$300,000 grant to support businesses hurt by COVID-19

Both the Jewell County commissioners and the City of Mankato met in special session to submit a competitive grant application to potentially obtain $300,000 each to support Jewell County businesses hurt by COVID-19.

The Jewell County commissioners authorized Chairman Mark Fleming to sign documents May 27, officially submitting a $300,000 grant application to help local businesses retain jobs for low-to-moderate income people. The Mankato City Council met the next day to take similar action.

Earlier , Governor Laura Kelly said more than $9 million in federal funding is being made available to the state’s Community Development Block Grant program to support community responses to the COVID-19 crisis.

The Community Development Block Grant Coronavirus Response Supplement (CDBG-CV) Economic Development grants will provide communities with funding to help businesses and organizations that suffered losses because of COVID-19 and who have not received funding from other resources. Grant funds can be used for working capital such as wages, utilities and everyday expenses except for paying existing debt off, or to purchase up to 60 days of necessary inventory once allowed to reopen. Interested businesses should apply through Jewell County Community Development.

“It’s our intent that by infusing an additional $9 million into communities to support urgent needs, we can help alleviate some of the stress caused by the COVID-19 crisis and allow Kansas to return to business as usual as quickly as possible,” Secretary of Commerce David Toland said.

To be eligible to receive a CDBG-CV Economic Development grant, the recipient business must be a for-profit business in existence as of March 1, and retaining jobs for low to moderate-income people. 51 percent or more of the full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs retained must be for persons from low to moderate-income households as defined by United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Businesses with five or fewer employees (including the owner) are eligible to receive up to $25,000 per FTE job in CDBG-CV Economic Development grant funding (with a maximum of $30,000 per company).

Businesses with between six and 50 employees are eligible to receive up to $35,000 for each FTE job in CDBG-CV Economic Development grant funding (with a maximum of $50,000 per company).

Funds will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis until all funds have been disbursed.

Jewell County Community Development and Carla Waugh, county clerk, worked closely on the application with the North Central Regional Planning Commission, a comprehensive planning and development organization based in Beloit that serves a 12-county region in North Central Kansas. The Jewell County commissioners include Keith Roe, Mark Fleming, and Steve Greene. Mankato City Council members include Mayor Justin Schoonover, John Tyler, Chris Klos, Lyle Dauner, Susan Abel and Neil Becker.

 

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