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The city’s Economic Development Authority will begin accepting applications Feb. 11 for the fourth round of its COVID-19 small business assistance grant program.

The current round of grants is open to small businesses in Suffolk — both brick-and-mortar and home-based — that have been open at least since Nov. 1. More information about the grants, eligibility requirements and the application are on the YesSuffolk website in the COVID-19 Resources (https://www.yessuffolk.com/188/COVID-19-Resources).

About $500,000 will be available, with selected businesses receiving up to $5,000.

The application deadline is midnight March 11.

The EDA has awarded 200 grants worth more than $723,000 since starting last June — more than $523,000 coming from the CARES Act and another $200,000 from the Obici Healthcare Foundation.

In the first round of grant distribution, 85 city businesses received $190,500, with amounts of $3,700 for 15 businesses, $2,700 for 27 businesses, $1,700 for 32 businesses and $700 for 11 businesses.

The second round of grant distribution saw 80 businesses receiving a combined $400,000, or $5,000 each, and awarded 92 grants total, using the $200,000 it received from the foundation and another $237,048 from the CARES Act. The other 12 businesses received amounts ranging from around $125 to just over $4,500. The breakdown of the type of businesses receiving grants included 24 to restaurants, 19 each to retail and healthcare/medical businesses and 15 to beauty-based businesses. The locations of the businesses getting grants were nearly evenly split between downtown (33) and the central part of the city (32) – representing the ring around the downtown area. North Suffolk businesses made up 23 award-winners, with two each being home-based and rural-located businesses.

In the third round of grant applications for October, 17 of the 23 grants were for $5,000, and totaled more than $95,000, all coming from CARES Act money. Healthcare/medical businesses, retail and restaurant businesses accounted for 15. Nine of the businesses were from North Suffolk, seven downtown, five in the central part of the city and two home-based businesses.

Anyone with questions about the grant should contact Acting Economic Development Director Gregory Byrd at 757-514-4042 or by email at gbyrd@suffolkva.us.