Small business rental assistance program in Montgomery County | WDVM25 & DCW50

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (WDVM) — On Thursday, Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando announced the launch of the Montgomery County Small Business Rental Assistance Program. The $1 million program will provide grants to qualifying small businesses to support rental costs.

“This assistance is specifically targeted to those businesses that make less than $500,000 a year and has somewhere between zero and five employees and that are providing critical resources to our community,” said Jawando at a press conference.

Qualifying businesses can receive up to $10,000 in rental assistance or three months of rent. Small business owners like Carlos Perozo, say this funding is necessary and more people should take advantage of it.

“Small business owners, they want to do everything themselves, they don’t want help, they want to succeed by themselves,” said Perozo. “We need to convince them to take advantage of these types of programs so that they can move forward and continue to be part of this community.”

Jawando says these small businesses are the backbone of the community and they need to be supported.

“By reserving a spot for these businesses with this million-dollar program, we’re going to be able to help businesses that probably have not had the same amount of access to resources as others,” Jawando said.

Applications for funding will open on May 17. The program will be administered by the Latino Economic Development Center in partnership with the County’s Business Advancement Team.