployment Insurance Shared Work Program allows employers experiencing a slowdown in their business to seek an alternative to layoffs – retaining their trained employees by reducing their hours and wages that can be partially offset with UI benefits. Additionally, employers can direct employees whose employment has been affected by COVID-19 to apply for unemployment benefits. The State also has a Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program specifically for people who would not be eligible for regular unemployment benefits, including self-employed people, independent contractors, workers in non-covered employment, people lacking sufficient work history to get regular UI, and people living in a household where the head of household has died as a direct result of COVID-19.

View the Shared Work Program >
View the MN Unemployment Insurance Program >
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance for self-employed people and independent contractors >

More state and federal resources