Action during a special meeting of the College Station city council Monday afternoon included moving $250,000 dollars budgeted for low income housing, to a grant program to assist small businesses with low to moderate income employees.
Community development director Debbie Eller says this money is designed to keep small businesses open until money from other sources is available.
Eller says a committee will review applications on a weekly basis.
Click HERE to read and download presentation materials given to the city council.
Click HERE to be directed to the grant application form from the city of College Station.
From a blog posted by College Station community development director Debbie Eller:
While the COVID-19 outbreak has arrived with a high human cost, it’s increasingly evident that the economic impacts could be substantial as well. In response, the City of College Station has created an Economic Assistance Grant Program for our small businesses with low-to-moderate income employees.
The city council unanimously approved the program’s guidelines as part of a special Monday afternoon teleconference meeting.
Funded with almost $300,000 in CDBG Economic Development Funds, the program could help prevent job losses for employees with families in the low-to-moderate household income range, such as a family of four that earns under $54,800 a year. In the long term, the program could also contribute to job creation or enable businesses to reach their pre-disaster employment numbers.
Grants of up to $40,000 will be available, based on the number of employees. To apply, businesses need to provide information regarding their business before and after implementation of the COVID-19 declarations, including financial documents, employee information, and their willingness to comply with local, state, and federal requirements.
Completed applications should be emailed to me at deller@cstx.gov. New applications are reviewed and funds awarded each week, and each entity may receive only one grant. We expect the requests to outpace the available funds.
Funds will be disbursed in four installments, with the first distributed after the agreement is executed. Subsequent payments will be made following the submission of payroll documentation showing that the funding has helped retained job funding.
For more information, email me at deller@cstx.gov.
Click below for comments from Debbie Eller during the March 30, 2020 College Station city council meeting.