Home / Blog / Business Enhancement / New Assistance for Local Businesses

New Assistance for Local Businesses

Avatar photo by Jessica Buchholz, Events Coordinator | August 3, 2020
cdbg

The City of Emporia, KS has been awarded $132,000 of funding through the Kansas Department of Commerce’s Community Development Block Grant COVID-19 Small Business Grant Program (CDBG-CV). The City of Emporia Small Business COVID-19 Grant will assist with immediate and anticipated needs of existing Emporia small businesses negatively impacted by COVID-19. Negatively impacted small businesses are defined as for-profit, tax entity, non-farming businesses operating within the City of Emporia with less than 50 employees. The application process will begin July 31, 2020 and run through August 13, 2020. No applications will be accepted after 5:00 pm on August 13, 2020, 2020. Please fill out the application attached to this email and send the completed forms via email to [email protected], drop it off at the Emporia Main Street office at 727 Commercial Street, or mail it to Lane Massey c/o City of Emporia – CDBG-CV Application, P.O. Box 928 Emporia, KS 66801. Please call Casey Woods at Emporia Main Street at 620-340-6430 or Garrett Nordstrom with Governmental Assistance Services at 816-805-9183 with questions.


Eligibility
To be eligible to receive a CDBG-CV Small Business Grant, the recipient business must be a for-profit business and retaining jobs for low to moderate-income people. 51% or more of the full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs retained must be for persons from low to moderate-income households as defined by the department of Housing and Urban Development. A full time equivalent job is defined as at least 36 hours a week. Part time hours can be combined to fulfill a FTE job. Households must have a total Adjusted Gross Income that is below 80% of County Median Income. The income limits for qualification are:

1 Person Family_____$36,200

2 Person Family_____$41,400

3 Person Family_____$46,550

4 Person Family_____$51,700

5 Person Family_____$

Person Family_____$60,000

7 Person Family_____$64,150

8 Person Family_____$68,250


· CDBG-CV grants can be used to pay for working capital, inventory, wages, utilities, rent, etc.
· Paying off existing debt is NOT an eligible use. Grant dollars cannot be used for the acquisition of new building(s), property, expansion or personal non-business costs.
· Duplication of benefits is prohibited under the federal CARES Act, meaning any small business that received funding from PPP, EIDL, SBA, or other programs authorized through the CARES Act, would only be eligible for CDBG-CV funds if the grant award was not used to cover the same week’s salaries, rent utilities, etc.
· To receive funding distributions, businesses must be willing to share invoices/payroll information/etc. to ensure grant compliance. 

Award Information· The CDBG-CV program allows for businesses with five or fewer employees (including the owner) to receive up to $25,000 per FTE job 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 with a maximum of $50,000 per company.
· With only $132,000 in local funding for this program, it is highly likely that awards will be less than the allowable maximums. Awards will be distributed following an application review by the City of Emporia.
CLICK HERE for the CDBG-CV relevant forms.

About the Author

Jessica Buchholz, Events Coordinator

Jessica Buchholz is the Community Development Coordinator for Emporia Main Street in Emporia, Kansas. She specializes in event planning, volunteer recruitment, alternative marketing, media/public relations and fundraising. During Jessica's tenure at Emporia Main Street, she has helped grow events to an international level and she has created a series of new activities to meet organizational goals.