VERSAILLES, IN — On April 19, 2021, Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) announced that an additional 80 rural Hoosier communities will receive more than $18.6 million in federal grant funding through OCRA’s COVID-19 Response Grant Program, Phase 3. Funding for the COVID-19 Response Grant Program, Phase 3 is derived from Indiana’s CARES Act allocation.
The Ripley County Commissioners, in cooperation with the City of Batesville, applied for and received a $250,000 grant from the COVID-19 Response Grant Program, Phase 3 to provide grants of up to $10,000 to small businesses located throughout Ripley County, as well as to small businesses in Franklin County located within the incorporated city limits of Batesville, to help the businesses retain and create jobs, of which 51% of the jobs were low-to-moderate income positions.
The Ripley County Economic Recovery Task Force, which oversaw the COVID-19 Response Program, Phase 2, was again responsible for developing the application and scoring process for Phase 3. The Task Force comprised of the Ripley County Economic Development Corporation, City of Batesville Economic Development Corporation, Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce, Ripley County Chamber of Commerce, and Ripley County Tourism, along with the support of the Southeastern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (SIRPC). The Ripley County Commissioners served as the applicant and fiscal agent for the OCRA grant, with Ripley County Economic Development serving as the ‘small business grant administrator.
33 eligible applicants were funded through the Ripley County COVID-19 Response Grant Program, Phase 3.
(Ripley County Economic Development Corporation press release)
