This story courtesy of Joshua Pineda of OzarksFirst.com-
Small businesses in Greene County are still dealing with the economic effects of the pandemic and inflation is a major concern across the state.
The Greene County Commission emphasizes that small businesses are the backbone of our community and starting tomorrow, businesses with up to 100 employees can apply to receive ARPA funding for a maximum award of nearly $50,000.
“So we wanna encourage people to apply as soon as possible as soon as that portal opens up online. We do have community navigators and organizations in the community we are working with that can help with technical assistance. The application is available in multiple languages and spoken by members of our community,” said Greene County ARPA grant coordinator Lyle Foster.
He said with $2.5 million allocated for the second round of ARPA funds, businesses have a three-week period from September 13 until October 4 to complete the application.
Here is a list of The eligibility criteria for ARPA funding is as follows:
- The business must be located in Greene County, Missouri.
- The business must be a for-profit or family-owned business that employs 100 or fewer employees, including the owner(s).
- The business must not employ undocumented immigrant workers and must be enrolled in E-Verify if they employ W-2 employees.
- The business must have existed in Greene County, Missouri as of March 1st, 2020.
- The business must demonstrate the existence of negative impacts incurred as a result of the COVID-19 public health emergency since March 1st, 2020.
- The business is not suspended or debarred from the use of federal funds.
Businesses cannot use ARPA funds for the following expenditures:
- Paying non-business debt, such as personal credit cards for purchases not associated with the business.
- Personal expenses such as buying a new family car or making repairs to a home.
- Direct financing to political activities or paying off taxes and fines.
- Purchase of personal items.
- The purchase of drugs, tobacco, and/or alcohol.
- Food and entertainment.
- Bonuses.
- Travel not associated with direct business operations.
Foster says he wants business owners to know that Greene County supports the people and the system.
“We don’t want there to be any barriers, so last time we had a few people who perhaps were not as proficient/efficient in technology, they actually turned in handwritten applications, we met them in their homes, the community and we got those applications back and put them into the system,” said Foster.
Businesses can find the application portal on the Greene County Commission website.
