U.S. Labor Department program provides $5K to qualifying firms recovering from floods
Many local non-profits and public entities have become familiar with the National Emergency Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. The grant supports eastern Iowa’s Emergency Public Jobs program, and now fund support has been expanded to include financial opportunities for area small businesses. Kirkwood Community College has been notified that the U.S. Department of Labor has approved the Small Business Disaster Recovery Grant program, which is now able to provide up to $5,000 in financial assistance to small businesses impacted by the flood.
Businesses interested in applying for assistance will need to demonstrate being in business with 25 or fewer employees at the time of the flood, along with experiencing an interruption in business that caused at least one worker to become dislocated (unemployed).
If the business can meet these requirements they will be asked to complete a two-page application process. In this application, business owners will be asked to share what flood recovery assistance they have already received and how these funds have been allocated or expended. Any necessary continued renovations or expenses up to $5,000 can be considered for the grant. These funds will be allocated on the basis of verifiable non-covered business loss.
Interest in this grant should be popular, according to Gary Vogt, the local supervisor of the Small Business Recovery Grant program. Vogt will coordinate the application process under the administrative entity for the grant, Kirkwood Community College, working in partnership with Iowa Workforce Development.
“The Small Business Recovery Grant is an added way to help small businesses recover. Many small businesses have or are having to put a lot of personal assets into getting businesses up and running. Hopefully an additional $5,000 can help with re-establishing the business so business owners can begin to focus more on future development,” Vogt observed.
The federal-funded grant has $1.7 million dollars to distribute to qualifying disaster stricken small businesses state wide. The Small Business Disaster Recovery Grant provides opportunities for all types of small businesses including, profit, non-profit and public agencies. It is important to note that the grant specifies “verifiable non-covered flood related business loss,” which means that in the application process business that have received FEMA, SBA, Jumpstart or any additional flood related funding will need to be prepared to show how these funds have been allocated prior to applying for the grant.
“Kirkwood is pleased to bring this opportunity to the community,” said Kirkwood Executive Director of Continuing Education Programming, Kim Johnson. “We hope that small businesses that have non-covered restoration or recovery expenses will call us to find out more about the program. It is imperative that small business owners act with some urgency as only 354 of these grants are available statewide and it is entirely possible that the Cedar Rapids community needs alone could exceed that number.”
Vogt also expects demand and interest in the program to be brisk. “In the economy today many small business owners’ budgets have been stretched to unprecedented levels, and in some cases $5,000 could be the injection a business needs to help them return,” he added.
Additional information and application procedures are available on the Web at:
http://www.kirkwood.edu/skillstoemployment under the Employment Services tab or by calling Gary Vogt, (319) 398-5070, ext 110.