TUCSON, AZ – Tucson restaurants were among more than 1,300 in Arizona to receive cash from the Small Business Administration Restaurant Revitalization Fund, passed by Congress last year as part of a comprehensive coronavirus relief package.
A total of $ 294.476 million was donated to Arizona restaurants. But the 1,325 companies that received grants under the program were just 33 percent of the 3,992 that applied for the program, which SBA closes on Wednesday.
A total of 201 companies in Tucson received SBA funding with grants ranging from $ 1,163.13 to $ 3.193 million.
The Tucson Fellows were:
However, restaurants across the country face an uncertain future after the U.S. Small Business Administration announced last month it would close the restaurant revitalization fund passed by Congress as part of the coronavirus relief package.
“For one hundred thousand restaurants, the RRF has made their futures clear and stable, but for the 200,000+ operators who are excluded from funding, receiving this letter today only increases their fear and anger,” said Sean Kennedy, a spokesman for the National Restaurant Association said the New York Times. “We need Congress to act.”
In an email to applicants last month, the SBA announced that the program will be “deactivated” on July 14th. At this point in time no more applications will be accepted. Nationally, the program has funded 105,000 restaurants, but another 265,000 applicants are still waiting. A bill to replenish the fund was tabled in Congress but not promoted.
Despite the restaurant industry lobbying for Congress to replenish the fund, lawmakers have been more focused on reaching a compromise on the Biden Government Infrastructure Improvement Act.
Patch has requested a comment from the Arizona Restaurant Association and will update this story as soon as it responds.
Comments are closed.