Federal grant available to help El Paso venues that had to close due to pandemic

EL PASO, Texas -- Shuttered venues are getting such much needed financial relief. It's called the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program (SVOG). It's being administered by the Small Business Administration.

According to the SBA, $16 billion grant program was established by the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits, and Venues Act, and amended by the American Rescue Plan Act.

It's set up to help qualifying business like music venues, independent theaters, museums, talent representative and other live-event businesses that were forced to close because of Covid-19.

Businesses must have been open since February 29, 2020 in order to apply. Qualifying business can apply for grants equal to 45 percent of their gross earned revenue, with the maximum amount available for a single grant award of $10 million or whichever is less. $2 billion is saved up for eligible applications with up to 50 employees.

The SBA's application website was supposed to open April 9, but crashed.

There's still no word yet on when it's expected to open up, which gives businesses more time to prep what they need.

The El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce said it's continuing to advocate for those businesses may not qualify.

“We are very sad though, what it didn't cover were those kinds of venues that had places for Quinceañeras and party places," said CEO of the Hispanic Chamber, Cindy Ramos-Davidson. "But we don't want that to discourage people from maybe taking a look at this and applying because maybe there's something we can do to walk them through something else if this doesn't work for them."

The El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a free webinar to help business apply for the grant.

To register, click here or call 915-566-4066. To learn more about the SVOG, click here.