Free money
When Louisiana’s COVID-19 stay-at-home order went into effect in March, Ursula Leachman had to close her local hair salon. For the next 53 days, she was out of business.
“We had to shut our salon down on March 23,” Leachman said. “When we opened (in May) it was hard. We had to restructure.”
She’s looking to the Louisiana Main Street Recovery program to help get her business back on its feet. Leachman was among about 25 area businesspeople who listened to state Treasurer John Schroder push the recovery program during a stop in Ruston on Tuesday.
Louisiana Main Street Recovery offers $15,000 grants to small business owners to reimburse their COVID-19 expenses. But applications have been coming in slowly and almost half of them have been deemed ineligible for the free money.
“The hard part is getting people to apply,” Schroder said.
That’s why he’s touring the state pushing the program that still has $232 million to give away.
“It’s a great opportunity for you who have been paying your taxes all these years to take advantage of,” Schroder said.
Businesses may be eligible for a grant if the business incurred interruption, disruption, unplanned expenses, or extraordinary costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic or the public health measures put in place by state or local government officials.
Even if a business has already received assistance from other government programs, it may still be eligible for the grant program, Schroder said.
The Legislature allocated $275 million of the funds it received from the federal CARES Act to small business through the recovery program.
Schroder attributed the program’s slow start to confusion over how to apply and a lack of information about the plan’s existence.
He said he wants to find at least another 15,000 businesses to apply by Thanksgiving.
The application deadline is Nov. 4.
“My goal is to give away every penny (of the money),” Schroder said.
In the 35 days since the Louisiana Main Street Recovery program began, it has awarded approximately $43 million statewide, with the average grant totaling $9,570.
Need to know more?
For more information about the Department of Treasury’s Louisiana Main Street Recovery grant program for small businesses, or to apply for a grant, visit louisianamainstreet.com.
