Top 7 Small Business Grants in Jacksonville, FL You Should Apply For

The version of this page published in November 2024 named seven “small business grants in Jacksonville.” None of them was a Jacksonville grant. One was a search phrase dressed up as a program, one was a state disaster loan, two (CDBG and MBDA) fund cities, nonprofits and universities rather than businesses, one was a federal R&D program, one was USDA’s rural program in a city far too large to count as rural, and the last was a vague nod to “local chamber funding.”

Jacksonville does have real grant money for small businesses. Most of it is tied to where your building is or what you are spending on, which is why generic lists miss it. The seven programs below were each checked on the City’s, the Downtown Investment Authority’s or the state agency’s own pages on October 27, 2026. Each entry links to the page that governs it; treat that page, not this one, as the final word.

Quick answer:

• Citywide, if your building is in a distressed area: the City’s Façade Renovation Matching Grant pays $2 for every $1 you spend on exterior work, up to $7,500 or $15,000.
• Downtown: the Downtown Investment Authority pays up to $75,000 toward historic storefronts and offers a retail grant for new downtown leases.
• Northwest Jacksonville: the Myrtle-Moncrief-Avenue B corridor program reimburses signs, façades, landscaping and parking lots.
• Any non-retail employer: CareerSource Florida reimburses up to half (sometimes three quarters) of training for current staff, and CareerSource Northeast Florida funds training for new or existing staff.
• Exporters: SelectFlorida reimburses trade show costs. Florida’s federal STEP export grant lost its administrator on October 1, 2026.

The 7 Jacksonville grants

1. Façade Renovation Matching Grant (City of Jacksonville)

The Office of Economic Development’s façade program is the most broadly available local grant. Under the program overview adopted with Ordinance 2024-165, the City pays $2 for every $1 the owner or tenant spends, up to $7,500 in Level 1 Economically Distressed Areas and $15,000 in Level 2 areas.

• Who can apply: existing businesses, owners or tenants, on a commercial corridor with the right zoning, with no liens or code violations and City taxes current. A tenant needs the owner’s notarized consent. Look up whether your address is Level 1 or Level 2 on the City’s property map (maps.coj.net/DuvalProperty).
• What it pays for: the front and sides of the building visible from public streets: painting, cleaning, masonry, cornices, doors, windows, awnings, signage, decorative fencing (not chain-link), required landscaping and fixed exterior lighting. Not residential property, permits, property purchase, equipment, working capital, inventory or refinancing.
• The JSEB shortcut: applicants are asked to use City-approved JSEB (Jacksonville Small and Emerging Business) contractors, and if you do, you put up no matching money. The City covers the work up to the same caps.
• Catch: it is a reimbursement. The grant agreement must be approved before work starts, and the City pays after the work is done and receipts are in. One grant per address per year, and the City says funding is subject to availability. Its latest report to City Council shows four awards totaling $31,904 from January 25 to July 24, 2026, and $661,656 approved since the program began. Questions go to [email protected].

2. Storefront Façade Grant (Downtown Investment Authority)

The DIA’s Storefront Façade Grant pays up to $30 per square foot of storefront façade, at most 50% of eligible costs, with a cap of $75,000 per applicant.

• Where: the Northbank Community Redevelopment Area, starting with the Downtown Jacksonville Historic District listed on the National Register.
• What it pays for: exterior work on the ground-floor street frontage (and the second story in some cases) of a façade that faces a public street.
• Catch: paid as a reimbursement after inspection, with processing of about 90 days. The DIA describes the program as new and posts no deadline. Contact [email protected].

3. Retail Enhancement Grant (Downtown Investment Authority)

The DIA’s Retail Enhancement Grant is for retail businesses signing new leases in its Retail Program Areas in the Northbank and Southside CRAs. The DIA says the grant replaced an older forgivable-loan structure.

• What it takes: projects generally above $50,000, a new lease of at least three years, at least two full-time jobs, at least 32 open hours a week and JSEB contractors. Applications are scored by the DIA.
• Who is excluded: nonprofits, business-to-business companies and new construction, among others.
• Catch: the grant is amortized over three years and the City can claw it back, so read the recapture terms before you sign a lease around it. The DIA allocates money “as needed” and publishes no per-project cap.

Restaurants and bars should read the DIA’s separate Food & Beverage program (FAB-REP) closely. The page calls it a grant, but its terms work like a forgivable loan, written off 20% a year over five years and repayable on default. It pays up to $400,000 depending on the type of establishment, only in The Elbow and Hogan x Laura districts, and the business and property owners must each put in at least 25%.

4. Myrtle-Moncrief-Avenue B Business Corridor Improvement Program

The City’s Myrtle-Moncrief-Avenue B program reimburses exterior improvements for commercial businesses along that corridor, in City Council Districts 7 and 10.

• What it pays for: under the 2024 guidelines, landscaping, building and free-standing signs, façade work (painting, re-facing, awnings, eaves, gutters, reconstruction), pressure washing as part of another improvement, and parking lot repaving and restriping. Temporary items and pothole repair are not covered.
• Who can apply: commercial businesses on commercially zoned parcels on the corridor map. The money goes to the property owner, or to a tenant with the owner’s consent. Anyone who owes City taxes, has open code citations or is suing the City is excluded.
• Catch: there is no fixed cap or match. Applications are taken during acceptance periods and scored together by Office of Economic Development staff and the district’s council member, and how much you put in compared with what you ask for is part of the score. Payment comes after the work is verified.

5. Incumbent Worker Training grant (CareerSource Florida)

For employers that want to train staff they already have, CareerSource Florida’s Incumbent Worker Training grant pays up to $100,000 per company. Under the 2026–27 guidelines it reimburses up to 50% of direct training costs, and up to 75% for priority applicants such as businesses with 25 or fewer employees, businesses in rural or distressed areas, and training toward a credential on the state’s Master Credentials List.

• Who can apply: for-profit businesses that have operated for at least a year. Trainees must be W-2 employees who have been on the payroll at least six months and work at least 37.5 hours a week. Retail businesses are excluded.
• Deadline: awards are made monthly from $3 million for the July 2026 to June 2027 year. Apply online at least 45 business days before training starts.
• Catch: a company can win once every other year, and you are paid back after the training, not before.

6. Employer-based training (CareerSource Northeast Florida)

The local workforce board for Duval and five neighboring counties offers customized training, a reimbursement for training new or existing employees that must be approved before the training begins. Its employer page says it can fund up to half the cost. No cap is published, so call the board at (904) 356-5627 before you book a course.

For new hires, federally funded on-the-job training contracts are arranged through American Job Centers; how that works is in our list of free small business grants.

7. Target Sector Trade Show grant (SelectFlorida)

If you sell outside the U.S., SelectFlorida’s trade show grant reimburses part of the cost of exhibiting at events on its trade calendar. Amounts are set event by event and awarded first come, first served, and veteran-owned and rural businesses may get a supplement.

• Who can apply: businesses registered in Florida for at least two years, operating from a physical facility (no home or virtual offices), with 3 to 500 full-time employees and at least $250,000 in sales.
• New to exporting: SelectFlorida’s Export Marketing Plan buys you a $5,000 plan from the Florida SBDC for $500; SelectFlorida pays the other $4,500. It is once per company, for businesses with at least five employees and $500,000 to $10 million in sales.
• What changed: the Florida SBDC Network ended its administration of the federal STEP export grant on October 1, 2026, and no successor has been named. For how STEP works elsewhere, see STEP grants for exporters.

Other City programs worth a phone call

These are real, but narrower, deal-by-deal or not clearly open:

• Northwest Jacksonville Economic Development Fund. The NWJEDF negotiates grants and loans deal by deal, with City Council approval, for businesses north of I-10 and west of US 17 and Main Street. Its septic grant pays up to $30,000 to repair a failing septic system or $75,000 to connect to sewer, for for-profit and nonprofit commercial properties that are not homesteaded. The page does not say whether it is taking applications.
• KingSoutel Crossing CRA renovation grant. A 1-to-1 match up to $50,000 for exterior work inside the KingSoutel Crossing redevelopment area. The posted application is dated 2021, so confirm it is active before you apply.
• Downtown Preservation and Revitalization Program. For historic downtown buildings, but under its guidelines it is made of forgivable loans and loans, not grants.
• JSEB certification. JSEB is a City certification for contracting, not a grant. It requires 51% ownership, a Duval residence or principal place of business, average gross revenue of $12 million or less and at least a year in business. It matters here because JSEB contractors unlock the façade grant’s no-match option.

What happened to the old list

Before you apply

1. Find your address’s status first. Three of the seven programs depend on where the building is: a Level 1 or Level 2 distressed area, the downtown CRAs or the Myrtle-Moncrief corridor. Check the City’s property map before you get quotes.
2. Do not start work early. Every building grant here is a reimbursement that has to be approved before work begins. Work started before approval is not paid for.
3. Line up a JSEB contractor. It removes your match on the City façade grant and is required for the DIA’s retail grant.
4. Get the owner’s sign-off. Tenants need the property owner’s written consent for the façade and corridor programs.
5. Keep receipts for everything. Payment follows documentation, not the other way around.

Where to look next

For statewide and national programs a Jacksonville business can also use, from SBIR to Verizon’s $10,000 Digital Ready grant, see 10 free small business grants you can apply for today and our living guide, Small Business Grants: What Actually Exists, which carries the City’s façade grant alongside programs in other large cities. For grants and listings across the state, browse grants in Florida.