WASHINGTON COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
With Governor Hogan’s announcement of the Stay at Home order effective 8:00 p.m. on Monday, March 30, 2020, it is important now more than ever to know if your business is deemed essential. Documents to help clarify are posted on the Washington County Chamber of Commerce website at
www.hagerstown.org/strongtogether.
Maryland Department of Labor
Today’s Executive Order also added another $2 Million in funding to the State’s Layoff Aversion Fund. The Department of Labor has set up this program called the Layoff Aversion Fund. This grant of up to $50,000 is designed to assist you to implement ways to avoid layoffs at your business. Visit here for more information:
http://www.labor.maryland.gov/employment/covidlafund.shtmlMD DLLR Work Shares program is an older program that provides ways for a business to avoid layoffs by providing the gap funding for employees created by reducing wages. Qualified employers, who participate in Work Sharing, are able to retain an entire employee group by reducing that group’s hours of work by a percentage equal to the total reduction of hours that would have been achieved by a layoff. (For example: If you have 5 employees and need to cut payroll by 20%, instead of laying off 1 person, you employ all 5 people but cut their hours 20% each. The Work Shares Program them helps pay for lost hours by each employee. For information visit:
Small Business Administration
Join SBDC Counselors as we discuss details about new emergency relief programs from the US Small Business Administration, the Maryland Department of Commerce, and more. This webinar may be conducted again at a later date and/or posted for review at your leisure. You can register for this session on either (or both if you want, but it will be one in the same presentation):
The U.S. Small Business Administration is working as quickly as possible to put the mechanisms, policies and procedures in place to implement the newly-passed CARES ACT legislation. The Paycheck Protection Program is scheduled to open Friday. We will be providing information as soon as it becomes available. In the meantime, we ask for your patience. Once we receive guidance we will send it to you and we will then be able to better assist you with your questions. Please hold calls and emails and we will be in touch as soon as we have the information to share out.
SBA provides the most up to date information as we receive it through email. Please take a moment and sign up for the updates at
www.sba.gov/updates.
This $5 million incentive program helps Maryland manufacturers to produce personal protective equipment and other items identified as
Critical Needs Items by MEMA and DGS, that are urgently needed by the State of Maryland, Maryland-based hospitals and healthcare facilities, and emergency and first responders.
Congressman David Trone COVID-19 Business Resource Webinar on Wednesday, April 1st, from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm.
OnTrack Washington County in coordination with WCPS and supported by The Community Book Warehouse, Early Childhood Advisory Council, and Horizon Goodwill Industries is continuing efforts to distribute books, games, literacy activities, and educational supplies at all Meal Machine locations. In addition, The Community Foundation supported OnTrack’s reallocation of $5000 from a technology program to help meet these basic needs. OnTrack utilized those funds to purchase the school supplies, and also was able to provide $1000 to CAC for food pantry, and provide some supplies to REACH as well. These materials will be distributed by volunteers at the meal locations on Thursdays for the next four weeks of public school closure. Anyone interested in volunteering or contributing supplies can reach out to Kim Duncan directly (
[email protected]).
