COVID-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Program (CHIRP)
Unexpended Funds and Accrued Interest: All unexpended funds and any accrued interest (any interest earned in excess of $50.00) must be returned to the PA Department of Community and Economic Development by check by December 15, 2021. Unexpended funds must be remitted in a separate check from accrued interest, so you may need to remit two checks.
Checks can be made out to the PA Department of Community and Economic Development and mailed to the following address:
PA Department of Community & Economic Development
Financial Management Center
Compliance Monitoring Division
Commonwealth Keystone Building
400 North Street, 4th Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17120-0225
Overview
The COVID-19 Hospitality Industry Recovery Program (CHIRP) will allocate $145 million in funding assistance to the hospitality industry businesses adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The program requires counties to establish grant programs for eligible businesses.
Uses
Grant funds provided to counties will be awarded to eligible businesses as defined in Act 1 of 2021 to alleviate revenue losses and pay eligible operating expenses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The county will contract with one or more Certified Economic Development Organizations (CEDO) or Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI), which in turn will disburse the funding through grant agreements with eligible businesses.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants are Pennsylvania counties.
Funding
Each county shall receive an amount based on population proportion.
How to Apply
In order for DCED to meet its statutory deadline of February 28, 2021 for distributing the block grants to the counties, counties should complete and submit DCED’s Single Application online by the close of business (5:00PM) on February 11, 2021. The application and the resulting grant contract are merely vehicles to enable DCED to disburse the funds; the legislature has made clear that counties are entitled to those funds based on population size.
The Single Application can be accessed at esa.dced.state.pa.us. Paper applications will not be accepted. Counties should carefully follow the instructions outlined in the Single Application and provide all requested information. Help can be obtained by contacting DCED Customer Service at 1.800.379.7448 or ra-dcedcs@pa.gov.
Eligible businesses seeking a grant should contact the county in which the business is located for information on how to apply for a relief grant. Counties will contract with one or more CEDO or CDFI designated to serve that county to award grants. DCED is not providing funding directly to businesses for this program.