Eligible small and medium-sized businesses, co-ops and non-profits in the Strathmore area can begin to apply for funding to help open their doors as of June 30.

The Alberta government's Small and Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant offers financial assistance to businesses, cooperatives, and non-profit organizations that faced restrictions or closures from public health orders, and experienced a revenue loss of at least 50 per cent due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The application intake will remain open until August 31, or for four weeks following the start of stage three of Alberta’s Relaunch Strategy – whichever is later.

Eligible job creators with 500 or fewer employees can apply for up to $5,000 through this program.

The funding this relief would provide can be used by businesses to offset the costs as they are in the process of reopening or are getting ready to reopen.

This can include costs associated with measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as physical barriers, PPE and cleaning supplies, as well as rent, employee wages, replacing inventory, and more.

Tanya Fir, Alberta Economic Development, Trade, and Tourism minister, calls small and medium-sized businesses the backbone of Alberta's economy.

"That’s why we are taking further action to support them as we relaunch our economy and get folks back to work," says Fir. "This builds on Alberta’s nation-leading support for job creators, and will help businesses, cooperatives, and non-profits get Albertans working and our economy back on track.”

Specific areas across Alberta will have set days to begin the application process. In an effort to manage the expected volume of applications during the first week of application intake (June 29 to July 3), there have been specific application days set for specific regions of the province. The application process begins for northern Alberta on June 29, followed by southern Alberta, which includes Strathmore, on June 30.

Beginning July 4, businesses, cooperatives and non-profits from all regions may apply at any time until application intake closes.

Full program details, including additional eligibility criteria, application days by region, and how to apply, are outlined in the program guidelines here.

A program web page and online application portal will launch on alberta.ca when application intake opens at 10 a.m. on June 29.

The grant program has a $200 million budget.