Greene County offers final round of ARPA funds to local small businesses

The second and final round of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for local small businesses is coming to business owners in Greene County. This time, the county has $2.5 million to allocate.

Starting Wednesday, Sept. 13, businessowners in Greene County with fewer than 100 employees can apply for up to $49,999 in pandemic-relief funds. The application period runs for three weeks until Oct. 4.

According to a Greene County news release, businesses must demonstrate the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on their operations and provide supporting documentation. The business must have existed in Greene County as of March 1, 2020.

The funds can be used to support payroll or benefits costs, employee retention costs, rental and other operational costs that may have been incurred through pandemic-related financial hardship. This money cannot be used for personal expenses, paying off taxes and fines or food and entertainment.

In the previous round of small business funding last year, the county awarded 316 businesses a total of about $3.6 million, according to the news release. These were businesses with 50 employees or less, with the average number of employees coming to 7.7, according to county documents.

Lyle Foster, the county's ARPA grant and equity specialist, said opening up the applications for the slightly larger local businesses is a way to broaden the applicant pool and extend the opportunity further.

"The main goal ... is to make sure we can provide needed support to our small business community which is an essential and vital part of our economic development throughout our entire county, in terms of offsetting and addressing negative economic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.

The last round of funding attracted 400 applications, though 48 were identified as ineligible.

The big picture

Greene County has received an overall $56.9 million in ARPA funds to be allocated by Dec. 31, 2024. From this, a total of $8.1 million has been earmarked for small businesses. After this round of grants, there will be approximately $2 million still remaining for local small business support. Foster said the county commission has yet to decide how to utilize these funds.

While those who received funds from the previous round can still apply for more assistance, the total money received through the small business program cannot exceed $49,999 and they must list their previous funding in the application.

How much each business receives is determined by a calculator integrated in the application, Foster said. Taking into account losses, past assistance, number of employees and other factors, the calculator determines the amount the business may receive. Foster said an internal team of county employees will review applications before sending them to the commission for final approval.

Foster said there is not yet a set timeline for when these decisions will be made.

"We've had some experience with this program in the past, and so we want to address it as soon as we can once the application period ends because we do know how important things funds are," he said.

In order to get more participation in the program, the county has contracted four "Community Navigators" — Multicultural Business Association, Downtown Springfield Association, Springfield Chamber of Commerce and Business Council of the Ozarks.

"We'll think of them as kind of tentacles, arms or legs going out into the community throughout Springfield and Greene County to also share information, marketing the program and providing technical assistance," Foster said.

The application is available on the Greene County website.

Funds in action

Eric Gulliford co-owns In Home Solutions LLC, which received $31,500 in ARPA funding during the first round of local small business funding. He and his wife started the at-home care business that serves southwest Missouri almost five years ago.

During the pandemic, Gulliford said one of the main hardships they faced was the rising costs of personal protective equipment like gloves and masks, which are necessary materials for their line of work. It was also hard to navigate safety of staff and clients alike as the business is centered on entering others' homes.

The ARPA funds they received last year helped with the purchase of daily supplies and staff pay raises. Gulliford said the main impact the money had was the ability to add a quality control position to their team.

"We were so appreciative of that, and it definitely helped us through," he said. "And now we're able to bring on more staff, we've retained the staff that we had. It was a blessing."

More: 29 more small businesses awarded ARPA funds from Greene County

The business is now working on an application for the next round of funds. Gulliford said if awarded any of this money, it would go toward moving offices from their current rental to a new building that they have purchased and are in the process of remodeling.

"That would help immensely, because it's been an expensive venture up until now," he said.

Overall, the county support furthers the network of small businesses in the area, he said.

"It's a real tight-knit community, and the fact that the county is willing to support us, I think it makes us that much more tighter as far as small businesses go," Gulliford said.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Final round of ARPA funds for small Greene County businesses available