Small businesses on Kauai battered by Hurricane Lowell can now apply for a share of $2.25 million in recovery grants, with the application portal opening at 8 a.m. Wednesday and awards running as high as $10,000 per business. The money is meant to help non-agriculture, for-profit businesses cover storm-related costs that insurance and other assistance programs haven't already picked up.
The relief effort comes from a partnership between the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii and the State of Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, according to The Garden Island. The grants target non-agriculture small businesses on Kauai that were impacted when Hurricane Lowell struck the island on September 7 and 8. Applications are being accepted through an online portal and will be reviewed and processed on a first-come, first-served basis, with no mail-in applications accepted.
Two Tiers, Two Different Award Amounts
The program splits applicants into two tiers based on business size. Tier 1, described as the micro-enterprise tier, is open to businesses with one to 10 employees, including the owner, and annual gross revenue below $200,000; those awardees are eligible for $5,000 grants. Tier 2, the Small Business Grant tier, covers businesses with 11 to 500 employees and annual gross revenue between $250,000 and $5 million, with awards of up to $10,000 available to that group.
To qualify at all, a business must have fewer than 500 employees and less than $5 million in annual gross revenue, per the outlet's report. Applicants also need at least one Hawaii-resident owner, must have operated physically on Kauai before September 7, and must have been registered with the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs before that date. Businesses also have to be current on their state and federal taxes and must be able to show material, economic, or physical harm directly caused by the hurricane.
What the Money Can — and Can't — Cover
Grant claims have to address unmet storm-related needs, meaning losses or costs not already covered by insurance or other public or private recovery assistance. Applicants who feel overwhelmed by the process don't have to go it alone: assistance with the application is available in Hawaiian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese, and a call center is staffed Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The grant program is one piece of a broader recovery effort that has taken shape on Kauai since the storm. The Hawaii Community Foundation separately announced another $265,000 for eight organizations helping communities affected by Hurricane Lowell, according to KITV. That funding is earmarked for food, water, emergency supplies and agricultural recovery, and the foundation has said more resources could be directed to Kauai as recovery needs become clearer.
Other Relief Has Already Reached the Island
Since Hurricane Lowell hit Kauai County, the Hawaii Community Foundation's Stronger Hawaii Initiative has awarded $457,000 to 17 nonprofits, Kauai Now reports. Among the recipients, Mālama Kauaʻi received $50,000 to help farmers and ranchers recover losses to agricultural infrastructure, equipment, crops and livestock. Those Stronger Hawaii grants are reviewed on a rolling basis, with no fixed deadlines for nonprofits to apply.
Kauai's business recovery effort mirrors one that unfolded on Oahu earlier this year, after Kona low storms struck that island from March 10 to 23. More than $3 million in relief was made available to Oahu small businesses through a similar program, according to Hawaii News Now, offering one-time grants of $5,000 or $10,000 to businesses that were non-agricultural, for-profit, and registered with the DCCA before the storms hit. That program was also processed first-come, first-served, with applications accepted until the funds ran out.
Kauai business owners can also find a broader rundown of hurricane recovery resources, including the Hurricane Business Grant Recovery Program's $5,000 or $10,000 awards, through Kauai Recovers. For now, the newly opened Chamber of Commerce Hawaii portal represents the largest single pool of recovery money aimed squarely at the island's non-agriculture small business community since Hurricane Lowell moved through in September.
