Statewide — Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) today announced 40 Indiana Main Street programs will receive a portion of $200,000 through Taking Care of Main Street. This is a new program providing operational support for Indiana Main Street organizations impacted by COVID-19.
The goal of this program is to support Indiana Main Street organizations that provide leadership and services to the businesses and members, using the Main Street Approach, with special attention to organizations that have been significantly impacted by COVID-19. Eligible expenses could include salaries, administrative fees, space/equipment rental, or staff development and training.
Below is a summary of how the Main Street organizations from Southeastern Indiana plan to use the $5,000 funding they each received:
- Madison Main Street Program plans to update the Madison Main Street web page with a new space for business materials, event and workshop plans and registrations, grant information and applications, real estate listings, sponsor and donor recognition, interactive maps for business locations and inventory, community press releases and staff and business training.
- Main Street Brookville Inc. will use the funding to coordinate programming and provide technical assistance to help transition to an online platform by helping build a business’s website integrated with merchant services. In addition, grant funds will be used to help sustain operational costs.
- Main Street Greensburg will use the money to fund the salary of a new part-time assistant.
- Main Street Shelbyville will use their funding to bridge a gap left by the loss of sponsorships, memberships, and event income. The funding will help with continued promotion and facilitation of programming such as COVID-19 survival webinar with the Indiana Small Business Development Center (ISBDC), the Downtown Highlights series, and for the administration of the downtown grant programs.
