As local communities look to tap into COVID-19 Response grants made available by the state, Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch is hopeful that a large proportion will be able to get funding.
Crouch announced the first round of COVID-19 Response grant recipients Wednesday, totaling just under $2 million. But she notes that there’s still more to come. “We always try to serve the need, and we have over two-and-a-half million dollars still available in these repurposed CDBG funds,” Crouch says. “In addition, we are anticipating an additional $18 million through the CARES Act that will come to OCRA for COVID-19 Response.”
While the initial funding is being offered on a first-come, first-served basis, Crouch says some adjustments will be made going forward and she can’t guarantee that every community will get funding. “That particular program will be a grant program that’ll have a beginning and an end, a deadline,” she explains. “So it’ll differ from this particular initial program of the repurposed funds, and so we will open it come to other communities, also. So people will be submitting applications for that $18 million that will come in.”
Locally, Marshall County is applying for $250,000 to purchase electronic billboards to help share information about pop-up food pantries and other steps in the COVID-19 response.
