GALION — The City of Galion is providing $200,000 in federal CARES Act dollars it has received to fund a small business relief grant program being managed by the Galion-Crestline Area Chamber of Commerce.
“Perhaps the most successful use of CARES funds in 2020 was the county commissioner-funded business assistance program,” Galion Mayor Tom O’Leary said. “The Chamber of Commerce administered that program and we are confident they can successfully distribute the $200,000 allocated by the city for Galion businesses.”
In December 2020, the Galion-Crestline and Bucyrus chambers doled out a total of $800,000 in CARES Act funds provided by the Crawford County Commissioners. A total of 177 businesses in Crawford County received funding through that program.
“We’re thankful that the City of Galion has entrusted the Chamber with this large sum of money that will really help our business community,” said Miranda Jones, executive director of the Galion-Crestline Area Chamber of Commerce. “Without the collaboration between the city and Chamber, I don’t think our businesses would be doing as well as they are right now. Kudos to the city for being forward thinking and funding this program.”
Jones said the new grant program is limited to businesses that have a physical location in the City of Galion. Eligible businesses must have 25 or fewer employees and must have been in operation since Dec. 31, 2020. The rest of the guidelines can be viewed on the Chamber website at galion-crestlinechamber.org, she said.
The application period begins Monday, Aug. 2 and will end on Thursday, Sept. 2, or once all funds have been awarded to eligible applicants, whichever comes first, Jones said.
“The maximum amount awarded to a business would be $5,000,” Jones said. “Depending on how many applications we have, it’ll be anywhere between $1,000 and $2,500 for other grants. The application and guidelines (for the grant program) are on (the Chamber) website. People can download a copy there or they can come to our office and we’ll print one out for them.”
Jones noted that Chamber officials plan to review applications and award funding to businesses as soon as possible.
“I can’t stress it enough: don’t wait to apply,” Jones said. “We’re going to review the applications weekly and start rolling the grants out. The longer you wait, the less money that will be left in that fund. We’re leaving the application window open until Sept. 2, but we may award all the funding before then. For example, if we get 100 or so eligible applicants in the first week, we’ll probably be tapped out. And I don’t know if this opportunity will become available to us again.”
To download the application form and review the guidelines, go to galion-crestlinechamber.org and click on the “Galion Area Small Business Relief Grant” tab at the top of the page. Completed applications can be emailed to Jones at [email protected] or dropped off at the Galion-Crestline Chamber of Commerce, 138 Harding Way West, Galion.
For information, contact the Chamber of Commerce at 419-468-7737.
