“These grants are great opportunities for businesses in Carroll County, and that includes Coon Rapids,” said Main Street Coon Rapids Executive Director Katie Mason who is also a CCGP board member. Mason is available to assist businesses who want to apply for the CCGP grants. “I hope that businesses and new start-ups in Coon Rapids will take advantage of these grants to improve their facilities or give them a jumpstart.”

The first grant offered is CCGP’s Micro Façade Grant. CCGP will award ten (10) $1,000 grants for façade improvements, which includes paint, windows, signage, doors, construction, masonry, and materials. Eligible applicants include any brick and mortar business located in Carroll County. Applicants for this grant are required to have a 25% match of the total project cost to be awarded the $1,000 grant. The application window opens on March 1, 2023 and closes April 30, 2023. Funding decisions will be made on May 31. The grants will be awarded based on scoring and will award a minimum of three of the ten grants to businesses outside of the City of Carroll. To receive more information on this grant, you can call Carroll County Growth Partnership at 712-792-4383, check out their website at www.carrollareadev.com or contact Mason at 712-999-4769.

Decisions on funding awards will be made by the Grant Committee, which is made up of different CCGP board members and is chaired by Brooke Peterson, City Clerk for the City of Glidden.

“We are excited to offer two new grant programs to businesses throughout Carroll County! We look forward to having this new ability to financially support our local businesses whether that may be some exterior upgrades with the Micro Façade Grant or possibly assist with new startup or business expansion efforts with the Jump-Start Accelerator Grant,” stated Peterson.

The second grant offered is, CCGP’s Jump-Start Accelerator Grant. CCGP will award two (2) $5,000 grants for business start-up or business expansion projects. Funds can be put towards construction, land/building acquisition, major renovation or repair of buildings, site development, engineering, materials, equipment, marketing, legal fees, and website/e-commerce. New start-ups and existing brick and mortar businesses located in Carroll County are eligible to apply. Applicants for this grant are required to have a 25% match of the total project cost to be awarded the $5,000 grant. The application window opens April 1, 2023 and closes April 30, 2023. Funding decisions will be made on May 31, 2023. The grants will be awarded based on scoring and will award one grant to a business outside the City of Carroll and one within the City of Carroll. To receive more information on this grant, you can call Carroll County Growth Partnership at 712-792-4383 or check out their website at www.carrollareadev.com or contact Mason at 712-999-4769.

During a CCGP presentation at Carroll City Hall, CCGP Executive Director Kimberly Tiefenthaler explained, 2023 will be a year of action. “Throughout my first year, 2022 was great in that, we have learned a lot. We took on a new name ‘Carroll County Growth Partnership,’ have a great understanding of what is needed across the County, and have plans for new programs to be announced in 2023. This year, is a year of action, a year of getting things done, and a year to offer new programs. We are calling this year, ‘Launch 2023.’”

“Local businesses are an absolute driving factor in our local economy. Recruiting and expanding the small to medium size businesses throughout your community is part of the economic development play book in rural Iowa,” stated Tiefenthaler. The Micro Façade Grant and Jump-Start Accelerator Grant are the first of their kind when it comes to CCGP. “There are rural communities all over Iowa offering different business incentives to grow and continue to revitalize their local economies. CCGP values the spirit of entrepreneurship and existing businesses wanting to make improvements. We are excited to offer these fantastic incentives and we feel it is a great starting point in developing business grants and incentive programs,” explained Tiefenthaler.

Peterson added, “The goal of rolling out these new programs is to start small and grow to eventually reach the point of offering larger grant assistance opportunities in the future. We look forward to sharing the success of these new programs and are very optimistic about the expansion of these programs in the future!”