MANSFIELD — Richland County commissioners on Tuesday authorized $1 million in grants from theĀ American Rescue Plan Act funds for local companies involved in entertainment, lodging/tourism and the food and beverage industry.
The grants, ranging from $10,000 to $30,000, will be administered through a program operated by the Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development, beginning in mid-October.
The county will receive about $23.4 million in ARPA funds, half of it already received and the remainder coming in 2022. The $1 million is the first of the relief funds commissioners have authorized.
Commissioners, who worked with the chamber on a general small business grant program using CARES Act funds in 2020, approved the new funding aimed at assisting local companies in these three areas perhaps hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chamber President/CEO Jodie Perry said the program mirrors one enacted by the State of Ohio this summer, targeting the three specific industries.
She said local businesses will have to show a “downturn in revenue” due to the pandemic and that grant awards would be based on the economic impact suffered due to COVID-19.
Perry said the chamber will use the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)Ā to ensure local companies are involved in the industries targeted through the grant program.
She said her office will prepare an application form that can be found on the chamber website, one Perry hopes is ready by mid-October.
“This is going to be a much more narrow funnel, but obviously we’re going to allow bigger (grant) amounts,” Perry said.
“I can keep you in the loop (as applications come in) and how the money is going and (commissioners) can decide if you want to consider additional funding.”
Perry said the chamber would share information once the application form is ready to instruct local businesses involved in the three industries on how to apply. She said she would meet again in two weeks with commissioners to go over the process and guidelines.
Applicants will be evaluated on a first-come, first-served basis and awards will begin as the chamber processes and evaluates them. In the small business grant program in 2020, awards were not announced until after all applications had been submitted.
The CARES Act funds provided a total of $2.7 million to 460 local small businesses in 2020, using funds provided by the county, the City of Mansfield and other local governmental entities.
Perry said she had preliminary conversations with Mansfield Mayor Tim Theaker, but no decision was made on the city’s participation in the program.
Last week, Theaker announced his plan to spend almost all of the $10.5 million the city has received this far in ARPA funds. He designated $550,000 for business development, likely in the form of grants to businesses impacted by the pandemic. Perry said she didn’t know how much of that, if any, would go into the chamber’s new program.
Commissioner Tony Vero said he hopes other local governments do become involved using their ARPA funds.
“Maybe other communities in Richland County, and maybe our friends at the city (of Mansfield) could also piggyback on this and some townships could do this as well,” he said.
“Let’s hope we can be the leaders in this and other government entities or political subdivisions within Richland County can follow suit.”
