PEKIN, Ill. — Businesses in Pekin will be able to apply to receive more assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pekin’s Community Development Block Grant program has $1,010,768 allocated towards small business assistance grants. Of the over $1 million available, $536,000 has been allocated to date.
During the Pekin City Council meeting Monday night, the council voted to allocate $350,000 of the remaining budget to businesses in need.
Pekin City Mayor Mark Luft expressed how glad he was that the city was able to help city businesses in their time of need.
“Not a lot of communities were in a position to do this or did this for small businesses, and we did that” said Luft.
Council member Rick Hilst said that he would be in favor of putting all of the remaining money in the budget towards helping businesses.
“I have been adamantly in favor of dishing the entire amount of that money out to small businesses before the budget was approved,” said Hilst.
$100,000 of the remaining $474,768 will be allocated to the demolition of dilapidated structures.
The application period for small businesses in Pekin to receive a grant has yet to be decided, but the council members expressed a desire to get the money to businesses sooner rather than later.
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