SMETHPORT — Applications for small businesses and municipalities for McKean County CARES Act grant money are open today, and will be posted on the county’s website.
McKean County was awarded approximately $3.67 million in CARES Act County Relief Block Grant funds to be used in nine categories.
The nine categories include planning & outreach, personal protective equipment, assistance to municipalities, assistance to nonprofits, small business grants, tourism grants, and funding to business assistance agencies, behavioral health & substance disorder services, and broadband deployment.
Small business and municipal applications will have a deadline of Sept. 4.
Applications for non-profits and behavioral health & substance disorder services organizations will be posted on the website and open for submission beginning on Aug. 28th with an application deadline of Sept. 18.
The county website will provide information that will include eligibility requirements for applicants, allowed use of funds, timeline for applications to be submitted, reporting requirements and notifications regarding stipulations. Additional documents will be required to support the application. Applicants will also be asked to provide a summary of the impact of Covid-19. Printed packets are available upon request.
A dedicated email address MCCARES@mckeancountypa.org has been set up exclusively for the submission of applications and documents. The information will be available on the county’s website, under the Covid Information page, beginning today.
The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) distributed funds to each county based on a formula of population proportion amounts using numbers from the U.S. Census.
The CARES Act established the $150 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund, which will be used to assist state and local governments impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The DCED released the guidelines for the Covid-19 County Relief Block Grant on June 11. The commissioners applied on June 17, were awarded the full amount of funding allocated and accepted the funds and the required conditions by formal resolution on June 23.
County relief grant funds are federal dollars, passed through the state, and allocated to the counties. The county must ensure compliance with regulations for allocations, expenditures and reporting the use of the funds.
