COUNTY BOARD TO CONSIDER FUNDS FOR PANDEMIC RESPONSE

January 21, 2021
County Board Chair Analiese Eicher, (608) 571-6823
County Board

The Dane County Board of Supervisors will be meeting tonight at 7:00pm. On the agenda, there are items in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that continues to rage in the country, state, and Dane County.

 

The Board will consider a contract with Dane Buy Local Foundation for an Emergency Small Business Grant Program. The contract, if approved, is for Dane Buy Local Foundation to administer a $4,000,000 emergency small business grant program.

 

Dane Buy Local Foundation provided this service following Dane County’s first federal CARES allocation, administering an over $10.6 million emergency small business grant program that awarded funds to 2,692 local businesses – 25% of the total funding was awarded to business owners of color, and 57% to women business owners. Businesses with a mailing address inside the City of Madison received 54.4% of the funds, and businesses with a mailing address outside the City of Madison received 46.5% of the funds.

 

"Our local businesses are struggling," said Supervisor Kristen Audet (District 17).　 "Providing these funds is critical to keep businesses open, and more importantly for our residents to be able to thrive and support their families."

 

The Board will also consider a resolution that would award a contract to Tenant Resource Center, Inc. for pandemic response eviction prevention and housing stability services. Dane County is estimated to receive $8.5 million of the $25 billion in funding for Emergency Rental Assistance that the federal government approved on December 27th, 2020. The City of Madison is estimated to receive $7.7 million for the same purposes.

 

The federal government has passed detailed guidelines for the emergency rental assistance funds.

 

Tenants or landlords will have to apply for assistance via an online application process and assessment that targets those potentially facing eviction to the best recourse for their needs.

 

"The pandemic has caused a surge in unemployment and housing insecurity.　 These federal funds will help to keep a roof over the heads of many Dane County residents, some of whom have never faced such economic stress and the potential of eviction before," said County Board Chair Analiese Eicher.

 

Members of the public are able to register to speak or attend the virtual meeting of the board. Information to connect is on the top of the agenda.