The purpose of the Small Business Grant Program under section 601(a) of the Social Security Act, as added by section 5001 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) and Section 7.031 in House Bill 2007 (2020) is to provide grants to small businesses and family-owned farms for reimbursement of costs of business interruption caused by required closures in connection with the COVID-19 public health emergency.
The Department is focused on impacting the hardest hit industries, which include retail trade, accommodation and food service and health care, in addition to family-owned farms.
Small Business Grant Program FAQs
Applications for the Small Business and Family-Owned Farm Grant Program have closed.
At this time the Department is no longer accepting new applications for the Small Business and Family-Owned Farm Grant Program. We have begun reviewing the applications received to ensure they meet program eligibility requirements.
We encourage you to look through the Missouri Recovery Lab for other helpful resources and funding opportunities.
Questions about your application:
If you have already applied and have questions about your application, please click here to contact us.
Program Eligibility
Applicants:
Applicants must meet the following requirements to be eligible for a grant award:
- The applicant must be a for-profit business or family-owned farm that employs 50 or fewer full-time employees, including the owner(s). Family-owned farm includes family farms and family farm corporations.
- Full-time employee means a person who is scheduled to work 35 or more hours per week
- "Family Farm" means an unincorporated farming unit owned or leased by one or more persons residing on the farm or actively engaging in farming.
- "Family Farm Corporation" means a corporation incorporated for the purpose of farming and the ownership of agricultural land in which at least one-half of the voting stock is held by and at least one-half of the stockholders are members of a family related to each other within the third degree of consanguinity or affinity including the spouses, sons-in-law and daughters-in-law of any such family member according to the rules of the common law, and at least one of whose stockholders is a person residing on or actively operating the farm, and none of whose stockholders are a corporation prohibited by section 350.015 RSMo from entering into farming, or any corporation which is subject to the controlled expansion provisions of section 350.015 RSMo; provided that a family farm corporation shall not cease to qualify as such hereunder by reason of any gift, devise or bequest of shares of voting stock. A person actively operating a farm shall include, but not be limited to, a person who has an ownership interest in the family farm corporation and exercises some management control or direction.
- "Farming" means using or cultivating land for the production of (a) agricultural crops; (b) livestock or livestock products; (c) poultry or poultry products; (d) milk or dairy products; or (e) fruit or other horticultural products, provided; however, "farming" shall not include a processor of farm products or a distributor of farming supplies contracting to provide spraying, harvesting or other farming services.
- The applicant must be located in Missouri.
- The applicant must be incorporated in Missouri, with the exception of family farms.
- The applicant must be registered to do business in Missouri and in good standing with the Secretary of State, with the exception of an unincorporated family farm.
- The applicant must not employ illegal workers and must provide proof of enrollment in E-Verify.
- The applicant must register as a vendor with the State of Missouri through the MissouriBUYS web portal.