Small Business Grants in New York

The Neighborhood Business Grant from CitizensNYC is open now. You have until February 1, 2027, at 5:00 PM ET to apply. The grant gives up to $5,000 for a project that helps your neighborhood. Your business must be in one of New York City's five boroughs and have run for at least two years. You also need 10 or fewer employees and a profit-generating business. Gather bank statements, tax documents, or POS terminal statements as proof. CitizensNYC plans to announce decisions in May 2027.

Up to $10,000 a year for export trips, for a New York firm that already sells its product. The state pays back half the cost of up to three trade activities a year, at $2,000 to $5,000 each. That can be a foreign trade mission, a trade show abroad or a qualifying one in the US, or a paid US Commerce Department export service. Money goes first come, first served until it runs out. This round funds activity from July 24, 2026 to September 29, 2027. Apply at least 30 days ahead and before you spend anything, because costs already paid are not covered. You need a year of trading and staff in New York. Your product must already be on sale, with at least 51 percent US content. You must also count as small under SBA size rules. Retail firms, law firms, cannabis firms and middlemen cannot apply. Pay every cost from the business account. Only one employee's travel is covered, and flights must be basic economy on a US airline.

The NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS) reimburses up to 60 percent of what your business spends training employees, using federal funds. Your business must be for-profit, based in New York City and trading for more than a year, and you must train at least five employees. If you have fewer than five, you can apply with other businesses as a consortium. You pay the training costs first and SBS reimburses you every quarter. SBS awards these grants competitively. Once your employees finish training, you must give them a wage increase. The training has to be for new equipment or software, new services or products, skills for hard-to-fill positions, or updating outdated skills.

Capital money for a building, land, machinery or equipment project that creates or keeps jobs. A for-profit business can apply. Requests under $100,000 are not reviewed. Retail development, training and costs paid before the award are not funded. You apply through the Consolidated Funding Application, which pools more than 20 programmes from eight state agencies. The scored 2026 round closed on 31 July. Empire State Development may still take an off cycle request where money allows.

A town has to apply for this, not you. FAST NY pays for the work that gets a site ready before anyone builds on it, and Empire State Development takes applications from local governments and the bodies they name rather than from companies. By April 2026 it had awarded over $333 million to 44 projects. A company benefits when the site it wants is prepared, so the useful move is a conversation with the local economic development office, not a form. Tracks B and C take letters of intent and applications all year.

Training, not money. This is 18 months of classes, mentoring and contract matchmaking, run by regional incubators. It is only for certified MBE, WBE or MWBE firms in construction, construction consulting or chip plant building trades. You also need two years of trading and at least two staff. Revenue last year has to sit between $500,000 and $5 million. Apply to the incubator for your region.

New York's downtown revitalization programme, $10 million to one community per region each round. A business cannot apply. Communities apply to their regional council, the council nominates one, and the state picks. Round 10 is open, with community applications due by January 8, 2027, at 4 PM through the Consolidated Funding Application portal.