County plans to apply for $300,000 in CDBG-CV funds

Cloud County will apply for $300,000 in Community Development Block Grant Coronavirus Response Supplement (CDBG-CV) funding to help local businesses retain jobs during the COVID-19 crisis.
CloudCorp executive director Kim Reynolds presented information about the CDBG-CV grants to the Cloud County board of commissioners during its regular meeting on Monday.
A public hearing with the county commissioners is scheduled for next Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly dedicated more than $9 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES) funding provided by the federal government to the CDBG-CV program to provide communities with funding to help businesses. The funds are available for non-entitlement cities and counties, which includes Cloud County.
Applications for $300,000 in funds can be made by the individual communities or as an entire county.
Businesses within that community or county can then apply for the grants if the funding is awarded.
“We have decided to apply as a county because there is a lot of administration that goes into awarding the dollars and calculating the full-time job equivalency and low to moderate income level. Tons of paperwork,” Reynolds said, “So we are going to apply as a county and North Central Regional Planning out of Beloit is going to administer it if we qualify for the dollars.”
The funds will be awarded on a first come, first serve basis.
Reynolds will work with the North Central Regional Planning Commission (NCRPC) on compiling all of the information necessary for the application that will be submitted following approval by the county commission following the public hearing.
Once the state has received the application for funds it is about a 15 to 20 day approval process.
If Cloud County receives funds, CloudCorp will work with NCRPC on the application to be completed by businesses.
Businesses applying for the grants must be a for-profit business in existence as of March 1, 2020, and retaining jobs for low to moderate-income wage earners, and must meet the requirement of 51 percent or more of the full-time equivalent jobs retained must be for persons from low to moderate-income households as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Those businesses applying for the grants must list all of the other programs they have received dollars from.
“We are encouraging everybody to apply,” Reynolds said.
Businesses awarded grants can use the funds for working capital such as wages, utilities, rent, etc. and the purchase of 60 days worth of inventory needed to reopen.