At their meeting Sept. 8, the Dodge County Commissioners agreed that $100,000 of the CARES Act money allocated to the county will be used for grants to qualified non-profit entities in the county.

In March, the Federal CARES Act became law and made funds available to qualifying local, state, and federal agencies to help cover expenses caused by responses to the COVID 19 pandemic. Dodge County officials believe that an integral part of this relief is emergency help to nonprofits which were impacted monetarily by the pandemic.

At an August meeting, the commissioners had approved the launching of the Small Business & Nonprofit Relief Funds Program which will guide the distribution of CARES grants to small businesses and non-profits in the county. Nicholas Ouellette, Community and Business Development Specialist from Community and Economic Development Associates, explained the plan and he will spearhead the programs for the county.

At the Sept. 8 meeting, the commissioners specified that $100,000 of those funds will be for qualifying non-profits in the county.

As an example, a church may have purchased personal protective equipment for its employees or volunteers working in charitable programs or the church may have purchased audio visual equipment to stream their services online. The grants would be geared toward those types of expenses, explained Ouellette.

He also said that guidelines and application materials are accessible through the link below. Applications for the first round of review will be accepted until October 1.