Iowa officials have dramatically expanded the amount of money in the state grant program for small businesses with between two and 50 employees.
Iowa Economic Development Authority director Debi Durham says her agency intends to send 24 million dollars worth of grants to eligible businesses:
OC……….them as possible.” ;11
Originally the grant money was announced in late March as a pot of four million dollars.
Nearly 14-thousand small businesses applied for the state grants and Durham says 503 of them were notified late Tuesday by email that their grant applications were accepted:
OC………round of funding. :21
More small businesses around the state will be notified through the rest of this week, but Durham did not reveal how many businesses in total will get grants.
She says there may be other programs available in the future for small business owners who applied but do not receive these grants this week.
Governor Kim Reynolds says the first batch of businesses notified were primarily bars, restaurants and breweries who were among the first businesses she ordered to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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