FULTON – Yesterday, September 8, city of Fulton officials announced a total of $400,000 of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds will support the city’s small businesses.
“We recognize the impact these past two years have had and we understand that as a city, our goal is to support the recovery and revitalization efforts for small business owners,” Mayor Deana Michaels said. “We are excited to announce our commitment of our [ARPA] funds in the amount of $400,000 to support our small business community… Effective immediately, this $400,000 will start to be implemented for our business community.”
She said the city has committed the first $100,000 and established a COVID-19 recovery and revitalization grant program. Small businesses are encouraged to apply for this grant in order to help with the recovery and relief from the pandemic.
According to Michaels, the Fulton Community Development Agency will be administering the grants to each small business who applies.
“The COVID relief commitment is only just the beginning. This $100,000 is only just the beginning. We’ll be creating additional grant opportunities from this money to support aesthetic upgrades, such as signage and awnings, new business expansion and growth, and startup seed money for new businesses,” Michaels said. “In addition, we plan to have $750,000 of Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant funds in place before the end of 2021.”
Michaels also announced the city’s commitment to not-for-profits impacted by the pandemic, in the amount of $45,000, saying these groups improve the quality of life for residents and provide vital services essential to the city’s success.
To be eligible to apply for the City of Fulton COVID-19 Recovery Round 1 Grant, a business must:
- Be a locally owned small business within the City of Fulton jurisdiction, that owns the property or maintains a leased business property in the City of Fulton jurisdiction;
- Demonstrate a loss of revenue due to COVID-19;
- Explain impact of pandemic related economic restrictions, economic conditions and/or closures;
- Provide general summary of business finances;
- Clearly explain use of proposed funding;
- Be in the process of reopening or currently operating; and
- Present full business plan, a budget and timeline for review (if grant application is for a proposed expansion and/or relocation).
A link to the small business COVID-19 relief grant application can be found here. The deadline to apply is September 27 at 5 p.m. to the Fulton CDA, located at 125 West Broadway. You may also call 315-593-7754 or 315-593-7166.
The city also was granted the DRI in 2018 and those projects, which are solely in the downtown area, are anticipated to begin by the end of the year, according to Mayor Michaels as of Tuesday’s Common Council meeting.
The CDA also applied for a micro grant for micro businesses in the community who could not participate in the DRI.
Michaels said she wants as many resources made available to the community as possible.
“This is something very new for the city of Fulton, meaning that we haven’t really had a strong, or at all, an economic development initiative or department, and it’s time we get there, and we’re building it from the ground up,” Michaels said.
Director of the Fulton CDA Brad Broadwell said it was a blessing to be granted the DRI funds, but also wanted to help the rest of the city outside of the downtown boundaries.
While the city has decided to allocate a portion of its ARPA funds to the small business community, Michaels said the city is being deliberate in taking its time to discuss with grant writers, consultants and the CDA what the needs of the city and its community are before making a decision on what else to put the money toward.
Michaels said looking beyond COVID-19 relief, she would like to contribute to the business district’s beautification. She also said another reason for the city to wait to make more decisions on what to do with the ARPA funding is for the council to vote on the new comprehensive plan on Tuesday, September 21. She said the guiding document will help to structure other grants.
For the areas to get ARPA funding allocated, she said the city is looking at small business and not-for-profit support, economic development, tourism and Parks and Recreation, broadband and infrastructure. Michaels said the city plans to take advantage of other grants and opportunities to get the most out of it, with a big push for infrastructure.
“We’re not jumping to any quick decisions,” Michaels said. “We’re going to take our time when it comes to the infrastructure piece of it.”
Broadwell said it is not the number of projects the city does with the ARPA funding, it is how important the project is for the city’s future.
“Everyone knows government is slow, and sometimes planning needs to be slow,” Broadwell said.
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