WINONA, Minn. (KWNO)-Funding for local relief grants for businesses impacted by COVID evaporated quickly last month.
“We opened those up and within 24 hours we had to close them,” Winona Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Christie Ransom said during an interview on KWNO’s In the Know Tuesday morning. “[We] went through a lot of funds in a very short amount of time and still have a lot of applications sitting on our desk.”
The program was funded by money Winona County received through the American Rescue plan. The grants were available on a first-come-first-serve basis.
The county board authorized the program that offered one-time grants of up to $20,000 to businesses with 150 or fewer employees. Ransom said it took around two months for the same amount of money for a local business grant program to dry up in 2020.
“The need is so profound,” Ransom said. She says businesses she’s heard from are struggling with supply chain issues, a workforce shortage, and increasing rent and utilities.
Ransom said she is asking the county board to allocate more money received from the American Rescue Act for the local business relief grant program.
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