COVID-19 Grant Program Application

In partnership, Grow Wabash County and the City of Wabash applied and received grant funding for up to $250,000 to be used as a COVID-19 Response Grant Program thanks to a Community Development Block Grant offered through the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA).

Grow Wabash County may now offer grants to Wabash businesses, particularly those businesses in high risk categories including: hospitality/tourism, food and beverage, personal care, professional services, and retail sectors. The goal of this program is to retain jobs and we must serve 51% or more jobs that are considered low-to-moderate income (LMI) positions. LMI are incomes at or below 80% of the area median income for Wabash County. Grant funds can be used for a combination of working capital, continued operation expenses, and/or to support remote work expenses that are immediate needs. Grant funds will need to be expended within a three month period.

Businesses will be awarded grant amounts based on their employee count and community impact. The majority of grants will be $2,000 per businesses but can range up to $15,000 for larger employers. Final grant award amounts will be determined by the Grant Review Committee and funds will be issued on a first come, first serve basis for those that meet the grant criteria.

Business Name

First Name

Last Name

Title

Phone Number

Year of Business Establishment

Company Mailing Address

Address Line 1

Address Line 2

City

Zip/Postal Code

Number of full-time employees

Full time is 32 hours or more per week. Full time equivalent = total hrs per week of part time employees/32)

Number of part-time employees

To your knowledge, most of our employees could be classified as low to moderate income (LMI) persons.

Yes No

You will need to submit LMI Forms via an online form for each retained employee to verify as noted in "Next Steps of Application Process" below. As part of the grant, we need to verify that 51% or more retained positions are held by low to moderate income (LMI) persons. We will aggregate all applicants data so if your percentage is not exactly 51% or more you may still be considered for this grant.

Briefly explain your business' current employee situation due to COVID19

Example: Full-time staff are working remotely and part-time staff are laid off temporarily, etc.

Briefly explain what grant funds will be used for below

Funds from this grant can used for Working Capital, Continued Operations, and/or to Support remote work. Example: I'm requesting the grant to cover rent at $1500 for a 3 months, $300 for utilities for 3 months, and $200 for a vendor bill to cover expense for remote worker.

Have you been accepted for either of the Federal grant programs?

Yes No

Select, yes above if you have been awarded a grant from the CARES Act program: Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and/or Disaster Relief Loan Fund Grants.

If you selected "Yes" above, please confirm that if your company is awarded grant funds from this program, you will not use these funds on expenses that are already being covered by other relief programs.

Yes No Not applicable

By Selecting yes above you are confirming you are not using multiple COVID19 relief programs (like Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or the Disaster Relief Loan Funds from the Federal CARES Act) to pay for the same expense. Example, you can not use this grant to pay for April's rent expense if you already utilized the forgivable grant from the Disaster Relief Loan from the SBA program for the same month's rent expense.

I confirm our company is an equal opportunity employer.

Yes No

Select, "Yes" above to confirm your company is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, ethnicity, national origin, marital status, status as a protected veteran, genetic information, or any other legally protected classification or status.

Next Step of Application Process: Required Employee household income surveys

To meet the Community Development Block Grant requirement, employers will need to verify that 51% or more of your retained positions are held by low to moderate income (LMI) persons. Employers will need to submit an LMI Form for each retained employee to verify household number and income. Employers will be asked to confirm that you verified data with each employee. Employers will need to FILL OUT A LMI SURVEY FORM FOR EVERY RETAINED EMPLOYEE. Forms are available here: http://members.growwabashcounty.com/form/view/19690

If Approved, the final steps of the grant are outlined below

If the business meets the criteria and is awarded, grantees will be notified and asked to sign the "COVID19 Response Grant Agreement" that reiterates the approved uses of the grant funds, that funds must be expended within three months, and that a grant report will be required. Grantees will receive the grant check in the mail and a "COVID19 Response Grant Report Form." The grant report will need to be filled out within 120 days of the grant issue date and returned with copies of paid receipts as proof of compliance for tracking purposes.