|
Investing in the Businesses That Invest in Shawnee
I’ve been looking forward to sharing this one. This week, Shawnee Forward is launching our new Business Growth Grant, giving small businesses in Pottawatomie County the opportunity to receive up to $20,000 in matching funds for projects that help them grow and add new full-time jobs.
We started putting this program together with funding from Shawnee Forward, knowing we wanted to create another tool specifically for our small businesses. With additional support from the City of Shawnee, we were able to increase the amount available and make the grants substantial enough to really help move a project forward. I’m particularly excited about that part. We are taking resources available to us and putting them directly back into businesses that are investing here.
For a small business, $20,000 can matter. It could help purchase the equipment needed to take on more work, finish out additional space, add technology, increase production or finally make room in the budget for growth that has been waiting.
And ultimately, we want that growth to mean more people working.
That might be one new person joining a five-person business where everyone is already wearing three hats. It might be several new employees needed to operate a new piece of equipment or handle increased production. It could be someone at the front counter, in the office, on the shop floor or out serving customers. Whatever the position, those jobs represent both an opportunity for someone in our community and another sign that a local business is doing well enough to grow its team.
The Business Growth Grant is a 50/50 matching program for eligible capital investments, and applications will be reviewed throughout the year as they are received. The program will remain open as long as funding is available. And because we want this to be an ongoing resource for our business community, any dollars not awarded this year will stay in the fund and roll forward for businesses to access next year.
I know there are business owners who have already priced the equipment, talked to the contractor or run the numbers on an expansion and decided to wait. Maybe $20,000 doesn’t make the whole project happen, but it might be enough to change the conversation from “someday” to “let’s do it.”
That’s what I’m most eager to see: what our business owners decide to do with the opportunity.
Applications and eligibility information are available at ShawneeForward.com, or reach out to me directly. If you’ve got a project in mind, I’d like to hear about it.
~Crystal
| 
