In the two weeks since it established funds to help local businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian/Hemphill County Economic Development Council has already delivered $31,000 in emergency business grants to qualifying local businesses that provide jobs to Canadian residents. The EDC approved funding last month to assist businesses struggling to survive the financial impact of the COVID-19 shutdown, and the oil and gas bust. The funding falls into two categories:

•The Emergency Support for Business Operations Fund offers grants up to $6,000 to primary businesses currently providing essential services or products. The grants can cover expenses critical to the continuing operation of the business and the retention of their employees. Those may include payroll, mortgage or note payments, supplies, utilities, or other immediate needs. Recipient businesses are required to maintain their current employees.

A committee of board members was appointed to facilitate the EDC’s objective of getting these funds to local businesses promptly to provide support during the gap time before the federal stimulus funds and SBA program are available.

•The Marketing and Advertising Emergency Project was funded for primary businesses, and retail and food establishments. Believing it is essential for businesses to keep their services and products in front of consumers, and to develop new methods of marketing, service delivery, and sales during this pandemic and economic crises, the EDC committed up to $13,000 to advertising and marketing Canadian and Hemphill County businesses. This initiative provides funding for advertising of all Canadian businesses and grants for individual businesses’ marketing and advertising. A committee of board members, partnering with the Chamber of Commerce, was appointed to provide information, develop general advertising, take and review applications for funding of individual business-marketing plans, and dispense grant funds.

“These grants offer short-term help for businesses to get out the last two weeks of payroll,” said EDC Board Member Remelle Farrar, “until they can access larger funding through the Paycheck Protection Program or any of the CARES Act funding.”

“What we’re excited about,” Farrar said, “is that, although, $31,000 is clearly not enough to pay all of these salaries, we have helped businesses who employ a total of 80 people in Canadian. We still have funding available for those businesses that qualify as primary businesses, and that are open because the jobs they provide are considered essential jobs.”

Farrar said the EDC would be glad to receive applications from more local businesses. She also noted that the committee in charge of disbursing those emergency funds has been able to turn the applications around in 24 to 36 hours, once they receive the information. “That is still our commitment,” she said. “This emergency isn’t over for most of our businesses.”

In response to questions and concerns the EDC has heard from some local business owners, Farrar explained that, while the emergency operations grants are restricted to essential businesses, as listed in Gov. Abbott’s disaster declaration, the marketing and advertising funds are available to any local business that is currently open to customers providing services and products in Canadian. “It doesn’t matter if it is selling through a storefront, curbside, drive-in, or on the internet,” Farrar said. “If they want to promote the fact that they are in business now to serve people in Canadian, they are eligible.”

“They are not eligible,” she added, “if, because of their own interpretation, they are not providing any service or product right now.”

Farrar also noted that the marketing grants are 100 percent funded. No matching funds are required. “They are available for advertising locally, regionally, or a combination of both,” she said. “Those funds can also be used to develop marketing online.”

Local businesses that receive the $500 marketing grant this month are also eligible for an additional $500 in funds for marketing in May or June. “You’re eligible to apply again,” Farrar said. “I’m concerned that people just don’t realize that.”

The emergency business-operations funds are restricted both by Texas statute and by the governor’s emergency declaration.

They can be applied only to primary businesses, which are businesses that provide a service or sell a product that is either not otherwise available in the county, or that is provided or marketed beyond the city, and brings money into Canadian that would not otherwise be spent here. The grant recipient must also provide an essential service, as defined by Gov. Abbott’s March 13 emergency declaration. Those services considered essential were not required to close because of COVID-19.

“We are taking those directly from what the governor has issued,” Farrar said. “While we would like to help every business in Canadian, and that would be our choice as citizens, we are required to administer this funding by the statute, and we can only make them available to those businesses that qualify as primary businesses and that are providing their services and products at this time.”

“We are trying to take a fund that’s generally available only for major projects and apply it to our current emergency for those businesses that we can,” she said. “We are happy to get inquiries from anyone and to work with them to see if they can fit within this model, or if we can help them find other funding.”

“We are still available for what is intended to be our mission,” Farrar said, “to help an existing business develop another service or product, so they can justify another employee, or start another income stream for business, or start another business.”

“We are all, as a community, focused on this emergency,” she added, “but this is also a time for us to look at how we build more diversity into our businesses for the future.”

All local business owners are encouraged to contact Jackie McPherson at the Chamber of Commerce, or any member of the EDC, to learn more about these two emergency grant funds. Wendie Cook and Remelle Farrar are heading the effort to recruit qualified businesses for emergency business grants. Jackie McPherson, Lawana Pulliam, and Michelle Rowden are in charge of administering the marketing and advertising grants.

All members of the EDC board of directors, which includes Brian Bartlett, Nicholas Thomas, and Heath Mitchell, are spending a huge amount of time trying to gather information that will assist local businesses during this difficult time. “Reach out to any one of us,” Farrar said.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

To learn more, or to request the one-page application for either of these funds, email canadianedcemergencyhelp@gmail.com, or contact Jackie McPherson, Canadian/ Hemphill County Chamber of Commerce, at 806.323.6234.