Council introduces $250,000 in additional emergency funding for Telework Assistance Program

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, April 28, 2020

ROCKVILLE, Md., April 28, 2020—Today the Montgomery County Council introduced a special appropriation of $250,000 to provide grants to businesses and non-profit organizations that implemented a teleworking program and purchased teleworking equipment and software since the beginning of the health crisis in March.

The full Council sponsored the special appropriation that was initiated by Councilmember Andrew Friedson. The Council is tentatively scheduled to receive public testimony and vote on the special appropriation on April 30 at 1:30 p.m.

Many businesses and non-profit organizations have implemented or are planning to implement teleworking policies to comply with the Governor’s stay-at-home order to reduce the spread of Covid-19, some for the first time. The Council through this special appropriation is creating the Telework Assistance Program to reimburse businesses and non-profit organizations for expenses incurred to implement a teleworking policy due to the Covid-19 health crisis.

A business or non-profit organization is eligible to receive assistance from the Telework Assistance Program if:

• its physical location is only in the County;
• its County based locations account for more than 50 percent of the business’s total number of employees or 50 percent of the business’s gross sales;
• employs 100 or less full-time-equivalent employees;
• has not received financial assistance from the State or County for teleworking expenses
  related to the Covid-19 health crisis; and
• has incurred expenditures after March 1, 2020 specifically to implement a teleworking policy.

Each eligible business and non-profit may be awarded a grant up to $2,500 for verified teleworking equipment and software. The actual grant will be based on actual expenditures for each business and non-profit organization.

The Council staff report can be viewed here.

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Release ID: 20-174
Media Contact: Sonya Healy 240-777-7926, Juan Jovel 240-777-7931