CLEVELAND — Some restaurants in Cuyahoga County will soon be receiving a little extra help.
During Friday's COVID-19 briefing, Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish announced that an additional $500,000 will be added to the county's Restaurant Stabilization Fund. The additional $500,000 will be able to supply grants to an additional 48 restaurants who applied to the initial round of funding.
At the beginning of December, the County designated $1.2 million from the County’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) to fund grants of up to $10,000 each to restaurants in Cuyahoga County for unpaid rent, utilities, and COVID-19 safety-related costs incurred from March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020.
The County received almost 850 applicants and was able to provide grants to 140 restaurants.
“We had an incredibly high number of applicants to our Restaurant Stabilization Fund, which is sadly to be expected,” said Budish. “Our restaurants are in dire need of financial support to try and combat the economic turmoil this has put many of them through. I am grateful that we can put further funds toward the program and help an additional 40 restaurants who so desperately need it.”
Grants are being administered by Destination Cleveland and distributed by Cleveland Neighborhood Progress.
Also on Friday, Budish announced that the Cuyahoga County Board of Health has made the decision to extend the county's stay-at-home advisory until Jan. 15, 2021.
"This pandemic is getting worse, not better. And while the vaccines are providing hope, we still have some cold, dark, dangerous months to survive," Budish said on Friday. "To that end, I am announcing that our county board of health is extending the stay-at-home advisory until January 15, 2021. These are critical weeks. We have to follow the stay-at-home advisory and all the other protocols. We know that they work, if you follow them."
You can watch Friday's Cuyahoga County COVID-19 briefing in the player below: