Section 690.50 Identifying Disproportionately Impacted Areas

Section 690.50  Identifying Disproportionately Impacted

Areas

a)         The

Department will allocate funding within the Program such that no less than 30%

will be provided to qualifying businesses located in disproportionately impacted

areas. The Department will determine which ZIP Codes constitute disproportionately

impacted areas based on available COVID-19 case information and economic data

at the time it announces funding opportunities under the Program, and areas may

be added or removed from prioritization based on changes in relative COVID-19

rates and economic distress.

b)         Within

each Allotment Tier, the Department will rank each ZIP Code by COVID-19 cases

per capita and by each of the poverty-related criteria. ZIP Codes with

moderate, high, and very high COVID-19 cases per capita will be considered to

be disproportionately impacted areas if they also have moderate to high rates

of economic distress, as demonstrated by high rates within at least one of the

poverty-related criteria (see Section 690.20 (Disproportionately Impacted

Area)).  The Department will include areas with significantly higher rates of

COVID-19 cases per capita and lower levels of the poverty-related criteria, as

well as areas with significantly higher levels of the poverty-related criteria

and lower relative COVID-19 cases per capita.

c)         The

Department will reserve funding opportunities for qualifying businesses located

in or predominantly serving severely disproportionately impacted areas.