Small businesses and not-for-profit organizations in Monroe County that have suffered financial hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic will soon be able to apply for relief funding through the county’s website.

On Wednesday, Monroe County Commissioners announced that the county has been awarded $15 million in Community Development Block Grant funding through the CARES Act passed by Congress in March.

The funding can be used for housing rehabilitation, public services, community facilities, infrastructure improvement, development and planning that prevent, prepare for and respond to the coronavirus, according to the grant guidelines. In addition, the county must ensure that 70 percent of the funding is used for “activities that benefit low- and moderate-income individuals and families.”

Eligible recipients include not-for-profit organizations, small businesses and municipal governments in Monroe County.

“We encourage any business that has suffered either a loss of revenue or increased expenses because of COVID to apply for these monies,” Commissioner John Moyer said.

Moyer said the grant application will be posted on the county’s website sometime next week. Individuals and organizations will then have about two weeks to complete the application and, if awarded funding, must spend it by the end of the year.

“We are doing our best to get this money in the hands of the entities that are most in need,” Moyer said.

The Monroe County Chamber of Commerce and the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau will be assisting the county as it looks to identify eligible businesses and organizations, Moyer said.

Commissioners also approved the following agenda items:

• Execute a Memorandum of Understanding with the Salvation Army, for the period of July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2023, to allow them to process and distribute food through The Emergency Food Assistance Program.

• Accept recommendation of the 137 Affordable Housing Board to deny a request for funding for the Pocono Community Land Trust