Mayor Ted Clugston (Photo courtesy of Colton McKee)

By Scott Roblin

Business Funding

City opens applications for first round of emergency business funding

Jun 4, 2020 | 5:05 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Local businesses still looking to get back on their feet during the COVID-19 pandemic can now access their first pool of City emergency funding.

Applications for the City’s Business Innovation Grant officially opened on Thursday one month after City Council voted it through as part of a municipal aid package.

The first pot of $500,000 is now available for businesses who have been affected by the pandemic and are either looking to re-open or implement measures that deal with physical distancing.

“It will help businesses get started up again,” said Mayor Ted Clugston. “Some of those businesses that have already re-opened, it will help them with some of the costs associated with re-opening.”

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Businesses will be able to receive up to $15,000 each and will be on a first come, first serve basis for those who meet the criteria.

Some of those requirements include completing a hazard assessment of their business, earning less than $5 million in revenue annually, employing at least two full time staff, and have a reasonable expectation of viability and success.

A total of $2 million will be invested in the program if demand is met, with remote work platforms and supplying PPE being included in potential uses for the money.

“It’s a lot more than people think than just putting down arrows on the ground to get your business back open,” said Clugston. “We encourage all businesses to take a look at what the requirements are and then make an application to Entre-Corp.”

Community Futures Entre-Corp is facilitating Phase 1 of the grant roll-out and the City is emphasizing business owners to go through Entre-Corp to access the funding.

In the coming weeks, Clugston added the City will be reviewing how demand is affecting the pot of money and when it will need to be filled again for Phase 2.

“Our measure of success on this is that it’s all gone tomorrow frankly and that we’d have to put more into it,” he said. “That is our measure of success, so we’re hoping very quickly. We’ll judge if maybe we made the criteria too strict and it’s not moving quickly and nobody is applying, we’ll maybe broaden it a little bit.”

Business owners interested in reviewing the eligibility requirements or filing an application can do so through the Community Futures Entre-Corp website.