City and Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii to Launch Oʻahu Business Recovery Grant Program - Applications accepted on January 30, 2023

HONOLULU – Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced the launch of the Oʻahu Business Recovery (OBR) grant program, a partnership between the City’s Office of Economic Revitalization (OER) and the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii. Using the City’s State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, the program will award $10 million in grants to hundreds of Oʻahu small businesses that have endured a 25% drop in revenue or more during the COVID-19 pandemic. The application portal will be open on January 30, 2023.

“One of my top priorities is stabilizing small businesses as we emerge from the pandemic,” said Mayor Rick Blangiardi. “I encourage eligible Oʻahu companies that have been financially affected by the pandemic to see if they can qualify and if so, take advantage of this opportunity.”

“Small businesses are the foundation of our economy and many are still recovering from the impacts of COVID-19,” said Chamber of Commerce Hawaii President & CEO Sherry Menor-McNamara. “As the pandemic has evolved, so have the issues facing our small business community. We are pleased to partner with the City and County of Honolulu to administer this program. Using federal funding to support small businesses is key to their continued recovery.”

The program will accept 600 online applications from eligible small businesses through revitalizeoahu.org/oahubizgrant starting Monday, January 30, 2023, at 8 a.m. 

Grants will range from $15,000 to $50,000, depending on revenue loss, as determined by a business’s net income in 2020 and 2021 compared to net income reported in 2019.

To provide broad access to grants:

●       Translated applications will be available on the website in Hawaiian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and Spanish.
●       The Chamber of Commerce Hawaii is partnering with local ethnic Chambers to ensure business owners with English as a second language understand how to apply and have enough time to apply.

To help businesses prepare to apply, OER and the Chamber are holding a webinar on Wednesday, January 11, at 2 p.m. at OER’s Facebook page: facebook.com/oer.honolulu. No Facebook account is needed to watch and the webinar will stay on the Facebook page for businesses that cannot attend the live webinar.

Completed applications will be funded on a first-come, first-served basis until grant funds are exhausted. No application is guaranteed funding. The Chamber of Commerce Hawaii will administer the program.

Who can qualify: 

• Small businesses on Oʻahu with gross revenue between $75,000 and $5 million a year are eligible to apply when tax documentation demonstrates a 25% drop or more in net income in 2020 and 2021 compared to 2019.
  
  

Size of grants:  

$15,000 to $50,000, depending on a company's annual gross revenue.

Application period: 

400 applications will be accepted starting January 30, 2023. Eligible applications will be funded on a first-come, first-served basis. No application is guaranteed funding.

For more information, contact the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii at OahuBizGrant@cochawaii.org or go to https://www.revitalizeoahu.org/oahubizgrant