Madison Main Street Announces Extension of Business Resiliency Fund Grant

The reimbursement grant, which covers up to 50 percent of the monthly payments.

File Photo

(Madison, Ind.) – Madison Main Street announced the extension of its new Business Resiliency Fund grant program to help downtown businesses cover rent or mortgage payments in June.

The reimbursement grant, which covers up to 50 percent of the monthly payments, this grant was made possible with the funding from key partners, including a grant from Duke Energy Foundation, passed through the City of Madison Economic Development.

 “This is a financial crisis as much as it is a health emergency for Indiana,” said Duke Energy Madison Community Relations Manager Lisa Huber. “These are grants for Indiana’s small businesses that keep our communities going. Over a century we’ve operated in this state and served good companies such as these.”

For-profit businesses downtown can apply for assistance by sending an email no later than Friday, May 22, to madisonmainstreetprogram@gmail.com. The email should include the business name, number of full and part-time employees, amount of monthly rent or mortgage, a brief description of how the pandemic has affected their business, and ways the businesses have been trying to adjust and stay viable.

For information-gathering purposes, the request should also list any COVID-19 assistance funds the business has applied for or received.

“I’m grateful for the grant from Duke Energy. These funds will assist our downtown businesses with much needed liquidity as they gear up to reopen in Stage 2 of Governor Holcomb’s Back on Track plan,” said Madison’s Mayor Bob Courtney.

Madison Main Street has only a limited amount of funds to distribute, and due to the negative impact of business closures and cutbacks, they expect the demand to be much greater for this grant session.

“We awarded over $10,000 in the May round and are glad we’re able to extend it for another month,” said Main Street Executive Director Austin Sims. “Even though businesses are slowly beginning to open back up, we know it will take them many months to recover from financial losses caused by the pandemic.”

As a 501(c)(3) organization, Madison Main Street can accept tax-deductible donations earmarked for the Business Resiliency Fund and is actively soliciting more contributions.

For questions call the Madison Main Street Program at 812-274-0195.