The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation in partnership with FedEx has announced the availability of $5,000 grants through the Small Business Readiness for Resiliency Program (R4R). The program is designed to help small businesses prepare for a disaster and offers immediate relief funding for those prepared businesses when a natural disaster strikes.
$5,000 Business Grants from FedEx and US Chamber of Commerce
More than 100 grants of $5,000 each are expected to be distributed between June 2022 and May 2023 through the R4R program.
How the program works:
- For small businesses to be eligible for the program they are required to complete the program’s preparedness checklist to be added to the database and considered for a grant. Businesses must complete the checklist before being impacted by a disaster.
- After June 1, 2022, in new Federal disasters where FEMA activates the Individual and Household Assistance Program, the U.S. Chamber Foundation will select businesses from the database to receive financial assistance who meet the requirements.
- Recipients will be notified through email and funds will be disbursed on a rolling basis. Businesses that are not selected to receive a grant in 2022 will still be eligible for support should another disaster strike in their community over the next three years.
- After receiving a grant from R4R, a business is no longer eligible for additional funds in subsequent years or disasters.
- More than 100 grants of $5,000 each are expected to be distributed between June 2022 and May 2023.
Building Resilience for Small Businesses from Natural Disaster
Though small businesses serve as the backbone of local economies, they are more vulnerable and more likely to fail following a disaster than larger enterprises. Some 40% of small businesses do not recover after a disaster.
It is estimated that more than 30% of employers in the U.S. are based in coastal counties, areas that are most vulnerable to hurricanes. Following Hurricane Harvey in 2017, nearly 1.5 million employers and small businesses were impacted.
As natural disasters increase in frequency and intensity, taking proactive measures to develop disaster preparedness and recovery solutions can be the difference between staying open or closing forever after a disaster strikes.
“This multi-year commitment with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation allows us to contribute directly to small businesses that actively prepare for natural disasters,” said Jenny Robertson, Senior Vice President, Integrated Marketing and Communications at FedEx.
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