MITCHELL — A half-million in federal funds is earmarked to help small businesses in Mitchell and Lawrence County, but it might be awhile before that relief can be parceled out.
Thursday, the city of Mitchell and Lawrence County learned they were each awarded $250,000 in federal grant funds from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs to help local businesses that are struggling through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch announced 49 rural Hoosier communities will receive the more than $8.8 million funding through the new COVID-19 Response Program.
“With (Thursday’s) announcement, Indiana has awarded more than $10.7 million to our rural communities,” said Crouch. “From increasing access to necessary testing and medical supplies to providing businesses and their workers with much needed relief, these funds are directly assisting in the fight against COVID-19.”
Mitchell received the grant to provide small businesses, with 25 or less employees, funding for rental or mortgage payments, supplies to restart business and to fund salaries. The goal is job retention.
“We are very excited in the hope that this money will help all of our businesses get back on their feet,” said Mitchell Mayor JD England, who worked with Hoosier Uplands to secure the grant. “It’s going to be a positive thing for our local businesses, right here in Mitchell. There’s no better way to help than with a grant program that will provide them with the help they need, money that doesn’t need to be paid back.”
Lawrence County received the funds with a plan to provide working capital to businesses, assisting with operational costs and remote work capabilities.
“The commissioners are thrilled that our application was accepted,” said Lawrence County Commissioner Rodney Fish. “Now, we begin the task of finding those businesses who need the funds the most and determine how we might be able to help the most people.”
Unfortunately, however, the help won’t be immediate. It will likely take up to two months for the money to filter into businesses.
“We’re excited we have this opportunity to provide this resource to our local businesses,” said Shance Sizemore, CEO of the Lawrence County Economic Growth Council, which is helping the county with the grant process. “We’re going to work as fast as we can to deploy these funds. We will be working hard so there’s no delay on the local end.”
The Southern Indiana Development Commission assisted the county with securing the grant funds. Greg Jones, executive director of SIDC, called it “very exciting news,” and said work will commence immediately to determine how those funds will be dispensed to businesses.
He said the municipalities receiving the funds will be setting up committees. Members of the committee will create an application, which will be pushed out to qualifying businesses. The applications are turned in, and the committee will review them to determine eligibility and funding options. If an application is approved by the local committee, it then goes on to OCRA for approval. Only then, Jones said, will the county or city be able to release those funds.
“It’s a brand new program,” Jones said. He said it typically takes about 60 days for the state to release a grant agreement, but he’s heard the state plans to expedite the process. “We are going to try our best on our end because we know these businesses needed this money like last week. We also know grants take time. ... This is great news for both Mitchell and Lawrence County, but we have some steps to take before the grant money can go out to businesses.”
However, Jones did say the money must be used within six months.
“We do have a timeline, and we’re going to work as fast as we can on the local end,” he added.
Thursday’s announcement was the second round of funding from the COVID-19 Response Program. The first 13 recipients were announced April 22 with $1.96 million in funding going out to those cities and counties.
“Public-private collaboration and intergovernmental coordination are critically important in ensuring funding is distributed to our rural communities,” said Jodi Golden, executive director of OCRA. “The creativity and local partnerships OCRA has seen in these applications is inspiring and the Hoosier spirit of collaboration continues to thrive even through this crisis.”
In addition to Mitchell and Lawrence County, the city of Salem also received $250,000 to fund a local small business grant program to help retain jobs within local businesses. Businesses will be able to apply for $5,000 grants to sustain expenses such as rent, working capital and utilities.
© 2024 TMNews.com, Bedford, IN.