CAMDEN, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — Small businesses in Camden County, New Jersey are getting some help staying afloat in what's been a tumultuous time for the economy. 

Officials have new lifelines they’re throwing to companies in the coronavirus-wrecked economy, the first being $20 million in federal funds called the Camden CARES Small Business Grant.

Yolonda Deavers, owner of Prissy Chic Hair Supply and Beauty Bar in downtown Camden, is one of the more than 900 people who applied for the grant Thursday morning when applications were made available. 

“The past few months have been really depressing for me, because I haven't been getting any revenue. Bills would accumulate, but I wasn't getting any income to offset those expenses,” Deavers said. 

Small businesses, she added, need all the help they can get right now. 

Christina Renna with the Southern New Jersey Chamber of Commerce said 70% of the first businesses in New Jersey to close their doors when the pandemic started were female minority-owned businesses. 

She added 50% of them are still closed. 

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“That's who this grant’s going to help, and that's who needs it the most,” Renna explained. 

Renna said the grant money is far more helpful to these companies because many across the county are leveraged to the max. 

“It has been a fight, because there has been opportunities for assistance. However, a lot of those opportunities came in the form of loans,” she said. 

This is a sentiment shared by Nichelle Pace with the Camden Business Association, who said many of the companies they work with are in desperate need of assistance that comes with no strings attached. 

“We've been advocating throughout the pandemic to make sure we get resources for our businesses that are not just loans, because a lot of businesses in our communities are bootstrapped,” Pace said. 

In addition to this program, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced a $6 million commercial rent relief grant for small businesses. 

“This not only helps the businesses, but it helps the property owners as well. Many of them are in fact small businesses themselves,” Murphy said. 

Murphy said that means the small businesses are eligible for up to $10,000 to help to pay their rent. 

That's welcome news to Deavers. 

“It makes me feel good and it gives me hope,” she said. 

This is a small bandage for businesses that are hemorrhaging money, Renna said, but it’s welcomed. 

“This is not the end of the road by any stretch. This is just the beginning,” she said. 

Murphy agreed.

“We have many more plans on the horizon that we will be unveiling amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars in direct economic assistance to help move New Jersey's struggling residents and businesses along the path of recovery,” the governor said.