Gov. Carney announces expansion of Del. Relief Small Business Program

WILMINGTON, Del. – On Thursday, Governor John Carney announced an expansion of Delaware’s DE Relief Small Business Program.

The expansion applies to the DE Relief Program, which provides direct grants to Delaware small businesses, as well as the Rapid Workforce Training and Redeployment Initiative, which provides rapid re-training for Delawareans who have lost jobs or income due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Castle County has provided additional funding for both programs from its CARES Act funding. With this expansion, $150 million is available in direct grant assistance for Delaware small businesses.

“We remain focused on supporting the Delaware small businesses, workers and families most affected by this COVID-19 crisis,” said Governor Carney. “Our continued partnership with New Castle County will help us get more support to more Delawareans. That could not be more critical. This additional funding will help get Delaware small businesses through this challenging time, and get Delaware workers trained for jobs currently in demand in our economy.”

We’re also told hundreds of Delaware small businesses and nonprofit organizations have already been approved for the first round of relief grants, which is the largest cumulative grant award ever made by the State of Delaware to small businesses. A total of 741 applications will share $25.7 million in funding through the first round of the program. The second funding round opened on October 1st.