Thirteen rural communities in Indiana were selected to receive federal
grant funding through the COVID-19 Response Program as announced by Lt.
Governor Suzanne Crouch and the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) on
Wednesday afternoon.
The program launched on April 1 where 108 letters of need
were submitted requesting $23 million in funds.
In this particular distribution of funding, $1.96 million was disbursed
to expand or alter existing medical facilities to help in the increase patient
load due to COVID-19, provided fixed or mobile testing, expand food pantry
services to low-to-moderate populations, and provide grants or loans to small
businesses to help retain low-to-moderate jobs.
Locally, the City of Knox was
awarded $250,000 to provide working capital to local businesses for job
retention, and the Town of Lacrosse
was awarded $10,000 to install four WiFi hot spots for residents to access the
internet to complete eLearning activities, file unemployment claims, and submit
job applications.
More projects will be announced as they continue to be
evaluated and reviewed by OCRA.