State launches Main Street Bounceback Grant Program

SHAWNA KONIECZNY

On August 4, Huey’s Hideaway Children’s Museum hosted a number of guests for the announcement of the Wisconsin Tomorrow Main Street Bounceback Grant Program. The program was established to help small businesses establish themselves within the state.

Back in April, Governor Tony Evers announced that the state would be dedicating $50 million from the state’s portion of the American Recovery Plan Act to help new small businesses open up and help existing businesses that have struggled through the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses and nonprofits that apply could receive up to $10,000 from the program.

Marcy West, the director of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) Office of Rural Prosperity, was one of the guest speakers at the event. West introduced the details of the program, explaining that funding from the grant can be used for rent or mortgage payments and operating expenses, as well as repairs, remodeling, and other improvements to the building.

In order to be eligible, the business or nonprofit must be moving into a vacant commercial space in Wisconsin to start or expand their business, however they cannot be closing or vacating another location in order to move into the new vacant space. “It’s a simple idea, pretty straightforward. We’ve all seen the vacancies in commercial buildings,” said West. “It says Main Street, but it really means the commercial corridor. We know that it’s not necessarily just Main Street that’d been hit.”

The applications for the grant opened on August 9 and are available throughout all 72 counties in the state. The application will remain open until June 30, 2022.

Executive Director Sheldon Johnson from the Northwest Regional Planning Commission (NWRPC) attended the event and explained that the program will be open for the next year so future businesses can be eligible for the grants. He also explained that people who just opened a business can be eligible as well. “It’s for businesses that started or occupied January 1 of 2021, so anybody that’s already been located there since January is eligible,” said Johnson. “The advantage that I think businesses have is that there’s no financial qualifi cations for the applications. It’s strictly do you own the building and currently have a business located there or did you acquire it January 1, 2021. And if you are leasing it, do you have a 12 months or longer lease for that business.” National and regional chains are ineligible, unless owned by an independent franchisee.

The NWRPC is the program’s main contact entity for all the applications that come through. The application is located on their website where people can also find the answers to frequently asked questions.

Mayor Michael Wellner was also in attendance. He talked about how the $10,000, while it may seem like a small amount, can provide a large amount of support to a small business and that it lets them know that they haven’t been forgotten. “All small cities and everyone’s suffered through this, especially our small cities at times seem to be people that are at the bottom of the pile or forgotten.”

Wellner, as well as West and Johnson, mentioned that this program is meant to be easy to apply to and work with as there aren’t a lot of strings attached to make the program complicated.

“The beauty of the program is that we’re actually going to have cash-in-hand for this program, so once we have completed applications verifying that the business is located within a vacant structure, we’ll have the local economic development or Chamber confirm that. We should be able to push that money out to them right away,” said Johnson. “We anticipate to see about a million dollars come to the region for businesses to access that.”

The announcement event was emceed by Doug Gasek, who is a business owner in Medford as well as the chairman of the city’s Downtown Committee. He expressed his excitement for the program and what the grants could do for the community. “We really want to see as much energy happening in Medford around this grant program as possible. Not just Medford, but the other communities in the county as well. See what can happen in Rib Lake and Gilman and really try to give an injection to some of these vacant buildings and spaces that we see around our county,” said Gasek.

West echoed a similar sentiment. “Hopefully this is a way to get some creative businesses. Somebody that sat during COVID and came up with a new business idea, or something like that. Hopefully this $10,000 is a bit of a boost to get them into the storefront to retail space or what have you,” said West.

After the guest speakers presented and questions were answered, Gasek lead the group of people attending on a walking tour down Main Street to highlight some small businesses as well as show some of the vacant buildings and spaces that are on the street. The first business visited was Vintage Naturals, owned by Tasha Neitzel. Neitzel explained that she practically grew up in that building and on Main Street. Her mother used to own the building and ran a jewelry store. Now, Neitzel has taken over the space for her own business. Vintage Naturals opened in October 2019 right before the pandemic took its hit on small businesses. Neitzel said that she stayed open throughout the pandemic and did everything she could to stay open and serve her customers, including having no contact delivery and pick up available for customers.

The building has a lot of history, especially with Neitzel’s family. After she moved out of her parents’ house, she lived in the apartment above the store for five years. There is also an old staircase that Neitzel and her friends would use to write on when they were in school.

After visiting Vintage Naturals, the group was brought to the old train depot building where Green Bee Floral Designs is located, which is owned by Naomi Hartl. She explained that she’s known that she wanted to be a florist and work with flower designs since middle school. She grew her business from nothing and has dedicated her life savings into her business. Her business is focused on sustainable and natural flower arrangements.

Green Bee provides arrangements for weddings and funerals throughout the year. While she grows most of the flowers used, in the winter she has to import them. In addition to running her business, Hartl has also been heading a project to put a dog park in town. From this project, she has founded a nonprofit.

On Wednesday, August 11, the Chamber of Commerce hosted a workshop for the Wisconsin Tomorrow Main Street Bounceback Grant Program to help promote the program as well as assisting businesses and nonprofits with their applications.