North Judson businesses can now apply for up to $10,000 in COVID-19 relief. The town has been awarded $250,000 through the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs’ COVID-19 Response Program.
The funding is available to qualifying businesses within four miles of the Town of North Judson with 100 or fewer employees. Specific grant amounts for each business will be determined based on need, according to Clerk-Treasurer Andrew Rowe, “The loss of revenue, loss of being able to open, being able to bring employees back to work, that kind of thing, just to assess those. So our selection committee will go through all of those.”
Applications are due to the town by Friday, September 18 at 4:00 p.m. CDT. After that, Rowe says they’ll be reviewed for eligibility requirements. “Larry Wickert from the Starke County Economic Development Foundation is going to be going through all those and making sure they’re valid and that they are eligible, that kind of thing,” Rowe explains. “And the income verifications will go to Edwin Buswell at KIRPC, and he’ll send those onto OCRA who verifies our 51-percent low-to-moderate income.” The town’s redevelopment commission will serve as the selection committee.
But officials aren’t sure yet when businesses might actually start getting the money.
In addition to the funding distributed by OCRA, the town has also agreed to chip in another $50,000 to the grant program, by allocating money recently paid back to the town’s revolving loan fund by the former Heartland Market. “You have an immediate need. So you know what? We can build back up our revolving loan in the future. We could really use those dollars to help local businesses right now. So that’s pretty much the thinking,” Rowe explains.
The North Judson Town council discussed the program guidelines during a special meeting Tuesday. More information can be found on the application form. Those with questions are asked to call the North Judson Clerk-Treasurer’s Office at 574-896-3340.
