Restaurants & Food Carts CARES Act Recovery Assistance

As you may be aware, the state recently announced $55 million in business assistance grants to be administered by Oregon counties. Early estimates indicate Multnomah County will receive approximately $7.6 million. These funds are intended to help small businesses impacted by public health restrictions meant to stem the rapid spread of COVID-19 cases. Multnomah County wants to work quickly to get these funds in the hands of the businesses owners who need them. The governor has indicated that counties should prioritize the hospitality industry. We plan on making grants available for restaurants, food carts, and bed and breakfasts that are licensed by the County. We intend to limit these funds to businesses that have 5 or fewer licenses with the County.

We know that everyone has many questions about how to access these funds, the exact amounts that will be available and other criteria related to this relief funding. While we are still waiting for further guidance from the state to answer these questions, Multnomah County is doing everything we can to set you up to successfully receive a grant. That means, even before we have details from the state, we are asking you to get the following pieces of information ready to make the application process as easy as possible for you:

• Multnomah County Health Department license number

• W-9 form, signed with a wet signature. While electronic signatures cannot be accepted, a scanned copy of the signed document can be submitted in lieu of a paper copy and is the preferred method. A fillable PDF can be downloaded here.

Once we finalize the program details, hopefully within the next 5 to 7 days, we will send an application form to you.