The City of Black River Falls is assisting the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) to make the new We’re All In grant initiative a success. The program will provide $2,500 grants to 30,000 small businesses. It is designed to help small businesses get back on their feet amid the COVID-19 pandemic while also encouraging them to adopt best practices to keep employees, customers and communities safe. Funded by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and announced by Governor Evers on May 18 We’re All In Announcement , the grants will help small businesses with the costs of business interruption or for health and safety improvements, wages and salaries, rent, mortgages and inventory.
The application period for this grant will open in mid-June – see details below!
The website with the program details is now live – see details below!
The WEDC has asked for the City’s help to make this program a success for our struggling small businesses. One of the criteria for businesses to apply is to attach a short email or letter of acknowledgement from a community organization indicating the business was in operation in February 2020. Acknowledgements can come from any of the following organizations listed below.
- Chamber of commerce
- Main Street director or Connect Communities coordinator
- Local business improvement district
- Neighborhood economic development association
- Local economic development organization
- County economic development organization
- Municipality
- County
- Local bank, credit union or Community Development Financial Institution
- Regional UW Small Business Development Center
- US Export Assistance Center – Wisconsin
- Regional Economic Development Organization
- Regional Planning Commission
The We’re All In Small Business Grant program is designed to help small businesses get back on their feet as they re-emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and Safer at Home, while also encouraging adoption of best practices to keep employees, customers and communities safe.
Funded by the federal CARES Act, the We’re All In Small Business Grant will provide $2,500 to 30,000 Wisconsin small businesses to assist with the costs of business interruption or for health and safety improvements, wages and salaries, rent, mortgages and inventory.
To be eligible, businesses must:
- Be a Wisconsin-based, for-profit business
- Employ 20 or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, including the owner
- Earn greater than $0 but less than $1 million in annual revenues, and
- Been in business in February 2020
The online grant application will be accessible for ONE WEEK ONLY from 8 a.m. Monday, June 15, through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, June 21.
More detailed information can be found at:
https://wedc.org/programs-and-resources/wai-small-business-grant/
https://wedc.org/wai-small-business-grant-frequently-asked-questions/