Small Business Relief Program - Apply Now!

As part of the Colorado Special Session, Senate Bill 20B-01 was passed to provide one-time emergency relief payments to eligible small business owners who have been impacted by capacity restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic that demonstrate a revenue loss of at least 20%. Businesses that are included in this legislation authorizing this funding include: 

  • Restaurants (including food trucks) 
  • Breweries 
  • Wineries 
  • Distilleries 
  • Caterers 
  • Fitness Centers/Gyms/Recreational Sports Facilities 
  • Movie Theaters  

A full list of eligibility requirements and additional information can be found at www.larimer.org/sbr. 

Larimer County is opting into this program that will provide eligible businesses one-time relief payments UP TO $3,500 - $7,000. Larimer County is working with three municipal "hubs" to help administer the program county-wide: Fort Collins, Loveland, and Estes Park. Business owners are encouraged to work with their hub closest to their place of business.  

The application will go live (available in English and Spanish) Wednesday January 6, 2021. Please encourage any eligible businesses in your networks to apply as soon as possible, as the application is only open until January 27th, 2021. This funding is NOT first come first serve, all applications will be processed and awarded after the January 27th deadline. Any applications received after that time will be ineligible to receive funds. We also encourage business owners to apply as soon as possible in case additional follow up documentation or other forms of follow up is needed. 

Information in Spanish: 

To better serve our business owners who have a preferred language other than English, Jose Luis Ramos, at the City of Fort Collins, will provide technical assistance for the application process. Contact Jose Luis at jramos@fcgov.com. 

Please submit your Small Business Relief (SBR) application to the hub geographically closest to your business:  

Online Restaurant Academy offering FREE Training

The Online Restaurant Academy is an online coaching mini course designed to level up your restaurant business through proven planning and processing tools. It's time to work smarter, not harder and enjoy that #restaurantlife you've always dreamed of.  

To access the pandemic survival training for your restaurant for FREE – please follow these instructions: 

Larimer County Level Up Program Update

Larimer County’s “5 Star” certified business variance program, locally known as the Level Up Program was approved by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) Office.   

Update to the Level Up Program - with the move to Level Orange, all Larimer businesses may open to the orange capacity effective Monday January 4 at noon. Businesses that have been certified for the Level Up program will need to wait to operate at yellow until the state determines we are eligible based on local metrics. That likely will be one to two weeks if our case trends continue to stay low. The County will continue to accept applications and pre-certify businesses, but businesses will not be able to move to yellow until Larimer is officially told when.  

This application process is long, so the County has provided the components that are required for submission here. All these will need to be submitted, incomplete applications will be returned for completion and not reviewed. 

Questions about this process? Email covidconcerns@co.larimer.co.us or call us at 970-498-5500 (M-F 9-4:30). 
Apply now

Free De-escalation Training for Businesses During COVID-19
Looking for resources on de-escalating tense situations at work? Want to provide team members with tools to navigate challenging scenarios around the mask mandate? Would you like to know what other businesses are doing to prevent tense situations from developing? 
Watch videos now

Things to Know & Upcoming Events
  • The Northern Colorado Business Challenges during the COVID-19 Emergency Survey (Fall 2020) is now open. Please click here to take the 10-minute survey.    
  • Telework Survey - The City is hoping to gather feedback from businesses and organizations on their current telework policies as well as gauge interest in willingness to shift to telework in the future.  
  • PIVOT Larimer County still accepting applications for upcoming Cohorts - CSU’s College of Business will provide free resources to Larimer County business owners to learn how to ‘pivot’ their business and develop a long-term resiliency plan.  
  • Colorado COVID Legal Relief offers FREE legal aid to Colorado small businesses facing challenges due to COVID19. The webpage is available in Spanish. 
  • The Colorado Arts Relief Program provides relief payments to eligible artists, crew members and organizations. Funding will be distributed through two separate grant applications: 1. Colorado Arts Relief—Business and Organization and 2. Colorado Arts Relief—Individuals. Applications close January 8, 2021.  
  • CO POP Program for Local Landlords & Property Managers – landlords can receive support to cover delinquent rent.  
  • Restaurant & Bar Special Tax Deduction - Governor Polis announced that certain restaurants, bars, and mobile food vendors may be eligible for state sales tax relief. The following are instructions for restaurants and bars and separate instructions for mobile food vendors to properly claim the special deduction allowed.   
Upcoming Events:
  • Business Q&A with Larimer’s Health Department - All businesses are invited to join us on Thursday, January 14, 2021, at 2:00 pm via Zoom. To help make this session as informative and helpful as possible, please submit your questions in advance. 

Sign up for weekly updates from the City of Fort Collins Emergency Preparedness and Security COVID-19 newsletter at fcgov.com/eps/coronavirus

Check out ForFortCollins.com for tools and resources created to help your business reopen safely and strongly while gaining support from loyal customers and community members.

Economic Health Office
222 Laporte Ave.
Fort Collins, CO 80521